Dear Nigel -

Please see my PM to you, and forgive me as I borrow from parts of it it here.

While I have yet to have ketamine treatments due to glaucoma, you should be aware that following Dr. Schwartzman's lead, the 10-day outpatient ketamine infusion (200 mg/4 hr. infusion) has been widely adopted in the U.S., where Schwartzman et al showed, using at that time only 100 mg./4 hr. infusion, results that were significantly better than those obtained with the 5-day 'low dose" infusion, even at 40 - 50 mg./hr., especially in people who had RSD for more than a year. Compare, A Pilot Open-Label Study of the Efficacy of Subanesthetic Isometric S(+)-Ketamine in Refractory CRPS Patients, Kiefer RT, Rohr P, Ploppa A, et al, Pain Med. 2008;9(1):44-54, paying particular attention to the "Discussion" portion of the article beginning at p. 50, FULL ONLINE TEXT @ http://www.rsdsa.org/pdfsall/Kiefer_Rohr_Ploppa.pdf, with, 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, FULL ONLINE TEXT @ http://www.rsdsa.org/pdfsall/Schwartzman_Pain2009.pdf

And for a very recent article by Dr. Schwartzman et al, including both a discussion of the possible side effects of ketamine therapy and a detailed description, in the appendix, of the current out-patient protocol, see, The use of ketamine in complex regional pain syndrome: possible mechanisms, Schwartzman RJ, Alexander GM, Grothusen JR, Expert Rev. Neurother. 2011, 11;719-734 FULL ONLINE TEXT @ http://www.rsdsa.org/2/library/artic...rtrev.2011.pdf

So an important - but not necessarily determinative - question may be whether Dr. Rohr is able to offer the outpatient protocol, where it appears to offer the best chances for people who have had the disease for more than a year.

Mike


ps And thanks to the RSDSA for making full text copies of these and so many articles readily available! http://www.rsdsa.org/researchlibrary.html

pps Please check out Daniella's current thread, Those who have had ketamine? at http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread150232.html