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I chose Ketamine as the topic for my project because this particular drug has grown fairly prominent and notorious in the last decade and it’s a medication I can give patients at my job when it’s needed. Fortuitously, it coincided with our previous chapter as most of its effects are on the nervous system.
Ketamine has been available for human use as an analgesic for 30 years, it has been used for analgesia in animals for more than double that time. Ketamine is classified as a dissociative anesthetic and is unique among other analgesic medications as it is not an opioid and has little to no depressive effect on the cardiac or respiratory systems. These properties make it ideal for the treatment of traumatic injuries where the patient’s pain can be managed without requiring ventilatory support. The United States military has used it, one might even say excessively, on the battlefield and in the surgical environment. Ketamine also has varying levels of effect on the body depending on the dosage given, small doses provide moderate pain relief while the patient remains aware of their environment, and large doses are used as a sedative for intubation for example. There is a dosage between large and small in the clinical setting that is avoided as it will induce the “K-hole” This dissociative state is similar to other hallucinogenic effects where reality may appear startlingly different for the patient. Fortunately, that can usually be avoided by giving the patient more ketamine to induce full sedation, typically along with another sedative like a Benzodiazepine.
Ketamine has also garnered a respectable amount of interest from illicit users for recreation use, last year the actor Matthew Perry died from drowning in his hot tub with ketamine in his system. My limited research on the topic did not reveal a large number of deaths from Ketamine overdoses, not surprising as ketamine does not suppress the respiratory drive in the same manner as opioids. However, there are circumstances where ketamine is contributory to death as in the tragic death of Elijah Mclain in Colorado in 2019. (Ketamine Investigatory Review Panel Report Overview, 2021)
I feel that Ketamine is at worst an inappropriate medication for treating Excited Delirium Syndrome or at best not the most ideal. It’s an excellent medication for pain management and has been proven in numerous studies that I have not provided. It has developed a large amount of distrust among the public and clinicians due to its misuse as in the above-mentioned case, which in my opinion is unfortunate.
I am neither a Lyricist nor a singer so I apologize for my evident lack of talent in the recording. It was however fun to make, I included several references to Ketamine’s effect on the nervous system such as its role as an NMDA antagonist (Savić Vujović et al., 2023) as well as many slang terms for ketamine. I tried to channel the ethereal, surreal, and dark aspects that have been described by users over the years (Sachdeva et al., 2023)
Background song is “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” by Testomoron
Savić Vujović K, Jotić A, Medić B, Srebro D, Vujović A, Žujović J, Opanković A, Vučković S. Ketamine, an Old–New Drug: Uses and Abuses. Pharmaceuticals. 2024; 17(1):16. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17010016
Sachdeva, B. (n.d.). Ketamine as a therapeutic agent in major depressive … Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ibra.12094
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. (2021, December 1). Ketamine Investigatory Review Panel Report Overview. Ketamine Investigatory Review Panel Report Overview | Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. https://cdphe.colorado.gov/ketamine-investigatory-review-panel-report-overview
Michael’s STEAM project was very creative. His project examines the effect ketamine has on the nervous system. Ketamine has been used as a painkiller for over 30 years in humans and even longer in animals. It’s classified as a dissociative anesthetic, which means it doesn’t work like opioids and doesn’t affect the heart or lungs the way other pain medications do. This makes it useful for managing pain in traumatic injuries without the need for ventilatory support. The U.S. military has used it extensively in combat and surgery. The effects of ketamine depends on the dosage the individual receives. Low doses provide the patient with moderate pain relief while still enabling them to remain aware of their surroundings. In higher doses, it is used as a sedative for procedures like intubation. There is also a middle range of dosage that can cause a dissociative state, called the “K-hole,” which can make reality feel distorted for the patient.
Additionally, ketamine is used recreationally, and although it is less dangerous than opioids, it has still been linked to some deaths, including that of actor Matthew Perry. Overall, this project was very creative and informative. Michael did a great job!