Ketamine Signs and Symptoms of Abuse

The signs of ketamine use are so pronounced that they are very hard to miss. For this reason, a person abusing ketamine who does not want family members to know will probably abuse the drug out of sight of family. It is very often used as a party drug, or it may be used in isolation.

Ketamine causes distortions to perceptions, and at lower dosages, a sort of mellowness. The user will feel out of control of himself, and to a greater or lesser degree dissociated from their body. The user may also experience hallucinations similar to those of a person using LSD.

Because the symptoms are not long-lasting, the person who uses the drug at a party may have recovered by the time he gets home. Thus the family may have to use other signs and symptoms to detect abuse of ketamine.

Sources of Ketamine

Ketamine is mostly available as a veterinary anesthetic. It may be stolen from a vet clinic in the US or obtained from international sources and then trafficked into the US. It is easily obtained in Mexico and those wishing to abuse the drugs may cross the border and purchase it. Some people may cross the border to obtain either ketamine or the anti-anxiety drug Rohypnol for the purpose of rendering a person incapable of resisting a sexual assault. Either drug can cause amnesia so that the victim may not even remember the event.

Symptoms of Abuse May Include Addiction and Deteriorating Condition

Here are some of the specific signs a person may show while abusing ketamine. The symptoms become more severe when more of the drug is abused:

• Unusual mellowness
• Changes in perceptions of color or sound
• Dissociation from body or identity
• Agitation
• Depression
• Difficulty thinking or learning
• Nausea
• Dilated pupils
• Involuntary muscle movements
• Amnesia
• Slowed breathing
• Increased blood pressure that then slowly drops
• Hallucinations
• Delirium

Many users will attempt to take enough of the drug to experience a condition of complete dissociation from body or environment that they consider enjoyable. When they have achieved this state, they may be unable to respond to voices, lights or other stimuli. This condition may last for an hour or less and then begin to fade away.

A chronic user of ketamine is very likely to become psychologically dependent on the drug. He will probably be unable to think clearly or retain anything that was learned and will probably be quite depressed. He may suffer periods of amnesia.

It is very common for people who are addicted to commit crimes to get the drugs they begin to crave so strongly. Thus, guilt is a common symptom of addiction. Despite all the damage being done, a person addicted to ketamine will continue to abuse the drug.

The Family Who Needs to Detect Addiction

When one of your family members is abusing ketamine, they may keep the signs of abuse out of sight. You may only see the indirect signs of addiction - the lack of production, lack of any enjoyment of life, isolation and increasing depression. Unless you find empty vials of ketamine, you may not realize that this drug is the agent that is causing this kind of damage.

All you need to know is that when your loved one is losing everything to substance abuse, you need to find an effective rehabilitation center that can provide the life-saving recovery program you are looking for. For nearly 50 years, the Narconon network of rehab centers have been helping the addicted repair the guilt, stamp out the cravings and lift the depression that is so common to addicts. Without a thorough rehab program, these factors of addiction will keep a person trapped.

How the Narconon Program Results in Rehabilitation

Substance abuse treatment for drug abuse must work holistically for it to have a lasting effect. In other words, it must treat the damaging effects of substance abuse on the body but then it must also help the addict learn how to build a new drug-free life, sometimes from the ground up, when addiction has destroyed everything.

Substitute drugs are not used as the Narconon program is a drug free program.

A thorough detoxification followed by counseling and life skills training enable a person in a drug program to see things in a whole new light so they can live an enjoyable, productive life again. This is the way the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program works.

Learn all the other ways this program can help your loved one regain an interest in sobriety and productiveness once again.