Greetings All-

Just wanted to do my duty and introduce myself to this new forum for me. I am on at least 10 other forums for my hobbies and other issues and know the importance of the first hello. Please excuse the length of my first msg but I need to tell my story and request your assistance

I spent 21 years in the Marine Corps, and Retired from Marine Reserve back in 2005 after a brutal tour in Iraq during the most intense fighting in Fallujah and the Triangle of Death (Ramadi) and believe it or not my first few months were spent at the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison where we were literally mortared and had every incoming indirect weapon imaginable.

During my time I was exposed to 3 IEDs while driving across the country and the last one did the most damage by ringing my bell badly! I am now 90% Service Connected (Disabled) per VA standards and live everyday in intense pain. I have been diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury, severe Cervical Spine damage in every vertebra, PTSD, and a myriad of other medical issues that require many forms of treatment. You name it and Ive had it done to me. Right now I undergo Facet Joint Injections, RF injections, nerve blocks and various forms of acupuncture on a monthly basis. Not to mention the HUNDREDS of medications I have tried to help live with the pain in so many areas of my body. Obviously, I have tried EVERY type of pain medication out there and yes indeed have a "dependency" to them - not "addiction" in my opinion. I even detoxed off opiates during an intense in patient PTSD program with the help of the drug Suboxone - which is surely something I couldn't live without when trying to stop any opiate! However, due to the extreme pain I am back on them HARD and often find even the strongest meds don't hep with the neck and head pain!

Right now I am being treated by a new Pain Management Doctor who recently retired from the Navy, and was the Director of Pain Management and many other duties at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. He has just informed me of a procedure he has done thousands of times on troops there and is trying to start a civilian practice using this type of treatment now. As a amateur of fact while researching this I stumbled upon this forum and registered here to place a post on the thread.

"ketamine infusion for RSD/CRPS" (I cannot post links until I get 10 posts?)

The procedure is called Ketamine infusion and based on what I read has a magical ability to reset the bodys pain receptors so that everything from depression, PTSD, anxiety and pain are all treated at once while in an induced coma with Ketamine - or whats called on the street "Special K" which I have never tried. I am anxious to learn much more about this and even start the treatment with the first one being only a one hour infusion, working to a one day period, and then up to a 5 day coma. For whatever reason, VA hasn't adopted this yet (go figure!) and even civilian insurance companies do not even cover this, which is approx 5k for the 5 day one!

If anyone here has experienced the Ketamine treatment and can please provide me with anything they care to pass along, I would be VERY appreciative to say the least! Please PM me if you can, or at least share something here in the open ok? This is my biggest attempt at trying to manage the pain which has brought me so close to eating my gun several times! Its THAT BAD!

I have several articles Id love to publish about myself, my experiences, and even obtaining a specially trained TBI/PTSD Service Dog which is the only way I can go out in public with things as bad as they are. Anyone wishing to hear more about him is free to PM me as well - HOWEVER, I don't seem to have the ability to send anyone a PM here (do I need to be a member for a certain amount of time first or what?) Anyway, I will be here seeking help from all you members suffering from some of the same pain I do, and anxious to hear from anyone who can offer advice or help on this. Again, sorry for the long intro and msg.

Semper Fidelis My Friends!

Gunny Fitz

PS- Pic of the Humvee I was in on last IED .

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Welcome Gunny Fitz.

Gunny Fitz,

Hello and welcome, happy to see you have come to be with us, it a great place to be. As you can see we have a great number and caring fellow members here, where you have find a supportive and relaxing place. Have fun looking into the different forums. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

First I would like to tell you thank you for the service you did for country. Click on the following, there you find some fellow members there to help you out.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome;
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum92.html
Chronic Pain:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum10.html

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

Hello Gunny,

Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.

Thank you for sharing your introduction with us. You certainly would have seen and done an awful lot during your time in the marines. Gosh, looking at the image you posted, it's a wonder you survived at all. I'm really sorry that you're now dealing with the memories of all of those shocking events.

I see you've found a couple of forums already and Darlene has left you a couple more.

One other that may be of interest to you is the
Service & Support Animals Forum
It's pretty quiet though, but maybe posting a little about your own companion would be of interest to others in a similar situation.

