Ketamine: What Is It For?
Ketamine is a drug with anesthetic and hallucinogenic properties. Its use in medicine is very limited, and it is only used as a fast-acting anesthetic.
It is also widely used in veterinary medicine to sedate large animals, especially horses. In fact, this drug was synthesized and began to be used in the late twentieth century for this purpose.
What is the mechanism of action of ketamine?
Ketamine is a phencyclidine derivative. Both compounds belong to the pharmacological family of NMDA receptor antagonists. NMDA is the abbreviation for N-Methyl-D-Aspartate, a glutamate agonist.
When a substance is an agonist, it means that it potentiates the effect of another substance. On the contrary, if a substance is antagonistic, we understand that it blocks the action of another substance.
Ketamine is an anesthetic because it blocks NMDA activity, which in turn is responsible for increasing glutamate activity.
Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that participates in synapses that occur in various regions of the nervous system. The cerebral cortex is rich in glutamate receptors, since it is the area where the centers of learning, memory, etc. are located…
By blocking glutamate, the synapse does not transmit excitatory information and the nervous system enters a relaxed state. Depending on the dose, we go from a sedative or tranquilizing effect to anesthesia, which is the blocking of sensations.
What is ketamine for?
As we mentioned in the previous section, ketamine is primarily used as a sedative and anesthetic in veterinary medicine. Its use in humans is very limited, due to the psychotropic side effects it produces. However, in less developed countries it is often seen as an anesthetic as it is a cheaper product than modern drugs.
Why is ketamine a psychotropic substance?
Ketamine is a powerful hallucinogen with a dissociative character . This means that it produces changes in relation to the situation of the patient’s body in space. It is common to describe sensations of lightness, floating, leaving your own body, etc…
When it started to be used in low doses in children and the elderly, many patients commented after anesthesia they felt it. As the number of cases was so large, several studies were carried out and it was finally discovered that, in fact, with very low doses of this substance, the hallucinogenic effect was very potent.
It is precisely this potency reflected in the substance’s great affinity for receptors that makes it a dangerous substance.
It is very difficult to administer the correct dose as it produces immediate side effects. In fact, in minimal doses it produces relaxation and, with a little more, leads to death-like experiences. The feeling of death is given by blocking movement. People are completely still.
What are the side effects of ketamine?
In addition to hallucinations, it also produces changes in memory and difficulty in maintaining attention. If the dose is increased, the patient will suffer potentially fatal arrhythmias. For example, bradycardia. Other cardiovascular effects to consider are high blood pressure, cardiorespiratory failure and increased intracranial pressure.
Children can die from spasms of the larynx, where the airway is blocked. In addition, they often have seizures and dystonia.
Dystonia refers to involuntary muscle contractions. If produced by ketamine, they are often very painful for the patient and reflect nervous system dysfunction.
For all these reasons, ketamine is practically not used in clinical practice. This is because complications are so frequent and dangerous that the risk of benefit is very high. Furthermore, if it is mixed with other substances – such as alcohol – the intensity of complications increases.
If you realize that someone may have used ketamine, we recommend that you notify the emergency services as soon as possible and move the person to a quiet location. Preferably with dim light and in silence in order to reduce nervous system stimulation.
