Hi,

I imagine you are feeling very worried and overwhelmed right now. I want to say thank you on our behalf for being there for your boyfriend. This disease and the pain, fear and loss it brings can make us someone we're not. I would write off negative comments about the relationship right now because emotions are running high for him and anesthesia affects some people in this manner anyway.

I am currently receiving ketamine and if you have looked at my infusion thread you'll see I am on a very different protocol of a low dose every two weeks. I can't speak to your boyfriends protocol but I can say that my own improvement has been quite gradual. My doctor affirmed this is common when I asked him about it. When you say "feeling sick" I am not sure what you mean. We had to increase anti nausea med zofran for me to the highest dose and that helped tremendously. We also decreased my versed a little. Overall I still feel bleh the day of even at a low dose.

Does your boyfriend have other support? Any family with him or who can go? It is hard to go through procedures of any kind alone between the anxiety, the effects and the constant wonder if it is going to help. If he continues to feel suicidal please ask him to make a safety contract with someone that he will ask for help before taking action. He needs help getting through this. Many of us benefited from therapy, myself included, with someone who works with chronic pain and illness.

Four months is not very long ago. He is right in the throes of the hardest, scariest time. He must find a way to hold on to hope. 80% of people improve over time according to Cleveland Clinic CRPS specialist Dr. Stanton-Hicks. He must also be certain all work up and non -CRPS intervention has been exhausted. Nerve injuries are tricky but they can sometimes be helped surgically. If he has a repairable injury, scar entrapment or neuroma, a peripheral nerve surgeon might be able to do something to reduce his pain. The doctors for this are boarded in plastics reconstructive surgery and have done a peripheral nerve fellowship. Good information about nerve injuries and some of the amazing things they can do to help them can be found if you Google - Washington University Peripheral Nerve Program.

I also always recommend a video by Dr. Pradeep Chopra "CRPS Diagnosis and Management" that at two hours long is full of sound advice on treatments, things to do and avoid. He is highly regarded in the field.

Is he doing any PT at all? Gentle movement is imperative and pool therapy at this early stage could really help with pain and swelling. A burst of oral steroids can also help a lot early on to knock inflammation down.

Come back and let us know what happens and maybe direct your boyfriend to come see us if he is open to it. He will be warmly welcomed and supported by the great bunch of caring people we have here.
Sending prayers for healing and lots of hugs,