I’ll try to keep this as short as possible but I just needed to share the most beautiful trip I’ve ever had. Trip intention: To feel romantic love. I know this sounds weird or even downright pathetic. But I just wanted to know what it felt like. Just once.
Ketamine
Well-documented
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 7 corroborating sources
- 6 ROAs with full dose ladders
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 7 corroborating sources
- 6 ROAs with full dose ladders
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Aliases: K, Ket, Jet, Kitty, 2-cxm, kittens
Summary
Ketamine is an NMDA receptor antagonist with a potent anesthetic effect. It was developed in 1963 as a replacement for phencyclidine (PCP) by Calvin Stevens at Parke Davis Laboratories. It started being used for veterinary purposes in Belgium and in 1964 was proven that compared to PCP, it produced minor hallucinogenic effects and shorter psychotomimetic effects.
Perspectives
“I don’t dislike K, but like, it just feels cold, grey, dull and boring. K is immensely bleak and the K Hole is just one great void. I really don’t know what the fuss with K is.”
“Tread carefully.”
Dose Information
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral BA 17% | 50-100mg | 100-300mg | 300-450mg | 450mg+ |
| Sublingual BA 24-30% | 50-100mg | 100-300mg | 300-450mg | 450mg+ |
| Insufflated BA 45% | 10-30mg | 30-75mg | 75-150mg | 150mg+ |
| Intramuscular BA 93% | 10-25mg | 25-50mg | 50-100mg | 100mg+ |
| Intravenous BA ~100% | 5-15mg | 15-40mg | 40-75mg | 75mg+ |
| Rectal BA 25-30% | 50-100mg | 100-250mg | 250-400mg | 400mg+ |
Light
Common
Strong
Heavy
Sources· 1 of 6 ladders not identified
Sublingual
Dose ladder — Light–Heavy: same as the Oral row (dose.wiki, PsychonautWiki); no source states a Sublingual ladderIntramuscular
Dose ladder — Light, Common: dose.wiki · Strong, Heavy: stated as such by no source; dose.wiki gives 50-125 / 125+ mg and Erowid's I.M. chart ends Strong at 100 mg (dose.wiki, Erowid) Bioavailability 93% — NCBI StatPearlsIntravenous
Dose ladder — not identified. These figures came with the original SubstanceSearch data; no source we hold or checked states them. Bioavailability ~100% — Psychiatric Times (Miller 2022)Rectal
Dose ladder — Light: same as the Oral row (dose.wiki, PsychonautWiki) · Common–Heavy: dose.wiki Bioavailability 25-30% — NCBI StatPearlsKetamine Dosing Calculator
Ketamine dosing is weight-dependent — effects vary significantly based on body mass and route of administration. Select your ROA below to see adjusted doses based on its bioavailability. The calculator uses the middle of each bioavailability range shown in the menu. The dose table above gives PsychonautWiki's single figures for oral (17%) and insufflated (45%), which fall inside those ranges.
via
Insufflated is the most common recreational route. BA from NCBI NBK470357.
⚠️ Doses are adjusted for the selected route based on its bioavailability (NCBI). There is no single "K-Hole dose" — individual sensitivity varies greatly. Always start low and wait.
Onset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Comeup | Peak | Offset | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 10-30 min | 4-19 min | 45-90 min | - | - |
| Sublingual | 4-10 min | 4-19 min | 30 min | - | - |
| Insufflated | 4-15 min | 4-19 min | 30-60 min | 30-60 min | 1-2 hrs |
| Intramuscular | 1-4 min | 4-15 min | 15-45 min | - | - |
| Intravenous | <1-1 min | 1-3 min | 3-4 min | - | - |
| Rectal | 10-19 min | 10-19 min | 30-40 min | - | - |
Effect Profile
569 reportsScores (0–10) curated from multiple sources:
- Effect keyword matching from PsychonautWiki catalog
- Validated against 361 Erowid trip reports
- Weighted by importance: core (×3), major (×2), minor (×1)
Dissociative
6.9
Strong+
7/10
Strong dissociative depth with moderate insight and motor impairment, low mania
Dissociative Depth
×3
8
depersonalization
derealization
consciousness disconnection
physical disconnection
tactile disconnection
cognitive disconnection
+9 more
“K is immensely bleak and the K Hole is just one great void.”
