Dear General,
Congrats on your recent success with ketamine. I was aware that there was ketamine available in Rutland, Vermont - Jim Broatch of the RSDSA includes that location in his ketamine doctors list. How incredibly interesting that there is a group involved in Burlington with ketamine that is willing to do a short term coma on an experimental basis. I have not been able to discern from your posts (or maybe I missed it?) whether or not your insurance covered the procedure. Are your doctors going to bill you for it or were they willing to do it for free in the event it is denied? I am assuming that you have Tricare (which is so much better than my lousy United Healtcare!!). Since you went through the ER did the authorization for the procedure automatically get approved? Is the hospital part of a military base or is it civilian?
By the way, my dad is a retired 2 star general - USMC - he was a fighter pilot, but was in the reserves until he got activated for the first Gulf war. It's funny that you call yourself that, I am "home" visiting with my mom and dad now at their beach house in NJ for a few days, everyone around here calls my dad the "General"....
It's always so great to hear success stories from others. I've have 23 low dose ketamine infusions (I'm at 150 mg), I started the 10 day outpatient protocol with Dr. Getson (who I LOVE) in April of this year. I am off all opiods and have returned to my FT job after a one year LOA. But I still take Fiorcet for head pain on a regular basis and will likely need my second occipital block soon - owwww. It's a battle - I am not perfect and pretty nervous about my future. Right now I am taking one day at a time.
Detox for me from Fentanyl was tough - I took Suboxone for about 10 days or so in May after I tapered down to the lowest dose patch available, but it still took me at least another month or so to feel good - I lost my appetite, felt miserable, had zero energy, etc. I hope NEVER to touch that stuff again as long as I live. I am extremely envious that you were able to "rapid detox" in just 1 day. That sounds pretty cool (except for the losing your memory part).
Wishing you the very best of luck - I truly hope that your pain relief lasts a long time, and that you regain the full use of your foot back.
XOXOX Sandy
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Originally Posted by General
I ended up in the ER 3 weeks ago two nights in a row with pain so bad I seriously wanted them to amputate the foot and I would take my chances with phatom pains. Fortunately, a procedure we'd been researching for two years and begging to get into the trials of, was recommended to us in the ER. It's a Kedamine induced coma. I was placed in a coma for about two days while they introduced the Kedamine to my system as well as performing a rapid detoxification of my system. I never realized that pain medicines can eventually turn against you and cause you even more pain. I won't lie to you. There are side effects such as short term memory loss (I don't remember the entire week before I went into the hospital), some holes in long term memory, vision impairment and some dexterity issues. Most of these are short term and you'll get them back. The only thing hanging over me now is the loss of memory, which is certainly a rather odd feeling. The good news is however controversial this treatment may be, I am currently in remission with about 90% of my pain gone. I am walking for the first time in two years without a cane. I HIGHLY recommend looking into this procedure. It scared the hell out of me, but I am so happy to be without pain for as long as this will last. Take comfort in knowing that this disease is one of the most studied diseases at the moment and many new trials are be conducted all over the States. Doctor Ian Black brought the treatment to Vermont from Texas and I was the third person to ever have it done here. I hope some of this help you and you'll be in our prayers. God Bless.
General
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