Post-ketamine, I am a different version of myself. It’s not that I’m back to who I was before my brain injury, but it’s almost like the volume has been turned down on my anxiety, depression, and hypervigilance. The idea behind ketamine as a treatment for the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury is that a concussed brain is an inflamed brain and an inflamed brain produces an excess level of glutamate. Glutamate is a critical neurotransmitter that plays a role in learning, memory, sleep, and pain. An excess of glutamate in the brain can lead to exactly what I’ve been feeling since I hit my head on that steering wheel: brain fog, pain, hypervigilance, and depression. Ketamine is thought to calm the inflammation of the brain. And if ketamine soothes the inflammation in my brain, my glutamate receptors should produce less of the neurotransmitter. And if that happens, I should be calmer, in less pain, less sure that danger is lurking around every corner, and more able to accept the idea that my life might be worth something after all.