“I've never gone into a k-hole though so all i can comment is some people have told me they loved it, others they hated it.”
Mania / Compulsion
×1
3
compulsive redosing
disinhibition
“I would describe it as a lightheaded sensation with some moderate euphoria attached to it, I am beginning to feel less depressed and start getting excited.”
Insight / Novel Thought
×2
7
0/21
conceptual thinking
analysis enhancement
subconscious communication
perspective alterations
unity and interconnectedness
personal bias suppression
+2 more
Motor / Sensory Impairment
×1
7
motor control loss
physical disconnection
tactile disconnection
tactile suppression
spatial disorientation
visual disconnection
+1 more
“I feel like I’ve snorted ice, that this icy numbness is radiating from my sinuses outwards.”
“Spent the next 30 minutes aimlessly wandering the festival grounds while my limbs felt all numb and floaty.”
User Experience
dissociative depth
“K is immensely bleak and the K Hole is just one great void.”
Based on reports from:
Tolerance
Build-up
develops noticeably with repeated use; chronic use can lead to significant tolerance and bladder damage
Reset
2–4 weeks for noticeable reduction
Tolerance Decay
Full tolerance
1d
Half tolerance
21d
Baseline
~28d
Cross-Tolerances
Dissociatives
Effects
Aggregated from 361 single-substance Erowid and 208 Bluelight experience reports (the Bluelight figures come from the 50 of them read for effects); 351 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 57
33.1% (95% interval 29 to 38 percent)
83%
32.0% (95% interval 21 to 46 percent)
86%
30.4% (95% interval 26 to 35 percent)
75%
30.0% (95% interval 19 to 44 percent)
82%
26.5% (95% interval 22 to 31 percent)
84%
25.8% (95% interval 22 to 30 percent)
80%
25.7% (95% interval 22 to 30 percent)
82%
24.0% (95% interval 14 to 37 percent)
88%
22.0% (95% interval 13 to 35 percent)
86%
20.2% (95% interval 17 to 24 percent)
88%
18.0% (95% interval 10 to 31 percent)
85%
18.0% (95% interval 10 to 31 percent)
79%
17.5% (95% interval 14 to 22 percent)
83%
16.8% (95% interval 14 to 21 percent)
80%
16.0% (95% interval 8 to 28 percent)
87%
14.0% (95% interval 7 to 26 percent)
84%
13.3% (95% interval 10 to 17 percent)
89%
12.4% (95% interval 10 to 16 percent)
85%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
81%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
82%
Show 37 more positive effects
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
86%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
80%
8.5% (95% interval 6 to 12 percent)
80%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
89%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
91%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
86%
7.8% (95% interval 5 to 11 percent)
–
7.5% (95% interval 5 to 10 percent)
88%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
80%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
88%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
88%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
78%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
80%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
75%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
90%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
90%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
2.4% (95% interval 1 to 4 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
70%
Adverse Effects 55
43.1% (95% interval 38 to 48 percent)
83%
34.0% (95% interval 22 to 48 percent)
81%
28.0% (95% interval 18 to 42 percent)
85%
27.7% (95% interval 24 to 32 percent)
87%
16.3% (95% interval 13 to 20 percent)
83%
14.0% (95% interval 7 to 26 percent)
84%
13.2% (95% interval 10 to 17 percent)
80%
12.0% (95% interval 6 to 24 percent)
81%
10.3% (95% interval 8 to 14 percent)
80%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
80%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
83%
10.0% (95% interval 4 to 21 percent)
83%
8.0% (95% interval 3 to 19 percent)
78%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
68%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
80%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
72%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
90%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
75%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
85%
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
85%
2.8% (95% interval 2 to 5 percent)
–
1.1% (95% interval 0 to 3 percent)
–
Show 33 more adverse effects
6.0% (95% interval 2 to 16 percent)
80%
4.4% (95% interval 3 to 7 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
85%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
88%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
92%
4.0% (95% interval 1 to 14 percent)
82%
3.3% (95% interval 2 to 6 percent)
–
2.2% (95% interval 1 to 4 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
70%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
70%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
85%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
80%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
75%
2.0% (95% interval 0 to 10 percent)
90%
Also reported in combinations. In the 351 Ketamine reports where another drug was taken too, 37 (10.5%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 5 (1.4%) a seizure and 21 (6.0%) psychosis. In the 361 single-substance reports: 12.7%, 1.1% and 2.8%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Ketamine alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Combinations
Cross-Check Ketamine with another substanceCommunity Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Reddit 8 reports 2 positive 4 neutral 2 cautionary visit
My friend and I have done ketamine together three times now. The first time on acid. The second time sober. And this last time on mushrooms. Doing ketamine sober is a mild experience. Maybe we didn’t take enough though. It was pleasant but not anything to write home about.
