In recent years, ketamine has seen a rise in popularity in the UK. Worryingly, many of its new users are teenagers and young adults who may not be aware of the side effects ketamine can have.
In Lancashire alone, young people looking for support to treat a ketamine addiction rose from 32 in 2018/19 to 123 by the end of 2024, according to data published by the BBC.
While treating a ketamine addiction is possible, it can have long-lasting effects on both the brain and body. In particular, a condition called ‘ketamine bladder’ can severely damage the urinary tract. Being aware of these effects helps people understand the true risk of the drug.
By the end of this blog, you’ll know the short and long-term effects of ketamine on both the brain and body, as well as how to get help for addiction.
When you take ketamine, it starts to impact your body and mind almost immediately. While signs may not be noticeable straight away, as you get into the short and long-term effects, they typically become more obvious to the user and those around them.
We’ll take a look at how the effects of ketamine change from the immediate effects in the first hour of taking the drug, to the coming days, weeks, and months with longer-term impacts.
Ketamine has psychoactive effects that kick in within minutes of ingestion. Snorting, injecting, and smoking have a more immediate effect than mixing it into a drink.
In short, ketamine works by blocking a specific neuroreceptor called the NMDA receptor – a specialised protein in the central nervous system responsible for memory formation and learning. In turn, it increases the neurotransmitter affecting mood and perception (extracellular glutamate) in some areas of the brain, while reducing it in others.
Such altered neurochemistry creates sensations of dissociation or detachment, as though your mind is disconnected from the body. Hallucinations are often accompanied by a distorted sense of time and space, as well as feelings of euphoria. These combined effects make it popular with those seeking a short reprieve from their daily lives.
Short-term side effects of ketamine last approximately 30 to 60 minutes, often resulting in users taking multiple doses in succession to maintain their high.
In higher doses, ketamine may lead to a loss of consciousness or a state of agitation that includes feelings of paranoia, anxiety, dizziness, and loss of coordination.
Signs of overdose may include seizures, stupor, or coma. If you notice any of these signs of an overdose, call 999 immediately.
Our acute physical response to ketamine includes an increased heart rate and blood pressure as a response to ketamine’s stimulant properties.
Other short-term physical effects of ketamine on the body include excessive salivation, repetitive, uncontrolled eye movements (nystagmus), and dilation of the pupil.
While small doses of ketamine have a stimulative effect on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, higher doses can have the opposite effect. Ketamine overdoses can lead to respiratory depression or even the temporary cessation of breathing, according to scientific studies. Hypotension or low blood pressure, as well as a slower-than-normal heart rate, are also common with a ketamine overdose.
While pure ketamine overdose fatalities are rare, the risk of overdosing increases significantly when combined with other substances.
If the user loses consciousness after taking ketamine, seek immediate medical assistance by going to A&E or calling 999.
Prolonged or intense periods of ketamine misuse have the potential to alter the brain’s physical structure, particularly in the areas responsible for memory and executive function.
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy found that recreational ketamine use was associated with reduced grey matter volume, decreased white matter integrity, and lower levels of functional thalamocortical and corticocortical connectivity – but what does this mean?
In simpler terms, the study found ketamine can reduce communication between parts of the brain responsible for sensory and motor skills, as well as thought, perception, and decision-making.
All of these changes are associated with neurocognitive decline. As a result, people can experience loss of memory, shortened attention spans, and poor executive function.
Long-term ketamine use is associated with bladder, liver, kidney, and gallbladder dysfunction, although it can also cause harm to the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems.
The most commonly reported toxic effect of ketamine is urinary tract abnormalities. Chronic use may cause ulcers or open sores, cystitis, inflammation, and even fibrosis, the thickening or scarring of tissue in the bladder.
One long-term effect of ketamine use on the rise is a condition known as ‘ketamine bladder syndrome’. In its early stages, ketamine bladder leads to incontinence and blood in the urine. Allowed to advance through continued ketamine misuse, it may lead to the enlargement of the urethra and stretching of the kidneys due to a buildup of urine.
When caught early enough and ketamine use is stopped, some of the damage can be reversed through treatment. However, beyond a certain point, the damage becomes irreversible. In these cases, the patient might have to resort to living with a stoma—a surgically made hole in the abdomen with a bag for collecting urine.
Ketamine can be taken in various ways, with the most common methods of ingestion being through the nose as a powder, mixed into alcoholic drinks, injected, or smoked.
Often mixed in with other drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, or cocaine. Mixing ketamine with other drugs is known as polydrug use, which can amplify its psychoactive effects and bring additional ones depending on what it is mixed with.
Polydrug use among ketamine users is very common, with a study in Sydney, Australia, finding 71% of users ingest ecstasy alongside ketamine. With such high rates of multi-drug misuse, many of those addicted to ketamine will bear the physical and psychological brunt of several harmful substances at once.
While the effects of ketamine are likely to wear off within a couple of hours, it can be detected in the blood for 24 to 72 hours after ingestion.
In fact, some tests can give a positive result after days or even months of taking the substance. Common ketamine tests include blood, saliva, urine, and hair follicles, which have the following detection windows:
With continued use of ketamine, hair follicle tests can show positive results for as many as 12 months after ingestion of the drug.
Ketamine was originally developed as a post-operative pain relief in the 1960s, and is still used in hospitals across the UK to this day.
However, various studies have proven ketamine to be an effective and rapid antidepressant, especially in cases where depression has not responded to other treatments. In fact, recent studies show the substance can improve mood within hours, with mood-boosting effects lasting for up to 72 hours.
Ketamine gained popularity as a recreational drug for its powerful hallucinogenic and dissociative effects. As it alters and distorts how the user perceives sight and sounds, it became a popular party drug during the 70s and 80s. By the 90s, it had lost some of its popularity due to the emergence of more affordable drugs with similar effects.
When you are dealing with a ketamine addiction, knowing what to do and where to go for help can feel overwhelming – we are here to help.
Firstly, if you are facing addiction, you do not need to go it alone. There are a myriad of services at your disposal to get professional, compassionate support to regain control of your life from ketamine addiction.
If you notice the signs of a ketamine overdose, seizure, difficulty or loss of breathing, stupor, or hypotension, seek immediate medical attention.
Here at Gladstones Clinic, we provide professional ketamine addiction rehab to help you leave addiction in the past.
As a CQC-registered clinic, you can trust us to deliver the highest-quality care with long-lasting results. We see you through right from your very first day with us, and continue with our support even after you have left our residential treatment centre.
Get in touch with us today to see how we can help you. Give us a call on 0808 168 2433 or send an email to help@gladstonesclinic.com. Alternatively, fill out our contact form and we will call you back.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Drug Fact Sheet: Ketamine.” DEA.gov, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 2020, https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/Ketamine-2020.pdf. Accessed 27 February 2024.
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Wong, G., et al. “Liver injury is common among chronic abusers of ketamine.” Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology, vol. 12, no. 10, 2014, pp. 1759-1762. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24534547/. Accessed 27 02 2024.
Zhang, M. W.B, and R. C.M Ho. “Controversies of the Effect of Ketamine on Cognition.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 7, no. 47, 2016. National Library of Medicine, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4809869/. Accessed 27 02 2024.
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