Dear Nigel -

I have no problem with what your doctor has prescribed for you, although I would have liked to have seen a "third-generation" IV biphosphonate in there - so long as you don't need any major dental work and your liver is in good shape - but take issue in general that time is not a concern for the patient. And even though you are - at three years - no longer in the acute stage, there issue of potentially ongoing neuro-cognitive changes, that makes the maintenance of the status quo, albeit in greater comfort, less than an optimal solution. If you search the forum for "brain fog" you'll find a large number of anecdotal reports of increasing awareness of cognitive impairment over time: particularly in terms of staying focused/organized ["executive functioning"] and memory issues. (Please note, however, that in Outpatient intravenous ketamine for the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome: A double-blind placebo controlled study, Schwartzman RJ, Alexander GM, Grothusen JR, Paylor T, Reichenberger E, Perreault M. Pain 2009 Dec 15;147(1-3):107-15, Epub 2009 Sep 23, FULL ONLINE TEXT @ http://www.rsds.org/2/library/articl...n_Pain2009.pdf although the authors find that a large number of peoples' pain had gone into long-term remission, there was still no significant improvement in terms of "quality of life" issues. And unfortunately, Appendix II to the article, in which the "quality of life" scale is broken down, is not readily accessible.)

And please see the rather lengthy post I just put up in one of your other threads, RSD Specialists/clinics Germany http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread149765.html

Mike


PS Signing out here in LA with one last thought: if possible, try to avoid having too many of your own threads going on a common question: it makes it hard to keep up.