Please do also check out the TBI/PCS forum here (link in the post by Darlene).
There are many people from TBI forum who also experience PTSD.

The PTSD forum here is also a little quiet but our sister site at PsychCentral has a PTSD forum if you ever need that as well.
PsychCentral PTSD

Forum search feature.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

all the best to you Gunny. I wish you well.

Hi Again.

Figured WTH, may as well post this VA article up here too on my initial intro in hope that other Vets see it and know they are not alone in their pain (absolutely NO PUN intended) by that comment.

To be issued narcotic pain meds for YEARS by VA was their way of treating our pain (mostly physical) and now they are doing a 180 on it all not even realizing the hurt its causing us! I mean NO MEDICATION should be pulled out from under anyone without doing it properly by titrating it down ya know what I mean? THAT is very harmful and scary. Hence the reason I don't ever use VA for my medical care anymore despite being so Service Connected (Life injuries caused by acts or incidents that happened within a combat environment) and I am able to get free care for life on these issues, but choose NOT to since they make things so difficult to use its causes one to just throw your hands up in the air and say EFF IT !

So now I am seeing an absolutely awesome Pain Management Physician who is starting his own practice as a civilian. For the last 8 years he was a Navy Commander who was the DIRECTOR of ALL Pain Management for wounded troops at Walter Reed / Bethesda Hospital. Therefore, this guy has seen more combat inflicted injuries than Any civilian Doc out there Im sure! I am so lucky to have him pulling for me and using some of the methods and treatments used there, which most civilian Docs don't know about, and get this - VA just started doing Acupuncture within the last 3-4 years which is one alternative method they should've been doing YEARS AGO along with all these other ones this Doc is doing for me now! UNREAL HUH?

Anyway, here is an article I thought Id share and hope Vets get to it now that Ive posted it in 3 different threads of mine!

Semper Fi Friends!

Gunny

Attached Files

NEW VA OPIOD POLICY-2.pdf (207.9 KB, 44 views)

Dear Gunny
I just wanted to sat Thank You for your service I am sorry that you're in so much pain I am sure you will find a lot of help here
WELCOME TO THE GROUP

Welcome! I am new to this site too. Thank you first of all for your service. I was previously studying psychology with a concentration on military before my diagnosis of post concussion syndrome.

It shows great strength to reach out and talk about these things. This seems like a good place to start.

You didn't fight that war alone and you don't have to recover alone. We are here for you.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Angie

To all those members who may remember me, I've been gone from your presence for way too long! So much has happened and taken place since my last visit (which I need to look up when that was somehow?)

I'm typing this from my new Samsung Galaxy so hoping it even comes out ok (the words appear WAY too large!) Lol.

What I'd like to do is start a new thread to bring you up to speed with my status, and hopefully meet some new friends at the same time. Those of you who don't know me at all are welcome to read this first "Intro Thread" so you can figure out who the heck I am. Would love to hear from any other Disabled Combat Vets as well, seeing as that was what drew me to this wonderful group of folks in the first place!

Semper Fidelis All & Happy New Year in advance everyone!

"Gunny"

Hey Gunny,

Good to hear from you. I know you had really quite an assortment of treatments. Have you been able to maintain a routine that has at least kept the pain tolerable??

Gerry

Still trying to find time to list ALL Ive had and gone thru in 2016, but to answer your question I am at the point where nothing we've tried has really worked and I am about to move forward with the Spinal Cord Stim - 5 day trial period first, and then if this brings ANY relief the actual implant itself!

Afterward, I am SERIOUSLY looking for ways to have a "Rapid Detox" or even better yet an "Ultra Rapid Detox" conducted! My personal Pain Management Dr cannot find a place to allow him to do this himself, since he is no longer part of Walter Reed and doesnt have the same powers on doing hundreds of these as he did there. Therefore, I am searching for places to do either of these within my area (Northern Virginia) which from what I find are all actual Detox / Rehab facilities - not the warmest feeling since both involve actual Hospital Intubation type stuff ya know? More on that later................

Thank you for saying hi and I guess I will have to search out some of those former members here who I used to have a good relationship with. Was hoping my initial thread i used would spark some of them out of hibernation - I do hope some are still around in more ways than just membership here ya know?

Until later Gerry. Thanks again. Truly means alot my friend! Will TTYL ok?

Gunny