Questions about ketamine treatments
 

Hi All,
I hope everyone is having a good day. I am trying to get more information about ketamine treatment. Wondering if anyone here has had it and what it was like. Thanks! Did it help?

Hi Supergirl, I've never had ketamine treatments but hope that if you get it, that it helps you to feel better. Take care.

Hope some of this helps...
 

Hi,

I just had the 1 day high dose out patient (500 mg ) Ketamine infusion treatment last Thursday. I opted to do the 1 day over the 4-5 day because I didn't want to stay in the hospital for that long.

My treatment worked really well, I have had a 80-85% reduction in pain (right ankle/foot CRPS) since I had it. I have had the pain level creep back up slightly daily,but the pain management Dr said this might happen and it should plateau out in about a week. Of course it isn't a cure, but we are hoping with repeated treatments the CRPS will go into remission. Hoping!!

The 1 day treatment is different from the 4 day treatment in that you get a very large dose of Ketamine IV ( 500 mg ) over a very short time ( 8hrs) and have all the fun drug side effects with it( hallucinations are possible so you are given a drug called Versed which basically makes you forget it all). The 1 day treatment wasn't bad at all, I was very " drunk" until the next day, but my foot was fairly pain free for the first 2 days.

The 4 day in-patient treatment is where you get to stay in the hospital and you get about 30 -50 mg of Ketamine IV per hour all day long for 24 hrs a day for the 4 days you are there. So you do end up getting a much higher dose over a longer period of time, which in the long run might be more therapeutic in providing longer lasting pain relief. The good thing about the 4 day therapy is you don't get all the dopey side effects of the 1 day high dose therapy, but you do get the inconvenience of having to be in the hospital for 4-5 days.

Since everyone reacts differently to every kind of medication and treatment out there...no guarantee you will get any pain relief at all, and if you do there is no saying how long it will last...could be one day, one week, one month, one year or on....

Does this help? Or did I cause more questions than answers? I will be happy to keep checking back and answering any questions I can for you.

Best to you :)

Hi Terri!
Thanks so much! It is helpful to hear what others have experienced. So the versed made you forget everything? Did they also give you klonipine? I heard sometimes they give that as well. I am just trying to find out as much info as possible and hear how it has gone for others.

More Ketamine therapy info
 

You are so welcome!!

The Versed made me forget about 90% of the treatment and afterwards...whenever I would get a bit "vocal" during treatment I am guessing I got another dose of Versed. I do remember talking to my nurse at one point and saying some crazy things.

My pain Dr only uses Ketamine, Versed and some Fentanyl if needed in a small amount.

I would recommend doing the Ketamine treatment is you are in pain. I will be doing this treatment again since it is non-invasive and it does provide me with a certain level of pain relief.

Terri:D

Hi Terri!

Thank you so much for sharing your information! May I ask how you ended up with CRPS? Was it a surgery? Do you have type I or II? Just curious. Thanks again!! Please keep us updated. :hug:

No worries!

I had a 4-in-1 ankle surgery in May 2014. CRPS l
Still need my left ankle repaired surgically.

Best wishes to everyone:D

Terri

Outpatient vs Inpatient Ketamine
 

I, too, have had the outpatient "high" dosage IV ketamine infusions. I've had a total of 3 so far, and each time my pain specialist has increased the dosage and the "remissions" have lasted longer. I am now up to 400 mg (IV infusion) plus I take oral ketamine (600 mg/day). I get the infusions every two to two and a half weeks. My last one kept me 100% pain free for a little over a week and 75% pain free for the following 3 days. My ultimate goal, however, is to go for the 5 day inpatient infusion. I am planning a trip to Freedom Pain Hospital in AZ this fall. From what I have read and researched (and from what my doctor has told me), there is a much higher and longer lasting remission rate from the inpatient procedure.

If you go to the RSDHope ** and look up Ketamine here is a quote on why the inpatient is more successful:

*edited long copy/paste quote from a webiste that has Copyright/All Rights reserved*
I hope this helps!

I am going to Freedom Pain Hospital in AZ next week. My procedure starts Sept 8th. It is a 10 day outpatient with 2, 2day boosters every 2 weeks.

I'm so happy for you! I can't belileve I didn't know about this place
sooner as I only live a few miles away. I'll be looking into it.