Super ketamine coma is last chance for treating chronic pain
Reader Royce tipped us to this story about a young man who has such severe pain that he cannot function. His only hope? A radical ketamine treatment, in Germany.
The treatment is not allowed in this country, the parents say, because the FDA does not allow patients to be deliberately placed in comas for more than two days. The treatment in Saarbrueken, Germany, involves putting the patient in a coma for five to seven days, during which the body is filled with massive amount of ketamine in an attempt to “reboot” the body system.
Dr. Schwartzman has written that of the 41 patients he has sent to Germany, 14 came back pain free and have remained free for five years, while others have come back with their pain reduced.
Ketamine is a miracle. I think there's nothing a good ketamine coma can't cure...
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Tel: 813 907-2312 e-mail: info@rsdfoundation.org
my pain doctor has just reffered me for the ketamine treatment for fibro, i am going in next week!
so yes you can have it for fibro. im in the uk so i dont know if its different elsewhere.
i am quite scared but excited to be free from pain if only for a short while. i am not being put into a coma just a slow 12 hour drip with results expected to last 4-6 weeks. if successful i will then have the coma.
I have just come across this site, I will tell you about my experience with ketamine. I am a 50 year old 'ill health retired' paramedic. I was retired from work after sustaining back injuries from repetitive lifting of heavy patients in work. I prolapsed L1,2,3,4 and yes...numer 5 too! L2 and L5 both had annular tears and several nerve roots showed some compression but minimal neurological deficit although i now have total sensory loss in my left thigh. I had/have chronic severe back and abdominal pain and constant proctalgia (not nice!)
MRI and X- Ray also showed extensive and severe facet joint degeneration. I was referred to spinal ortho surgeons etc and eventually ended up under the care of the chronic pain team and a very forward thinking anaethetist consultant who is one of the pain team leaders. To cut a long story short I was by now on high doses of opiates i.e. 130 mgs of Oxycontin BD (twice daily) and 30 mgs of Oxynorm for breakthrough pain PRN (when required.. at minimum or 3 hourly intervals.) I was also on pregablin, duloxetine, Lidocaine patches, paracetamol, and used my TENS machine daily.
Some days i did not wish to live anymore such was the severity of my pain. I have three daughters and a wonderful wife who herself is a nurse pracitioner in a busy A and E unit (ER room) at a major hospital. Last year I was admitted 8 times with uncontrolable pain and yes I know what you mean when you say the ER room (A and E) staff treat you as if you are a fraud and 'seeking' (looking for more meds) even though I would make a point of taking my opiates in to the hospital with me to show i had loads left at home and i certainly didnt want any more, just wanted some form of pain relief. When will people learn that we hate opiates, the physical dependancy and tolerance that is well known attributes of opiates certainly doesnt help but all we want is some pain free time or at least a reduction to a level where we can fuction, a level where some qualty of life is given back to us?
I also reached a stage whereby increased levels of opiates be it oxycontin, MST or indeed IV morphine just made matters worse. my pain consultant said i had become hypersensitive to opiates. I now had no pain relief.
Untill the last time i was admitted when my pain team and my pain consultant anaethetist suggested a ketamine infusion that eventually lasted for ten days. I started on a small infusion rate (dont forget this was a 24hour infusion) and what they did was as the ketamine was increased daily, my oxycontin was reduced) until eventually i reached a high hourly rate of ketamine which had exceeded the pain teams own protocols for ketamine infusion but i was closely monitered with hourly obs taken, once again over a twentyfour hour period and over ten days. Eventually the ketamine was then lowered, i was weaned off it and my opiate levels are now at a much much lower daily level, a level that now works! I dont have unrealistic expectations and yes some days are bad but no where near as bad as before. last christmas was the first time i had sat down for a xmas dinner with my family for five years and I even went to the local cinema with my wife the other week.
I think ketamine has a lot to offer in the management of chronic pain at all levels but just wish it was made an accepted form of treatment. to illustrate this, the original plan for me was to be discharged home on a daily ammount of oral ketamine, indeed i was put on this new meds regime after the iv infusion had ended but we had problems as my GP wasnt able to prescribe it as the LHB (local health board) wouldnt sanction it. even though it worked for me and i was willing to sign any disclaimer, but thats beurocracy for you and so i am still on opiates but at a much lower level, its as if i was 'rebooted' and reset by the ketamine! its a good medication but only when used in a proper setting by people who know what they are doing!
I wish you all well and prey that your pain is at a level you can manage, only those who have been there know what it is like.
Chris
bdes64@yahoo.com
on Aug.11,2008. It is amazing how you awake and your rsd pain is gone. Dr. Rohr is amazing he gave me my life back. I wish the patients in Germany now all the luck. If anyone who is going to have this tx. has questions I will be glad to help.
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