not the guy you're replying to, but dissociatives like ket are a fairly different beast from opioids. there's similarities, but there's also stuff that's completely unique to either. spoilering the next part because i have a way to write about drugs that makes people want to do drugs, so take everything with a grain of salt, do your research, know your dosage, test your stuff and stay safe.
spoiler
i used to never get much out of ketamine until friends of mine figured out you can smoke the freebase in a glas pipe, like meth or crack. it's ... quite something, coming up on the stuff when you consume it this way is like flying, like an incredible force picking you up and catapulting you into the stratosphere. and then you're floating in space, feeling like an intergalactic empress, omnipotent and above everything. or it's as if you're completely out of your body and have to operate all your limbs via remote control. you're detached from the world, both physically and mentally. out there in your space capsule. when you take too much, it can get really dark, cold and scary, so be warned, this stuff can fuck with your head a lot. all fine motor control goes completely out the window, too - i've never encountered a drug that fucks harder with your ability to move like a normal human being. we're talking mad cow disease levels of wobbly legs. it does incredibly weird things with time and music, too. i asked my more experienced friend to put on some fitting music before i took a hit. he went with placebo and it was ... i've never seen any other drug do that with music. it was as if the track was running through a leslie, slowing down and speeding up in this weird, otherworldly way. i was literally screaming with laughter throughout the song, i couldn't believe what was happening.
btw, if this sounds too good to be true, it is. ket use is still pretty rare, but there are some people who overdo this stuff, like a lot, and that's really, really bad for your kidneys and bladder. destroying the parts of your body used for peeing is unfortunately a very real side effect of ketamine abuse, and there's the usual problems that apply to all drugs that act as an "idgaf" button for your problems.
oh, and one last thing: When i say ketamine makes you move like a cow with BSE, i'm not overstating things. I've never seen a drug that's worse for parties. not from the perspective of the user, there's people who love to dance on ket, but ... you're probably trampling on everybody's toes, you may fall over people without even realizing (not kidding, i've had k heads fall on my lap and not understand wtf is going on, it happens) and the detached state you're in on k can really weird people out. this is something to use at home with good friends you trust imho.
If acid makes you feel connected with the universe, ketamine sort of does the opposite - it's a deep dive inward where you forget about the concept of existence entirely. It's isolating because your reality is completely your own, but it doesn't feel lonely because you hardly remember that there was ever a shared reality to begin with. It's comforting and familiar like a womb, yet somehow ordinary things like walking through a doorway into another room feel like a completely novel experience. In between the moments of confusion, you get this tremendous sense of discovery - I'm talking first man on the moon - from even the most mundane activities. If you get the dosage low enough, it is the perfect drug for a bike ride at an empty park in the middle of the day. If you get the dosage high enough, it's sort of like a 30 minute nitrous high followed by a pleasant trippy kind of relaxation. I guess the number one adjective I'd use to describe the feeling is "cozy."
It can also be extremely psychologically addictive for people who crave escapism, though. During that big ketamine revival during the early 2010s, I definitely lost a lot of time to drug use. I was also pretty happy and content and doing well socially and in my career, but like... I was totally disconnected from reality and would come up with all sorts of elaborate pseudo-spiritual conspiracy theories. I stopped spending much time with people who weren't also on ketamine because I got all the social interaction I needed in that liminal space that you visit on ketamine. Hell, I'd practically bought a timeshare there.
I realized what was happening and ditched my stash, but a lot of people I knew didn't have as easy a time with returning to the real world. One of my friends had to move to a country where she didn't have any plugs and start over, another one got heavy into dealing and lost his life to some crypto mob guys, and my partner spiraled into a hidden PCP habit for a while. Most people were fine, but if you're already susceptible to whims of fantasy... just be careful.
I don't know if IV is different from snorted but I didn't experience is as being much like painkiller. You can still feel everything, you just don't care. it also distorted... umm... you know how, sometimes, you become aware of yourself thinking? That got really intense, like I was thinking about myself thinking about myself thinking about myself thinking about myself until it felt like I was stuck in this totally stable, motionless, endless place. I could still carry on reasonably coherent conversations, like I was still awake, just not aware if that makes sense? idk it's profoundly fucking weird.
