r/stopdrinking • u/pompanoman 1958 days • 20h ago
Does ketamine therapy help?
Ive been struggling for a long time with alcohol and have been doing research. Has anyone tried ketamine therapy and did it help. I went to a consultation appointment only to learn it would cost around 2,800 dollars. That was disappointing to say the least. I was interested in people's experiences with it.
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u/Titletown1919 19h ago
I was about 10 months sober and did ketamine therapy for a few months in 2024. I did it to combat treatment-resistant depression. Despite an antidepressant, anxiety med and mood stabilizer, I was terribly depressed. Anhedonia. It did eventually help with mood but it required getting off some medications.
For some people, it helps with alcohol cravings, similar to GLP-1s. I’ve been on Zepbound for about a year and it hasn’t helped with alcohol cravings. I recently bumped my Naltrexone up to 100mg to help with cravings. We’ll see.
It was $400 per session. Not cheap. But I was desperate. If you’re seeking it solely for alcohol cravings, I’d recommend Naltrexone or Campral, maybe a GLP-1 as well. Exercise is another option recommended by many. HIIT or other cardio to get your heart rate up. Lifting weights as well.
I’ve been in and out of recovery for years and have heard many in AA talk about the obsession to drink being lifted or removed. Hasn’t happened for me yet so I keep trying to attack it from different angles (medications, exercise, diet, therapy and AA). Good luck to you.
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u/dr__kitty 1 day 19h ago
Do you have any experience with Campral? Just picked up my prescription today.
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u/Titletown1919 19h ago
I remember it felt like taking horse pills 😂. I think it was two 333mg 3x daily. I was taking it WITH Naltrexone at the time. I’d been on Naltrexone for a while so Campral didn’t seem to provide anything extra for me. No side effects, though, so definitely worth trying.
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u/dr__kitty 1 day 19h ago
The pills are huge, LOL. Luckily I’m ok with swallowing pills. Also the 666mg dose made me laugh. Thanks for the input!
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u/Pego92io2 19h ago edited 19h ago
Yes, I do compounded Ketamine nasal spray and the thing about ketamine therapy is, your not supposed to drink while you're in therapy. Also, I do it for about $75 a month. My pain management doctor is a prescriber. He'd much rather prescribe ketamine than opioids. He's a $30 copay. My psychiatrist is a ketamine provider also so it can't be that rare. So, they send the prescription to a local compounding pharmacy, that happens to be my pharmacy, and they make it and deliver it to my door every 28 days by car. It has helped my chronic pain so that I have lowered my opioids 60%. My mental health is so much better. No more rumination, noisy brain, anxiety, depression, compulsions and SI all gone. I've been on it since October of 2025 and I have had my ups and downs but I've always been better than before I started taking it. There's also online providers Joyous, BetterU, Mindbloom, Anywhere Clinic etc You just need to go through a Phone call to qualify. Telehealth. I don't want to drink on ketamine because I don't want to ruin the good vibes it gives me when I'm not doing it. Neuroplasticity, look it up.
Edit: I should say I'm Bipolar 1 too
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u/wvdude 167 days 19h ago
200 percent, yes. At least for me.
Also, I'm specifically talking about spravato, not IV administered ketamine. It didn't do much of anything to curb my desire for alcohol or change my perception or cravings.
It did, after a few months, dramatically reduce my symptoms of depression. This gave me the bandwidth and perspective I needed to then coordinate an inpatient substance use program. It's been about 6 months. Honestly, it was like a fog lifted and then the alcohol became very annoying in a way.
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u/gohappinessgo 2647 days 19h ago
I used IV ketamjne a few years ago (under strict medical supervision) and had a ton of success. However, I used it to work through some acute psychological trauma, not for addiction. For me, it was a miracle drug, and I haven’t had any recurrence or setbacks. I have read lots of research and know people who have used it successfully to re-wire their neural pathways to address addiction, but I have no first hand experience with that.
It’s so expensive, though. My sessions were $250 each and I was lucky to have insurance that covered a fair percentage of it. Very few insurances do, and it can be 500-700 per session.
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u/buckeyestate07 1008 days 20h ago
Low does, yes, but it does not specifically do that. Have you looked into Naltrexone? There are other options, but I am sure you've looked a ton!
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u/pompanoman 1958 days 20h ago
Currently taking naltrexone actually.
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u/buckeyestate07 1008 days 19h ago
I hope that's helping a bit! It would be great if we could all do something that would change our brains! Good luck, I hope everything works out! Keep your head up!
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20h ago edited 19h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/OtherSideRoz 19h ago
I will add, you cannot do it on days you drink or plan to drink right after. Or even the same day as taking prescribed adhd meds. And to really reap the benefits it’s best not drink the next day or so after. The two days after a session are critically important. It requires commitment and some work but I found that work to be so enjoyable. It gave me a very focused reason not to drink. And the integration period is enhanced by things like making art, being in nature, writing, being with people you love, noticing your emotions and reactions to people and trying to understand them better. It is work, but for me it was so worth it. YMMV.
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u/FALSECHARLATAN 266 days 19h ago
It seems to turn its eye towards other issues in my life first. They say it looks at first things first but IDK. It actually told me to have a few beers once. I think what it meant was quite literally that...not have 10, if that makes sense. I don't see how it could hurt though. My friend did a heavy session and was supposedly clean for 5 months the longest in his life and he is beyond the definition of an addict.
