I have no idea on the dosing needed for harmful effects - is several large doses enough? Would very many small doses be harmful?
Some people taking anti-depressants do so for a long time. Most are recommended to take them for at least two years to prevent relapse, but some medications (especially venlafaxine) can be hard to come off. (I've been told that I'll probably be taking venlafaxine for the rest of my life.)
So, this news is exciting because better understanding of mental health problems is really important, and better treatments would be fantastic. But please be careful when self-experimenting with possible nootropics.
People have been using Ketamine for decades and the bladder damage didn't seem to start until a couple years ago, so it's possibly not due to ketamine itself.
I know people on the London party scene who got these symptoms over ten years ago. I suspect that it wasn't until there was a culture of people taking large daily doses that this issue became prevalent, as it would be unlikely for this to happen either medically, or among those who were taking this as an occasional psychedelic. It takes chronic long term exposure for these symptoms to occur.
My understanding is that ketamine processes through the body slowly, so if you take it in reasonably large doses every day, you can saturate your system quite easily, which can lead to crystal formation in soft tissues, which is extremely dangerous. In single extremely large doses, or in regular doses that are small enough for your body to process, it would seem to be very safe however.
I'm not trying to stop them, but there are reports of Ketamine abuse being damaging to the bladder. Some people have had their bladders removed.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17411492)
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17344089)
I have no idea on the dosing needed for harmful effects - is several large doses enough? Would very many small doses be harmful?
Some people taking anti-depressants do so for a long time. Most are recommended to take them for at least two years to prevent relapse, but some medications (especially venlafaxine) can be hard to come off. (I've been told that I'll probably be taking venlafaxine for the rest of my life.)
So, this news is exciting because better understanding of mental health problems is really important, and better treatments would be fantastic. But please be careful when self-experimenting with possible nootropics.