Quote:
Originally Posted by krank
Hi Dawn
First I would like to thank you for contributing your time and you families time for this forum. As a husband with 5 kids and my wonderful wife who was diagnosed with RA. We seem to be in a constant battle for some sort of normalcy let alone contribute to different forums. It takes away valuable time away from the kids and yourself. But I truly believe the commitment we make to help others will come back to us in many ways. And who knows maybe even a cure for this nasty demon once and for all.
I guess I have a few questions about your ketamine experience so far. Did you have an insurance that would pay for the treatments? Is this treatment the five day inpatient with physical therapy? And have you found any data that would give a percentage rate of positive outcome of this procedure? I guess I have been receiving conflicting reports from my pain specialists about the outcome of the procedure. Thank You Krank
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Hi Krank,
Until I'm feeling stronger again and able to do more to promote understanding of RSD, I feel this is the very least I can do.
As for my insurance, I have Aetna and my doctor is not covered at all so that will be completely out of pocket. Some of the other preliminary testing such as cardiologist and psychiatrist, I may receive some reimbursement for, not sure yet. I can also submit something for my Dr. but I doubt there will be much coverage.
At this point, my treatment has been approved by Aetna for the first 2 inpatient days with the caveat that they will reevaluate it as it moves ahead (fingers tightly crossed here). The out of pocket cost if they choose not to cover it at all will be $20-$30k.
I am unsure about PT during my 5 day inpatient, no one has mentioned it at all.
Next month I will begin my boosters with Dr. Schwartzman. These will be two consecutive days for 4-5 hrs each day in Philly. From what I understand, it will be every 2 weeks, then 3, then to 1 month and then 3 months if the ketamine is holding and I'm feeling ok.
What both Dr. Richman and Dr. Schwartzman seem to feel is the key to success is the booster treatments. They have found the highest success rate in the patients who have had them. Dr. Richman seems to feel I am a good candidate given my age (38) and past response to anesthesia. I had 3 cervical and 1 lumbar surgery over the past 5 years and the way I felt for 6 wks or so after each was simply amazing. I felt like I was 20 and was pain free. Of course, after 6 wks or so, I was left wondering why all of my pain kept coming back and getting worse then pre-surgery. I guess we now know why.
Hopefully, the combination of the 5 day plus boosters will be the answer. Percentage was, I forget the exact numbers he gave me but they were favorable enough for a definite yes for me. I believe it was about 20% that had no positive benefit. Others had varying degrees, some of which came after the boosters began, others immediately after the 5 day.
Happy to answer any other questions as best I can and obviously will be able to answer more after the 1st.
Dawn