Has anyone used/or was given Ketamine in the field as an analgesic? If so, what were your likes or dislikes.

It's a neat drug for pain control. All the benefits of morphine with limited respiratory compromise. However, it's a dissociative narcotic. Basically think of it this way, morphine dulls the pain, ketamine makes your brain forget what pain is. Downside of it is that it can cause hallucinations. So it's a bit of a trade off. My PSG ended up being given ketamine by a German doc when she broke her foot. When the 1SG and commander came to see her, she stood up and walked on it to greet them, and she didn't even realize she had pain in her foot! Crazy stuff, and I think the Army should definitely consider putting it in our toolbox for those patients that can't have morphine, or if we really need to "snowball" someone.

Ketamine is amazing and there has been research done proving it also helps with PTSD. http://www.usmedicine.com/agencies/department-of-defense-dod/no-longer-just-a-horse-drug-ketamine-increasingly-used-for-military-pain-management/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18376165

Although my response is several years late, I have been in a recent trial of nasal ketamine administered by professionals and monitored for 2 hours. I don’t drink, drug, smoke or gamble and had no idea what to expect. My mind was blown and it seems to be slowing my racing thoughts, PTSD, MST and depression