[Gunny Fitz]

Greetings All-

Just wanted to do my duty and introduce myself to this new forum for me. I am on at least 10 other forums for my hobbies and other issues and know the importance of the first hello. Please excuse the length of my first msg but I need to tell my story and request your assistance

I spent 21 years in the Marine Corps, and Retired from Marine Reserve back in 2005 after a brutal tour in Iraq during the most intense fighting in Fallujah and the Triangle of Death (Ramadi) and believe it or not my first few months were spent at the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison where we were literally mortared and had every incoming indirect weapon imaginable.

During my time I was exposed to 3 IEDs while driving across the country and the last one did the most damage by ringing my bell badly! I am now 90% Service Connected (Disabled) per VA standards and live everyday in intense pain. I have been diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury, severe Cervical Spine damage in every vertebra, PTSD, and a myriad of other medical issues that require many forms of treatment. You name it and Ive had it done to me. Right now I undergo Facet Joint Injections, RF injections, nerve blocks and various forms of acupuncture on a monthly basis. Not to mention the HUNDREDS of medications I have tried to help live with the pain in so many areas of my body. Obviously, I have tried EVERY type of pain medication out there and yes indeed have a "dependency" to them - not "addiction" in my opinion. I even detoxed off opiates during an intense in patient PTSD program with the help of the drug Suboxone - which is surely something I couldn't live without when trying to stop any opiate! However, due to the extreme pain I am back on them HARD and often find even the strongest meds don't hep with the neck and head pain!

Right now I am being treated by a new Pain Management Doctor who recently retired from the Navy, and was the Director of Pain Management and many other duties at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. He has just informed me of a procedure he has done thousands of times on troops there and is trying to start a civilian practice using this type of treatment now. As a amateur of fact while researching this I stumbled upon this forum and registered here to place a post on the thread.

"ketamine infusion for RSD/CRPS" (I cannot post links until I get 10 posts?)

The procedure is called Ketamine infusion and based on what I read has a magical ability to reset the bodys pain receptors so that everything from depression, PTSD, anxiety and pain are all treated at once while in an induced coma with Ketamine - or whats called on the street "Special K" which I have never tried. I am anxious to learn much more about this and even start the treatment with the first one being only a one hour infusion, working to a one day period, and then up to a 5 day coma. For whatever reason, VA hasn't adopted this yet (go figure!) and even civilian insurance companies do not even cover this, which is approx 5k for the 5 day one!

If anyone here has experienced the Ketamine treatment and can please provide me with anything they care to pass along, I would be VERY appreciative to say the least! Please PM me if you can, or at least share something here in the open ok? This is my biggest attempt at trying to manage the pain which has brought me so close to eating my gun several times! Its THAT BAD!

I have several articles Id love to publish about myself, my experiences, and even obtaining a specially trained TBI/PTSD Service Dog which is the only way I can go out in public with things as bad as they are. Anyone wishing to hear more about him is free to PM me as well - HOWEVER, I don't seem to have the ability to send anyone a PM here (do I need to be a member for a certain amount of time first or what?) Anyway, I will be here seeking help from all you members suffering from some of the same pain I do, and anxious to hear from anyone who can offer advice or help on this. Again, sorry for the long intro and msg.

Semper Fidelis My Friends!

Gunny Fitz

PS- Pic of the Humvee I was in on last IED .