This article is\u00a0in our series on Medications for Pain.<\/strong>\u00a0What are your choices? How do various medications work? What are the pros and cons?\u00a0Side effects?<\/em><\/p>\n The medication\u00a0Ketamine\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>is an anesthetic. Anesthetics are drugs which prevent sensations, particularly pain. Ketamine is an NMDA-receptor antagonist.\u00a0Also in this class is Dextromethorophan (which is an active ingredient in cough syrup). These medications can be used:<\/p>\n One study showed that\u00a0moderate-dose infusions give\u00a0much better pain relief than\u00a0low-dose infusions do, without additional side effects, and so moderate-dosages are now recommended.<\/p>\n Effect of Ketamine: Uses of Ketamine: Side Effects:<\/strong> Also Interesting: This article is\u00a0in our series on Medications for Pain.\u00a0What are your choices? How do various medications work? What are the pros and cons?\u00a0Side effects? The medication\u00a0Ketamine\u00a0is an anesthetic. Anesthetics are drugs which prevent sensations, particularly pain. Ketamine is an NMDA-receptor antagonist.\u00a0Also in this class is Dextromethorophan (which is an active ingredient in cough syrup). These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6055"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8040,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6055\/revisions\/8040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n<\/strong>Ketamine and others in this class are called NMDA-receptor antagonists<\/em>. This means they block nerve conduction at a specific (NMDA) neurotransmitter site.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Ketamine is only approved as an anesthetic for surgical procedures, not for chronic pain. In chronic pain treatment, it’s used on the skin for nerve pain, and by IV for CRPS\u00a0(Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or RSD). Dextromethorophan,\u00a0when used for chronic pain, is\u00a0given in concentrated pill form, as the amount in cough syrup is very low.<\/p>\n
\nKetamine’s short term side-effects include anxiety and hallucinations. There’s been concern over unknown longer-term consequences, including cognitive (memory) problems. However, one study\u00a0showed no decrease in attention, learning, and memory in 9 patients with CRPS who underwent a Ketamine coma. Although\u00a0we’re still at an early stage in learning how to use Ketamine more safely for chronic pain, I’m becoming a bigger fan of this treatment for use after other treatments have not been effective.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Ketamine’s other uses include in veterinary medicine,\u00a0battlefield medicine, and as a recreational drug.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"