Dear Shanna S,
Hello and glad to hear you may be getting some much needed pain relief. I had the 5 day ketamine inpatient treatment on Sept 20th (which turned into 7 days)at Hahnemann. I don't want to be a downer but I had the worst experience and want to warn everyone about that hospital. I felt very unconscious during that time and came in and out of consciousness at different times. I was very paranoid and thought the nurses were going to kill me so I tried to be as nice to them as possible, had hallucinations, and pulled ivs out of my arms three times. It was a mess but the worst part was after waiting over 3 1/2 years for the treatment and going to court three times one of the nurses there in the ICU took me out of bed on day 6 and put me on the commode and left the room. Well, when you BP is 85/49 I hit the floor and hurt my neck and back real bad. I still have lots of pain from it so don't let them get you out of bed at all!! I had a fentanyl patch and after 24 hours they took it off (without weaning me off them) so I had severe fentanyl withdraw and had bowel and vomitting problems and lost 12 pounds in 2 weeks, was in the ER four times, doctor's offices four times, and don't remember the first week I was home from the hospital. It was a nightmare. The ketamine was frightening and I wish someone had told me how I was going to feel BEFORE I had it done. Once you get hurt when you have the ketamine done, the pain returns 1,000 times worse than before. I am still really bedridden waiting for help from an aid and am so weak I can barely get out of bed. It has been a nightmare and I know the treatment was working before the fall so it has been devastating for me and my family (who can barely handle the rsd)!! Dr. S said there is nothing he can do for me and wanted me to come back and do the 5day infusion again and there is no way I will ever go back there again. I am tooo traumatized to do so.

I know Dawn had a great outcome with it a few weeks ago and I am soooo happy for her. I was also by myself (as I am always because I am single) almost all of the time. I did not care for the nursing staff at all...there was maybe one or two nurses that were nice but the others were mean to me and to my family. One thing is you are supposed to sleep as much as possible to help the ketamine work and none of us knew that and no caffeine which we did not know. There were many things we were not told ahead of time and I researched this treatment for over 4 years!!!

I wish you the best of luck but know what may not have worked for one of us will work for others so get it and be positive and relax so the meds can work. Let us know how you make out. Also, the ketamine makes you very weak too. I think they should put patients in a regular room for a few days to get them back to the best physical and mental shape they can BEFORE they send them home. The worse part is I don't think no one told Dr. S because he was silent when he called me to see how I was doing and I told him they let me fall. I had my first booster Oct 21st (nightmare again) and he said when I fell it ruined my treatment and also told me he has nothing to help me right now and told me to go back on the fentanyl!!!! Never heard from him again. I guess I am not one of his star patients since it did not work for me. So, I lost alot of respect for him and especially the hospital and his staff over all this mess. I have my "next" appt with him in April and boy are we going to have alot to talk about then haha. Best of luck to you as you continue with your treatment.
Take care,
kathy d