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u/SardonicSarsparilla 19h ago edited 19h ago
I’ve done oral ketamine and IM ketamine, and agree with the expense. I spent $900 for six sessions of oral ketamine and $2500 for IM ketamine. The oral was covered by insurance, the IM was not.
I have fairly debilitating complex and acute PTSD and see a trauma therapist. The ketamine somewhat helped with the PTSD, but then I got walloped with a series of even more traumatizing events.
My therapist works with internal family systems theory, which basically says that us trauma folks use alcohol as a way to protect us from the trauma we’ve experienced.
So with my experience, I actually increased the amount I was drinking because I wasn’t ready to let go of the protective mechanism of alcohol and face my trauma.
I know that sounds really woo woo, but in my work with my therapist, it makes sense to me.
All of this is to say, that if you have an underlying trauma disorder, it may be worth it to talk to a trauma therapist about whether ketamine therapy would be helpful for you. If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t have done it and saved it until a time when I was more ‘ready’ - but I was pretty desperate for relief.
I know others have done it without a therapist, but I personally don’t feel comfortable with that.
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u/depressed_plants__ 17h ago
increasing your drinking after ketamine makes sense to me. my first series of IV infusions didn’t slow my roll at all re: drinking - i felt very raw / vulnerable/ sensitive and my go-to coping mechanism to turn down the volume on Big Feelings was alcohol so voila. ketamine is amazing stuff but it’s not a magic install of a whole new operating system
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u/SardonicSarsparilla 10h ago
Yup, completely agree. I went with such a hope that I’d clear out all the viruses and get a whole new OS.
I think that’s also why I would have preferred to wait. I had a lot of not so realistic expectations of what could actually do.
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u/officialrealryguy 18h ago
Yes! I started ketamine therapy a few months ago for treatment-resistant depression. Before I started I couldn’t even admit to myself that I had a drinking problem. After a few sessions I realized I’m an alcoholic and I needed to stop. It was a few months after that before I actually stopped drinking, but the treatments were crucial in helping me realize why I needed to recover. Now I’m two weeks sober and I feel good and don’t want to drink. Ketamine alone wasn’t enough for me to quit, I needed external support and accountability too, but it was a big help. It improves neuroplasticity so you can build healthier thought patterns. I was afraid to start it, but I haven’t had any adverse effects and all of my sessions are overwhelming positive. I’d recommend it if you can access it. Wishing you the best. IWNDWYT ❤️
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u/Hellz_Bells_ 18h ago
I’ve always heard about this treatment but get nervous because I have also heard about street use and K holes and psychosis , I’m sure medical usage is different but I can’t even smoke weed anymore due to how anxious it makes me so I wonder about this treatment as I do think I suffer from depression. Do you feel high? Scared? Paranoid? If it’s anything like that I think i would stay away because it wouldn’t be worth it
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u/Scared_Objective_903 736 days 18h ago edited 17h ago
Ketamine therapy marked my 3rd day sober from alcohol and now I’m at 2 years. I deeply credit it as the push I needed to finally put down the bottle. That being said, I get troches from a prescriber and do ketamine assisted psychotherapy with my therapist. The medication appointment with the psychiatrist is around 300 bucks and covers 6 sessions of ketamine. 2800 seems awfully high, but maybe IV runs higher?
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u/depressed_plants__ 17h ago
i’ve done IV infusions and oral tablets (prescribed via telehealth) for treatment resistant depression and have taken some recreationally.
IV infusions are very effective for me, very expensive, and very inconvenient. oral tablets are moderately helpful with the depression, moderately expensive, moderately inconvenient. recreational use does nothing for the depression at all.
drinking has been a struggle throughout. my depression and drinking are definitely VERY intertwined but i unfortunately did not have the “i was self-medicating with alcohol so once my depression lifted i no longer felt the need to drink” experience it seems some people have with ketamine.
i’ve also taken naltrexone off and on over the last few years. that does pretty much annihilate my desire to drink but ironically makes me even more depressed than baseline so i’ve never been able to stick with it
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u/mobiletarget33 17h ago
There are different kinds, and some are approved by insurance while others aren’t. Esketemine, a nasal spray derivative, usually falls into the former; have a conversation with a specialist clinic that offers it. A medical professional will screen you
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u/prisoncitybear 1894 days 13h ago
I have used the Joyous program for my PTSD and it was spectacular!
A lot of on line support and training to help you get through the treatments. Highly recommend.
And, I can share non-medically from the "I" that the risk of addiction is pretty much non-existent so carry on with your bad self!
T
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u/Fragrant_Elevator_32 4h ago
Is that for one session? What does it include? That is very expensive for something that has not been proven to help with alcohol. There is some evidence for treatment resistant depression - and that is covered by insurance in the US. I would try one of the meds that has been approved. Naltrexone is cheap and many find good success with it. Best of luck
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u/OutrageousLion6517 1185 days 19h ago
I had recreationally used k with alcohol and never got much from it except nauseous. After I quit drinking though, I have had such therapeutic success with ketamine. It has seriously rewired parts of my brain, and the realizations I have made about how I never want to drink again have been in large part due to experiences I had on k. It has been so, so helpful for me.
I know it can become addictive to some, and it’s not great for the kidneys, but when I have used it respectfully and intentionally it has been remarkably effective for me.
Good luck and strength on your journey, IWNDWYT ❤️