Can someone please explain this to me-
How does Ketamine work exactly? I have heard that children have been "healed" with it... If they have the treatments and are without pain, does that mean that it healed them, and they no longer have RSD?? Isn't their sympathetic nervous system still out of whack?

How can a pain medication/ anestetic do that?

Thanks in advance!

Venessa,
My understanding of how ketamine works(and I may be completely wrong and have outdated information) is that it kind of shuts down the sympathetic nervous system so that in the case of the coma ketamine in europe - when the patient wakes up (the ketamine is stopped) the nervous system reboots. Like turning your computer off and restarting it by shutting it down completely.

I took a compounded ketamine cream, first alone and then mixed with other drugs. It did help my pain better than anything else I tried and I tried a ton of different medications.

I think there has been research that RSD is not caused by the sympathetic nervous system being stuck on.

In regards to research, it seems to me that as soon as they come out with a new theory about what causes this disease, they rename it. Then a while later, more research is done, a new theory created and a new name - chronic regional pain syndrome.

What I liked about ketamine and what made me try it was that it was the latest and best new research at the time and it seemed promising.

I think that prialt(from snails)is probably newer than ketamine. Fmichael posted an artile about the use of that new drug.

That's all I know,
peace,
Lisa

I went thru the 5 day inpatient ketamine tx and it didnt work for me...I know some other people who went thru it and it helped for a period of time - then became less effective- I also know 2 pple who went thru the coma tx in germany and the ketamine is no longer helping them... I am sure it has helped some more then others but its not the be all and end all for us- Sorry to be such a downer

Debbie