I experienced no desire to do more right away. It was strange, and not unpleasant, but there was no euphoria or rush or ecstatic feeling. Once most of the effect wore off it... made me feel like I had the balance issues of being drunk, while my mind was clear and alert. Like, I could carry on a conversation without any trouble, but I needed to look where I was going to walk or sit down and pay attention to my balance and my feet. That lasted for several hours, though I usually went to sleep as soon as I got home so I don't know how long it took to wear off.
I would do it again if I could do it safely. It was just such an experience, like seeing the ocean or looking off the edge of a very tall building, or diving in to the water. There wasn't anything euphoric or ecstatic about it, but it was such a wildly different experience from normal perception that it was interesting in and of itself. It paired really well with music. And it was good for introspection, I felt like I had a vast span of time to think about myself and reflect on memories and events in my life.
It was very different from shrooms. I found shrooms really made colors stand out and become, like, not more vivid, but I was extremely aware of the different between each hue and shade and gradation of colors. And shrooms also... idk how to explain this but it kind of broke down the conceptual categories that I used to identify things? Like a rug was no longer a rug but a mass of color and texture and distance and other information that wasn't connected under a single label anymore.
Ketamine wasn't like that. Perception was still pretty normal but I had to concentrate to focus on any given thing that I was seeing or I'd lose track and stop looking at it, even though I my eyes were still aimed there. Everything felt very pulled back and zoomed out, kind of like that famous shot in jaws where they moved the camera forward while zooming back.
idk, trying to describe a mind altering drug with words is a fool's errand, we literally don't have the words, so that's the best I can do to explain it.
Yeah I'm starting to see the problem here in trying to compare it to other types of drugs.
Have you ever done laughing gas, also known as whippets? If I remember correctly it is the same type of drug as ketamine having a similar mechanism of action. Laughing gas would be my all time second favorite drug if it lasted hours instead of 30 seconds.
Nah, whippets never did anything for me. Idk if I was doing them wrong or what, but I never really got a strong effect from them. I have been on "laughing gas" for dental surgery but I think they just put me on high concentration oxygen and told me I was on nitrous and the placebo effect was enough to get me to relax. Oh wait no there was a time when I was on laughing gas. I God I forgot about that. it was for some dental work and I was totally on a different planet. All I remember is hitting on the dental assistant (which I'm sure was very seductive with my mouth jammed open by dental equipment and blood everywhere) and then being spacey and goofy for about an hour later.
Yeah that sounds like a placebo that first time. Trust me, when you're breathing laughing gas through a mask you'll know for absolutely certain within seconds.
When I got my wisdom teeth removed I had to be put under general anesthetic. Thing is I've always had an extreme phobia of needles, especially in veins. I literally cannot control myself if someone is going to put a needle in me and so I needed heavy sedation for them to put my IV in.
They used laughing gas and it was so much more intense and longer lived than whippets because instead of taking hits out of small canisters I had a mask continuously administering a mixture of laughing gas and oxygen.
I felt like time slowed down, as if the neurons in my brain were behaving the same, just at a much slower rate and without producing any anxiety whatsoever. It cut through my needle phobia like a hot knife through butter.
When the nurse was getting ready to put my IV the doctor tried distracting me so I wouldn't notice, but he didn't need to. I noticed he was trying to distract me, and I knew they were putting the IV in. I said with slurred speech "I know what you're trying to do you little shit" but I didn't feel even a twinge of panic and just accepted them putting the IV in like it was no big deal.
It was fucking awesome and I wish I could get a giant tank of the stuff. It's not illegal but the assholes who make it won't sell it to non-companies.
You know I used to have a severe needle phobia too, but when I got put on anti anxiety medication it pretty much got rid of it? Same with a couple of phobias. I used to be terrified of spiders and the dark and being on anti-anxiety meds for a few years got rid of it entirely.
I also got the sense of spatial distortion. I felt like I was sitting inside my head looking out, and my arms were impossibly far away and needed to be manually controlled if I wanted them to do anything.
On a smaller dose its a bit like MDMA minus the speediness and a bit weirder. The k hole is more like almost opiate-y but with a sorta psychadelic clarity some times
Sounds like opioids but without the horrible withdrawal symptoms and ravenous craving. At least the result does.
