Currently, limited scientific research is available specifically regarding capsaicin’s effect on the absorption of oral forms of therapeutic ketamine. Capsaicin is the active component in chili peppers, responsible for their spiciness. It is often used as a topical analgesic in creams and patches to alleviate pain by binding to a vanilloid receptor called TRPV1 (transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1) and causing desensitization to pain (1).
Oral ketamine is a less common route of administration for therapeutic purposes due to its extensive first-pass metabolism in the liver and reduced bioavailability compared to intravenous or intramuscular routes (2). Nonetheless, ketamine is still used orally in some cases to treat chronic pain and depression (3).
As there is no specific research on the interaction between capsaicin and oral ketamine, it is difficult to conclude the effect of capsaicin on the absorption of oral forms of therapeutic ketamine. Further research is needed to explore this relationship and provide accurate information.
Caterina, M. J., Schumacher, M. A., Tominaga, M., Rosen, T. A., Levine, J. D., & Julius, D. (1997). The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway. Nature, 389(6653), 816-824.
Chong, C., Schug, S. A., Page-Sharp, M., Jenkins, B., & Ilett, K. F. (2009). Development of a sublingual/oral formulation of ketamine for use in neuropathic pain: preliminary findings from a three-way randomized, crossover study. Clinical Drug Investigation, 29(5), 317-324.
Andrade, C. (2017). Ketamine for depression, 4: in what dose, at what rate, by what route, for how long, and at what frequency?. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 78(7), e852-e857.