Yesterday I had a follow up appointment with my PM. I learned a little about his background and experience with Ketamine and patients with CRPS while going through a handful of questions that I had for him. He loves having me as a patient, because I always have a list of questions to ask.

I was wondering where he ended up getting his Ketamine protocol from, and his answer surprised me. The team of doctors that work in the practice he is at, put their protocol together based on what all 4 of them felt comfortable doing. He doesn't like using it much because based on his past experience, it is usually an ineffective protocol for treating CRPS.

I underestimated his knowledge and experience dealing with CRPS patients. It turns out, he did his residency and fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital working under Dr. Schwartzman when he was there back in the late 80's and into the early 90's. During his time there, they were doing studies on the effects of Ketamine for, RSD/CRPS. During my PM's time there, he saw over 200 RSD/CRPS patients.

With all of the work that he has done with Ketamine and CRPS patients, he does not feel that I would benefit enough from the protocol that his office uses, even though I did manage those 3 days of a fair amount of relief, allowing me to moisturize, and massage my foot during that time. He feels that because of the severity of my case, I would only benefit from an inpatient infusion done in an ICU. Since I did manage to get some relief though, he prescribed a compounded cream for me that has a combination of Ketamine, Gabapentin, Amitriptyline, Lidocaine, and I think there was something else in there as well, but I do not remember. I will find out when it comes to me next week. He is not sure if it will help, but feels that it may help a little. Every little bit helps, so I am willing to try.