Is there any other drug you could compare the feeling to?
not the guy you're replying to, but dissociatives like ket are a fairly different beast from opioids. there's similarities, but there's also stuff that's completely unique to either. spoilering the next part because i have a way to write about drugs that makes people want to do drugs, so take everything with a grain of salt, do your research, know your dosage, test your stuff and stay safe.
spoiler
i used to never get much out of ketamine until friends of mine figured out you can smoke the freebase in a glas pipe, like meth or crack. it's ... quite something, coming up on the stuff when you consume it this way is like flying, like an incredible force picking you up and catapulting you into the stratosphere. and then you're floating in space, feeling like an intergalactic empress, omnipotent and above everything. or it's as if you're completely out of your body and have to operate all your limbs via remote control. you're detached from the world, both physically and mentally. out there in your space capsule. when you take too much, it can get really dark, cold and scary, so be warned, this stuff can fuck with your head a lot. all fine motor control goes completely out the window, too - i've never encountered a drug that fucks harder with your ability to move like a normal human being. we're talking mad cow disease levels of wobbly legs. it does incredibly weird things with time and music, too. i asked my more experienced friend to put on some fitting music before i took a hit. he went with placebo and it was ... i've never seen any other drug do that with music. it was as if the track was running through a leslie, slowing down and speeding up in this weird, otherworldly way. i was literally screaming with laughter throughout the song, i couldn't believe what was happening.
btw, if this sounds too good to be true, it is. ket use is still pretty rare, but there are some people who overdo this stuff, like a lot, and that's really, really bad for your kidneys and bladder. destroying the parts of your body used for peeing is unfortunately a very real side effect of ketamine abuse, and there's the usual problems that apply to all drugs that act as an "idgaf" button for your problems.
oh, and one last thing: When i say ketamine makes you move like a cow with BSE, i'm not overstating things. I've never seen a drug that's worse for parties. not from the perspective of the user, there's people who love to dance on ket, but ... you're probably trampling on everybody's toes, you may fall over people without even realizing (not kidding, i've had k heads fall on my lap and not understand wtf is going on, it happens) and the detached state you're in on k can really weird people out. this is something to use at home with good friends you trust imho.
If acid makes you feel connected with the universe, ketamine sort of does the opposite - it's a deep dive inward where you forget about the concept of existence entirely. It's isolating because your reality is completely your own, but it doesn't feel lonely because you hardly remember that there was ever a shared reality to begin with. It's comforting and familiar like a womb, yet somehow ordinary things like walking through a doorway into another room feel like a completely novel experience. In between the moments of confusion, you get this tremendous sense of discovery - I'm talking first man on the moon - from even the most mundane activities. If you get the dosage low enough, it is the perfect drug for a bike ride at an empty park in the middle of the day. If you get the dosage high enough, it's sort of like a 30 minute nitrous high followed by a pleasant trippy kind of relaxation. I guess the number one adjective I'd use to describe the feeling is "cozy."
It can also be extremely psychologically addictive for people who crave escapism, though. During that big ketamine revival during the early 2010s, I definitely lost a lot of time to drug use. I was also pretty happy and content and doing well socially and in my career, but like... I was totally disconnected from reality and would come up with all sorts of elaborate pseudo-spiritual conspiracy theories. I stopped spending much time with people who weren't also on ketamine because I got all the social interaction I needed in that liminal space that you visit on ketamine. Hell, I'd practically bought a timeshare there.
I realized what was happening and ditched my stash, but a lot of people I knew didn't have as easy a time with returning to the real world. One of my friends had to move to a country where she didn't have any plugs and start over, another one got heavy into dealing and lost his life to some crypto mob guys, and my partner spiraled into a hidden PCP habit for a while. Most people were fine, but if you're already susceptible to whims of fantasy... just be careful.
That is some serious cyberpunk shit. I'm sorry about your friend.
I don't know if IV is different from snorted but I didn't experience is as being much like painkiller. You can still feel everything, you just don't care. it also distorted... umm... you know how, sometimes, you become aware of yourself thinking? That got really intense, like I was thinking about myself thinking about myself thinking about myself thinking about myself until it felt like I was stuck in this totally stable, motionless, endless place. I could still carry on reasonably coherent conversations, like I was still awake, just not aware if that makes sense? idk it's profoundly fucking weird.
