Inside a Ketamine rehab programme: A Step by Step Overview
October 5, 2025
7:05 pm
Ketamine addiction treatment rehab is possible. It will be hard work but many have done it. Trying to do it on your own, at home, will not work. It matters not how much willpower you have . It needs professional input. Want to know more? Our clinicians , all with decades of clinical experience in rehab centres, talk you through it. Ketamine is a dangerous drug which is only available on prescription for good reason. Abuse it and you will become ill: Physically and psychologically.
Here at Find Me a Rehab we have experienced addictions clinicians who have worked in rehab centers, statutory services, private outpatients and prisons. They have treated a large number of Ketamine patients. There advice is free and confidential. If you need to be referred to a rehab centre they provide a Free Rehab Referral Service. If you need Free Clinician Drug Advice: Call.
Ketamine is a colourless anaesthetic used in both human and animal medicine. Latterly it is used to treat depression (at micro dose level under medical supervision). Like many drugs that are prescribed, they find there way into social use. Ketamine will, quickly, change your brain chemistry and you will adapt to it. When this happens, if you stop using it, you will experience very distressing withdrawals.
While withdrawals from Ketamine are not, usually, life threatening, the extreme cravings that can occur put you at very serious risk of relapse. Your tolerance will have dropped and you are likely to use more than you did when you were still using. It is possible to overdose to fatal levels.
Ketamine Addiction Rehab Treatment
What Is Ketamine?
Dating Back to the 1960’s Ketamine is an anaesthetic that is still is use, normally for roadside emergency procedures such as amputation. It is widely used by large animal vets. It will stop pain signals in the brain and make you feel disconnected from what is going on around you.
Like all drugs, it affects certain receptors in the brain, namely NMDA. These are associated with memory, learning, pain and how you perceive things. Ketamine also boosts other brain chemicals that can make you feel good: Glutamate and Dopamine.
If you keep using Ketamine, your brain (and your body as the brain controls it) will become accustomed to it and thus you develop what is known as tolerance. This means you will need more and more Ketamine to have the same effect that a small amount used to have.
Signs of Ketamine Addiction
Regularly using Ketamine is usually a quick route addiction. If you can spot the early signs you will be in a much better place to reach out for help.
Physical Signs
Problematic Ketamine use can lead to:
- Chronic digestive isssues
- Severe stomach cramps
- Rapid changes in appetite
- Coordination difficulties
- Slurred speech
- Breathing difficulties
- Severe bladder infections and permanent damage
- Stomach pain or other digestive troubles
- Changes in your appetite
- Coordination problems that weren’t there before
- Speech that sounds slurred or different
- Breathing difficulties
- Permanent bladder damage
Here at Find Me a Rehab we have experienced addictions clinicians who have worked in rehab centers, statutory services, private outpatients and prisons. They have treated a large number of Ketamine patients. There advice is free and confidential. If you need to be referred to a rehab centre they provide a Free Rehab Referral Service. If you need Free Clinician Drug Advice: Call.
What is ketamine detox?
When you use Ketamine for a long enough period it alters your brain chemistry. Aside from this, you also become tolerant meaning you need more and more of the drug to have the same effect a small amount used to.
If you stop taking Ketamine it is likely you will experience very extreme cravings as well as:
- chronic fatigue
- Heightened anxiety
- Confusion
- Psychosis
- Extreme rage
- Severe nausea
- Uncontrollable tremor
- Unconsciousness
- Temporary deafness
Unlike an alcohol or heroin detox, there are no evidenced based treatment plans using substitute medications. However, a short course of adjunctive medications, such as benzodiazepines, may be necessary to help you bridge the gap from cessation to abstinence. The cravings can be so extreme that, without medical intervention, you are at a very high risk of relapse.
Behavioral Changes
Just like with other types of substance abuse, ketamine can reshape your daily habits and priorities. You might catch yourself:
- Spending more time and money getting ketamine
- Pulling away from family and friends who care about you
- Letting responsibilities slide as ketamine takes priority
- Dropping activities you used to love because ketamine seems more important
- Performing worse at school or at work
Psychological Symptoms
Ketamine will change your brain function. It will cause you to:
- Have memory gaps
- Feel very confused
- Have trouble maintaining conversations and staying on task
- Severe mood swings
- Extreme cravings for Ketamine
- Severe anxiety
- Rapid onset depression
Ketamine Addiction Rehab Treatment
Why Withdrawal Happens
The human brain relies on a delicate chemical balance. Ketamine affects receptors in the rain that control how people think and how the body works. In time, if you keep using Ketamine, these become less responsive. This means that your brain then produces different levels of chemicals that it should to try and restore the balance.