Last night I administered 60mg approx of ketamine, IM. Within 5-10 minutes, the effects started to come on strong. I wanted to dance for a bit but the effects were so strong that my legs were numbing out and I lost control of my limbs. so I had to stop.
Used to only consume 1g over the course of a weekend for a festival. But about 3 years ago I started using it at home on the couch and get deeper into the k hole experience. Usage would go up to a gram in a night but still took breaks. Eventually I got up to 3.5g in a weekend.
Yesterday, I had the impulse to do a khole dose. But apperently I had really dark coloured rooms that didn't show detailed scenerys. Always dark coloured and blurr. Now, I quit kratom 9 days ago from 30gpd to 0 in two days.
tripped so hard that my whole conciouness deconstructed it felt like I was falling through different scenes in a other realm but with a sinister presence to it , it felt like I was being dragged through and eventually I felt the end goal would be to meet the maker himself , it sm...
I have experience with lsd,shrooms, excstasy. And almost every other drug except heroin & fentanyl and I took ketamine for the first time 3 days ago and I’ve been doing it daily since. Ketamine really reflects your fears & good sides.
I got a oz from a new source. Tried it last weekend at a show and it felt fine at first then all the sudden got hit with this overwhelming feeling of anxiety and raciness and it felt like my whole body was like shutting down, literally had my buddy run to the car and grab narcan...
Erowid 8 reports 3 positive 2 neutral 3 cautionary visit
Ketamine is a substance that for better or worse has had a place of some prominence in my life for some time now - it hasnt been the source of my most profound drug experiences, its not the most reliably enjoyable substance, its not the most social drug, its not even the safest drug - something which is becoming mo...
First I'd like to share the more mundane details of my relationship with this substance - the basic logistics of my ketamine usage and its effect on my life. I've been a habitual user of K for over a year and a half, imbibing on an almost daily basis during this time.
I am not the best for describing stuff so bear with me. Ketamine is my favourite substance; it is unpredictable, surreal and somewhat life changing with each experience different to its previous one.
The background to the trip seems undeniably essential to the content of the experience. That said, some of the details of my life are deeply painful, shame-drenched and terrifying to talk about in earnest and despite the anonymity and relative distance afforded by saying these things in a trip report, some of the parti...
Here is a trip report of my first K-hole experience. I had tried quite a few times to reach this level before, but always came up a little short of getting there, though many of those experiences were somewhat profound too. They pale in comparison to this one.
I would say I'm tall, I would not say I'm someone who frequently does drugs, or any type of strong chemical, plants and anything else in that direction for that matter. I'm just an occasional bud burner along with a few experiences with MDMA, LSD, xanax, morphine and a very regretful one with 25i.
A very good friend of mine happens to be heavily addicted to, of all things, Ketamine. We live in a beautiful, up-and-coming, Southeast Asian country where many ultra-high-purity chemicals are produced.
[Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it! ] My experience with Ketamine: So I had ordered two gram of ketamine from overseas to my friend and it arrived stealthily packaged in a gameboy cartridge.
Bluelight 6 threads 3 neutral 3 cautionary visit
Ketamine is a substance that for better or worse has had a place of some prominence in my life for some time now - it hasn’t been the source of my most profound drug experiences, it’s not the most reliably enjoyable substance, it’s not the most social drug, it’s not even the safest drug - something which is becoming mo...