I experienced no desire to do more right away. It was strange, and not unpleasant, but there was no euphoria or rush or ecstatic feeling. Once most of the effect wore off it... made me feel like I had the balance issues of being drunk, while my mind was clear and alert. Like, I could carry on a conversation without any trouble, but I needed to look where I was going to walk or sit down and pay attention to my balance and my feet. That lasted for several hours, though I usually went to sleep as soon as I got home so I don't know how long it took to wear off.
I would do it again if I could do it safely. It was just such an experience, like seeing the ocean or looking off the edge of a very tall building, or diving in to the water. There wasn't anything euphoric or ecstatic about it, but it was such a wildly different experience from normal perception that it was interesting in and of itself. It paired really well with music. And it was good for introspection, I felt like I had a vast span of time to think about myself and reflect on memories and events in my life.
The way you put it makes it sound psychedelic which tracks with most other descriptions I've read about it.
Almost like the best introspective parts of LSD without the potential for panic and anxiety due to Ketamine's dissociative nature.
It was very different from shrooms. I found shrooms really made colors stand out and become, like, not more vivid, but I was extremely aware of the different between each hue and shade and gradation of colors. And shrooms also... idk how to explain this but it kind of broke down the conceptual categories that I used to identify things? Like a rug was no longer a rug but a mass of color and texture and distance and other information that wasn't connected under a single label anymore.
Ketamine wasn't like that. Perception was still pretty normal but I had to concentrate to focus on any given thing that I was seeing or I'd lose track and stop looking at it, even though I my eyes were still aimed there. Everything felt very pulled back and zoomed out, kind of like that famous shot in jaws where they moved the camera forward while zooming back.
idk, trying to describe a mind altering drug with words is a fool's errand, we literally don't have the words, so that's the best I can do to explain it.
Yeah I'm starting to see the problem here in trying to compare it to other types of drugs.
Have you ever done laughing gas, also known as whippets? If I remember correctly it is the same type of drug as ketamine having a similar mechanism of action. Laughing gas would be my all time second favorite drug if it lasted hours instead of 30 seconds.
Nah, whippets never did anything for me. Idk if I was doing them wrong or what, but I never really got a strong effect from them. I have been on "laughing gas" for dental surgery but I think they just put me on high concentration oxygen and told me I was on nitrous and the placebo effect was enough to get me to relax. Oh wait no there was a time when I was on laughing gas. I God I forgot about that. it was for some dental work and I was totally on a different planet. All I remember is hitting on the dental assistant (which I'm sure was very seductive with my mouth jammed open by dental equipment and blood everywhere) and then being spacey and goofy for about an hour later.
Yeah that sounds like a placebo that first time. Trust me, when you're breathing laughing gas through a mask you'll know for absolutely certain within seconds.
When I got my wisdom teeth removed I had to be put under general anesthetic. Thing is I've always had an extreme phobia of needles, especially in veins. I literally cannot control myself if someone is going to put a needle in me and so I needed heavy sedation for them to put my IV in.
They used laughing gas and it was so much more intense and longer lived than whippets because instead of taking hits out of small canisters I had a mask continuously administering a mixture of laughing gas and oxygen.
I felt like time slowed down, as if the neurons in my brain were behaving the same, just at a much slower rate and without producing any anxiety whatsoever. It cut through my needle phobia like a hot knife through butter.
When the nurse was getting ready to put my IV the doctor tried distracting me so I wouldn't notice, but he didn't need to. I noticed he was trying to distract me, and I knew they were putting the IV in. I said with slurred speech "I know what you're trying to do you little shit" but I didn't feel even a twinge of panic and just accepted them putting the IV in like it was no big deal.
It was fucking awesome and I wish I could get a giant tank of the stuff. It's not illegal but the assholes who make it won't sell it to non-companies.
You know I used to have a severe needle phobia too, but when I got put on anti anxiety medication it pretty much got rid of it? Same with a couple of phobias. I used to be terrified of spiders and the dark and being on anti-anxiety meds for a few years got rid of it entirely.
Drugs are wild.
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I also got the sense of spatial distortion. I felt like I was sitting inside my head looking out, and my arms were impossibly far away and needed to be manually controlled if I wanted them to do anything.
On a smaller dose its a bit like MDMA minus the speediness and a bit weirder. The k hole is more like almost opiate-y but with a sorta psychadelic clarity some times