When you stop taking Ketamine you through this new balance into disarray and thus you experience the withdrawal symptoms until the brain can restore order.
Can ketamine become addictive?
Ketamine has been used by doctors and vets for over sixty years. Just as with other drugs that are prescribed by a clinician, they become misused. Often Ketamine is used to try and self medicate for various mental health conditions.
As with all brain altering drugs, if you take enough of it, for a sustained period, it is going to be problematic.
Common Withdrawal Symptoms
Withdrawing from Ketamine is not, usually, as dangerous as it would be to stop drinking alcohol suddenly. The usual signs are:
- Extreme urge to use
- Heightened anxiety
- Rapid onset depression
- Nightmares
- Insomnia
- High blood pressure
- Extreme tiredness
- Profuse sweating
- Confusion
- Palpitations
Ketamine Addiction Rehab Treatment
When Withdrawal Becomes a Medical Emergency
Some people, when they stop using Ketamine, Experience withdrawals that are simply tooo intense to be able to function at all. They can become so acutely distressed that others fear for their safety.
Admission to hospital is, sometimes, necessary in order to control and minimise the symptoms.
Ketamine Withdrawal Timeline
There are no hard and fast rules as to when someone will start to show signs of withdrawal. Research indicates that, usually, you will start to experience difficulties 24 hours after you stop using. While the physical symptoms will, usually, subside by themselves, the psychological issues will continue: for sometime.
How long does ketamine withdrawal typically last?
First 72 hours: Usually, physical signs will dampen down after three days. However, this is not always the case and depends on the individuals physiology.
7-14 days: During this second phase, it is not uncommon to experience:
- Double vision
- Fatigue
- Hallucinations
- Deafness
- Tremor
- Rage
- Nausea
- Panic
- Heightened anxiety
- Rapid onset depression
Post acute Withdrawal phase (PAW):
The research on this is inconclusive but there is a growing body of evidence that , for up to a month after you stop taking Ketamine the following symptoms may present themselves:
- Cravings for Ketamine
- Raised body temperature
- Anxiety
- Tremor
- Palpitations
Ketamine Addiction Rehab Treatment
Factors That Affect Severity
There are many factors that determine the severity of withdrawals. These include:
- Length of time using Ketamine
- How much you use
- How often you use
- Underlying physical and emotional health
- Support systems
Ketamine Detox
You can not treat Ketamine addiction at home. Forget what you see on TV. Locking someone in a room with a bucket and a roll of toilet paper won’t work. While the process of detox is not the same as for alcohol and opioids, medical supervision is essential.
The period of medical supervision in a rehab centre is not going to be as intense as with other drugs but is just as important. Often, adjunctive medication, on an “as and when ” basis is needed to take the person from withdrawal to abstinence.
Treatment for Ketamine addiction is five fold:
- Medical supervision
- Psychological support to help manage cravings and rapid mood changes
- Psychoeducation to create a mental tool kit for relapse prevention
- Therapy to explore/address underlying issues that led to addiction
- Treatment for co-occurring psychological illness such as depression, anxiety, PTSD.
The Next Step: Connect With an Experienced Addictions Clinician
Accepting that you have become addicted to Ketamine is a difficult thing to accept. However, the trajectory from realisation to recovery can be started with a phone call. Our clinicians do not charge for advice and they will provide a free referral to any centre in the UK.
Ketamine Addiction Rehab Treatment
Here at Find Me a Rehab we have experienced addictions clinicians who have worked in rehab centers, statutory services, private outpatients and prisons. They have treated a large number of Ketamine patients. There advice is free and confidential. If you need to be referred to a rehab centre they provide a Free Rehab Referral Service. If you need Free Clinician Drug Advice: Call.
Need help finding the right rehab for you or a loved one? Get in touch today and take the first step toward recovery.
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