The Effects & Dangers Of Mixing Alcohol And Ketamine

What Is Ketamine? Mixing Alcohol and Ketamine

Depending on the specific route of ingestion, the effects of the drug may be felt within a couple of minutes. The user may have distortions in sight or sound, and feel disconnected from reality. Hallucinations are common under the influence of the drug and may last 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Users may also feel detached from their body, an experience referred to as being in the “k-hole.”

Other effects include agitation, depression, trouble thinking, amnesia, and loss of consciousness. Users may become unresponsive to outside stimuli and experience involuntary rapid eye movements, dilated pupils, salivation, tearing, and muscle stiffness.

How Does Ketamine Work?

Ketamine binds to and blocks the activation of a special brain protein known as the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. Normally, the NMDA receptor interacts with and is activated by glutamate—an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain that plays a role in learning and memory. Blocking glutamatergic activation of the NMDA receptor can affect attention, learning, and memory, and ketamine’s antagonizing effects on this receptor are thought to also play a role in its anesthetic and pain-relieving properties.

Ketamine Side Effects

Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficult breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Tell your caregivers if you have hallucinations or unusual thoughts while waking up from anesthesia.

Call your doctor at once if you have:

• Painful or difficult urination, increased urination, loss of bladder control, blood in your urine
• A light-headed feeling, like you, might pass out
• Slow heart rate, weak or shallow breathing
• Jerky muscle movements that may look like convulsions

Common side effects may include:

• confusion
• dream-like feeling

How Does Alcohol Work?

Though the precise mechanism isn’t fully understood, alcohol use is also accompanied by an increase in dopamine activity. Dopamine is commonly thought of as the brain’s “pleasure chemical,” though more accurately, its actions are thought to reinforce certain behaviors (e.g., drinking) that themselves are associated with pleasurable effects.

Physical Effects of Alcohol on the Body

Here’s a breakdown of the physical effects of alcohol on your internal organs and body processes.

Digestive and endocrine glands

Drinking too much alcohol may cause inflammation of the pancreas, resulting in a condition called pancreatitis. Pancreatitis can activate the release of pancreatic digestive enzymes and cause abdominal pain. Pancreatitis can become a long-term condition and cause serious complications.

Inflammatory damage

Your liver helps break down and remove toxins and harmful substances (including alcohol) from your body. Long-term alcohol use interferes with this process. It also increases your risk for alcohol-related liver disease and chronic liver inflammation:

• Alcohol-related liver disease is a potentially life-threatening condition that leads to toxins and waste buildup in your body.
• Chronic liver inflammation can cause scarring or alcoholic cirrhosis. When scar tissue forms, it may permanently damage your liver.

Sugar levels

The pancreas helps regulate how your body uses insulin and responds to glucose. If your pancreas and liver don’t function properly due to pancreatitis or liver disease, you could experience low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. A damaged pancreas can also prevent your body from producing enough insulin to use sugar. This can lead to hyperglycemia or too much sugar in the blood.

If your body can’t manage and balance your blood sugar levels, you may experience greater complications and side effects related to diabetes. Experts recommend avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol if you have diabetes or hypoglycemia.

Central nervous system

One major way to recognize alcohol’s impact on your body? Understanding how it affects your central nervous system. Slurred speech, a key sign of intoxication, happens because alcohol reduces communication between your brain and body. This makes speech and coordination — think reaction time and balance — more difficult. That’s one major reason why you should never drive after drinking. Over time, alcohol can cause damage to your central nervous system, you might notice numbness and tingling in your feet and hands.

Short-term physical effects of alcohol

Temporary physical effects of alcohol you might notice while drinking (or shortly after) include:

Some of these physical effects of alcohol, like a relaxed mood or lowered inhibitions, might show up quickly, after just one drink. Others, like loss of consciousness or slurred speech, may develop after a few drinks. Dehydration-related effects, like nausea, headache, and dizziness, might not appear for a few hours, and they can also depend on what you drink, how much, and if you also drink water.

These effects might not last very long, but that doesn’t make them insignificant. Impulsiveness, loss of coordination, and mood changes can affect your judgment and behavior and contribute to more far-reaching effects, including accidents, injuries, and decisions you later regret.

Long-term physical effects of alcohol

Alcohol use can also lead to more lasting concerns that extend beyond your mood and health. Some long-term physical effects of alcohol frequently drinking include:

Can You Mix Alcohol and Ketamine?

Combining alcohol and ketamine can lead to negative reactions, some of which can be life-threatening. Users who mix alcohol and ketamine may be at increased risk of urinary tract issues, memory loss, slowed breathing, coma, and even death. Symptoms of an overdose on alcohol and ketamine can include unconsciousness, slowed heart rate, impaired motor function, vomiting, and clammy skin, and requires immediate medical attention.

Effects of Mixing Alcohol and Ketamine

In the case of overdose deaths from recreational use of ketamine, forensic investigators have found concentrations of ketamine in the blood ranging from 0.1 to 7.0 mg/liter when used in conjunction with other drugs, including alcohol. Of 23 deaths in the United Kingdom between 1993 and 2006 in which ketamine was identified in the user’s system, only 4 of those involved only ketamine; the other 19 were attributed to a mixing of substances. A study in New York City found similar rates, with 12 out of 15 deaths attributed to polydrug overdoses involving ketamine.

Finally, ketamine use may increase the risk of certain urinary tract issues, including irreversible urologic damage. The Global Drug Survey found that people who drank alcohol while they used ketamine were much more likely to report problems such as increased urinary frequency, pain with urination, lower abdominal pain, and blood in their urine. Avoiding the combination of alcohol and ketamine reduces the risk of bladder and gastrointestinal problems.

Reclaim Your Life From Mixing Alcohol and Ketamine

Substance use disorder can lead to serious physical effects of alcohol. We Level Up rehab treatment & detox center can provide you, or someone you love, the tools to recover from alcoholism or ketamine addiction with professional and safe treatment. Feel free to call us to speak with one of our counselors. We can inform you about this condition by giving you relevant information. Our specialists know what you are going through. Please know that each call is private and confidential.