The reason I love IV K so much is because it's so outstandingly surreal, it feels like an ENTIRELY different drug than when done orally, intranasally, rectally, or IMed. Hell, I personally never liked ketamine until I started shooting it. And once I did--it was the most incredible rush... I was in love.
well here is the sequel i promised to my 'Ketamine in Mexico' report found both here and on the web at http://ketamex.tripod.com ...enjoy... Hmmmmm....hello all....well Mexico was fun and all, but I felt it was time to explore brave new worlds or whatever.
Hey all, This isn't so much a report of any specific trip, more an account of a long period of exposure to ketamine. I had my first line of ketamine about four years ago when I was 16, I still remember it vividly now. It was a dose so small that I would wipe it off the table without any regret nowadays.
This is an older trip report of mine; the experience happened in the spring of 2011 which is also when I wrote the report. It was written in dutch though and I figured it is probably interesting enough to translate to english for international availability.
i've tried ketamine a few times before, but most of the times it was just one of a multiplicity of powders to go up my nose, and thus i was never able to isolate the effects of the ketamine amongst the effects of the others.
Dose.wiki 3 reports 2 neutral 1 cautionary visit
I don’t dislike K, but like, it just feels cold, grey, dull and boring. K is immensely bleak and the K Hole is just one great void. I really don’t know what the fuss with K is. It’s interesting enough but it’s also pretty expensive and doesn’t last very long.…
About five or so minutes passed after the Dr started the IV, I ‘disconnected’ from the world and felt as if I was on-top of Oppa from Avatar the Last Airbender, I was still cognizant that I was laying back in a chair with my girlfriend to the side of me, but…
My first experience with ketamine was underwhelming, which I believe was due to the low dose of 0.5mg/kg insufflated (research suggests 0.5mg/kg IV is a more effective dose, which is equivalent to about 1mg/kg insufflated). However, I am still very interested…
Bluelight Reference Guide
Dissociatives Big & Dandy Ketamine Thread 4: I was filled with the Holey Spirit
The Big & Dandy Ketamine thread iupac = (RS)-2-(2-Chlorophenyl)-2-(methylamino)cyclohexanone External Information Links: Wikipedia Ketamine page Erowid Ketamine vault Erowid Ketamine FAQ "The Ketamine Konundrum" FAQ: The Beginners Guide to Ketamine Subthreads: First Time Dosage and Methods of Administration Oral Admini...
Read full thread on Bluelight →
Ketamine's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
→
Helpful Links
Add missing routes to PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal app already has Ketamine, but its built-in entry only covers Insufflated, Oral. Here are the other routes we have data for. You can't edit a built-in substance, but you can add a Custom Unit for any of these routes to log it.
⬇ Download import file
Import this file as custom substances
and you get "Ketamine (Substance Search)" with every
route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and
Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's
developer. The manual values below work for older
versions.
Custom Unit doses
- Sublingualcommon ~ 200 mg
- Intramuscularcommon ~ 37.5 mg
- Intravenouscommon ~ 27.5 mg
- Rectalcommon ~ 175 mg
Dose & duration (reference)
Ketamine: routes the PsychonautWiki Journal app is missing Source: SubstanceSearch (substancesearch.com) Sublingual dose (mg): threshold 25 · light 50-100 · common 100-300 · strong 300-450 · heavy 450+ Intramuscular dose (mg): threshold 5 · light 10-25 · common 25-50 · strong 50-100 · heavy 100+ Intravenous dose (mg): threshold 3 · light 5-15 · common 15-40 · strong 40-75 · heavy 75+ Rectal dose (mg): threshold 20 · light 50-100 · common 100-250 · strong 250-400 · heavy 400+ Sublingual duration: onset 4-10m · come-up 4-19m · peak 30m · after-effects 2-12h Intramuscular duration: onset 1-4m · come-up 4-15m · peak 15-45m · after-effects 2-12h Intravenous duration: onset <1-1m · come-up 1-3m · peak 3-4m · after-effects 2-12h Rectal duration: onset 10-19m · come-up 10-19m · peak 30-40m · after-effects 2-12h Note: ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription. Start low, go slow, and test your substances.
Custom Units carry a single dose per route, so the full ranges live in the reference above. A route's suggested dose is the midpoint of its common range. Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.
Report an issue or suggest an edit
Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Ketamine? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.