Preparing for your At-Home
Ketamine Therapy Sessions
Eating a clean, healthy diet and avoiding processed foods can help improve your overall health and well-being, making ketamine treatment more effective. We recommend you to fast 4-6 hours before your KAP session and limit your water intake. Note that water is still encouraged in this time window; however, you should avoid caffeinated drinks like coffee on the day of your session.
The Day of Your Session
Fasting Before Treatement
To minimize the risk of nausea and vomiting during your ketamine treatment, it's best to avoid solid foods for at least 4-6 hours before your session. However, staying hydrated is important, so feel free to drink clear liquids like water, clear juice, or tea up to 2 hours before your treatment.
Confirm Your Adult Support Person
Make sure your support system is in place before you begin your session. Depending on your comfort level, you may want this person to sit with you during your session or be just outside your immediate space but still within earshot so that they could hear you if needed.
Wear Comfortable Clothing
You want to be as comfortable as possible during your ketamine-assisted psychotherapy session, so make sure to wear clothing that you can relax in. This may mean loose-fitting clothes made of natural fabrics like cotton or linen. You might also consider wearing socks and comfortable footwear.
Create Your Setting
Your surroundings are key to a healthy productive Ketamine therapy session. Create a warm and inviting space where you can relax in comfort and quiet. Ensure your surroundings give you a sense of calm and security. We recommend sitting or lying down for your session.
Select Your Music
Listening to calm-inducing music and sounds such as binaural beats before your ketamine-assisted psychotherapy session can help you feel relaxed and more prepared for the experience. It can also help improve your mindset, setting the tone for the positive mood elevation and therapeutic insights that can occur during ketamine treatment.
Set Your Intentions
Take some time leading up to your ketamine-assisted psychotherapy session to drop into your intentions for why you signed up to do this work. What are your hopes for this important work? What does your heart say? You may spend some time journaling your thoughts or creating a list to help you get more clarity. You may also wish to speak with a trusted loved one or your KAP therapist to support your process. Research has found that creating an intention before a psychedelic journey can help “set” the mind and prime the psyche.
Check and Monitor Your Vitals
Hypertension, use a blood pressure cuff while using Ketamine to monitor your blood pressure. You want the systolic (upper number) below 155 and the diastolic (lower number) below 95. Any blood pressure readings above these values necessitates discontinuation of ketamine and you should contact your physician.
How To Meditate
Meditation is a practice that can help you focus and quiet your mind, both of which can be helpful before ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. By taking some time to meditate before your session, you can help clear your mind and prepare yourself to receive the benefits of ketamine treatment.There are many different ways to meditate, so know that there is no wrong way to do this. If you’re new to meditation practice, there are plenty of helpful resources online, or you can even download a meditation app on your phone.
How To Self Administer A Ketamine Troche
Ketamine troches are for sublingual (under the tongue) use. Holding the troche under the tongue increases the effectiveness versus swallowing.
We suggest that you do not eat and only clear liquids 4 hours before using this medicine to minimize potential nausea side effects.
Drinking warm water with lemon or hot tea before can help increase absorbability.
We suggest having a trusted person sit with you when you use the medication at home.
In a few words, set your intention for why you are doing this treatment.It can be helpful to write this down in your journal, and refer back to this during your post session integration therapy.
Place the troche under the tongue. Hold it under the tongue until it's entirely dissolved. Continue to hold the dissolvent and any saliva that builds up for at least 15 min. Then spit it out. While it is safe to swallow, we do not recommend it. It may upset your stomach and it can also increase the length of time you experience side effects such as dizziness or nausea.