I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your battles... Ketamine is an "Accepted" treatment for RSD, and has a long history of being approved by many insurance carriers (particularly Empire Blue and United Healthcare). In the long run I think it is cheaper than all the meds and other treatments that the insurance companies routinely approve, certainly much cheaper to society as a whole if many of us could continue to work...

XOXOX Sandy

I'm from Mass, Sandy

I haven't started my possible eventual plea for ketamine.

I had been having a series of SGB's at my local pain clinic which have helped with the numbess, weakness, and aching in my left arm as well as the touch sensitivity. They did not touch the burning golf ball that I feel just to the left of T1-T2. The pain clinic just told me they don't think there is much else they can do, he thinks I need to figure out if this is part of my TOS and I need surgery for that OR that I have nerve root involvement even though that doesn't show on the MRI............so, we need to figure all of that out first. If only my neurologist worked more than 1 to 2 days a week and would return my calls, he's pseudo retired ! His wife/nurse says they are booking into August, but hasn't booked me because she wants me to talk to him about scheduling my eMG...she keeps saying he'll call me back, but it doesn't happen !

Can someone clarify whether or not insurance would pay for ketamine infusion? I know a local doc who can do the outpatient ketamine infusion but he told me insurance does not cover. I have tried different nerve blocks over the years and i think my RSD had spread all over me. While my pain is still manageable at this time, i would like to explore the ketamine infusion option.

To all who are trying to get approved:

I have had 3 - 5 day inpatient/ICU ketamine infusions and was approved each and everytime. I went to Dr.S for my boosters and he was in -network only paid a co-pay. I did have to pay my PM doctor some out of pocket, which was around $3000, that he knew the insurance would not pay for. I truly believe it depends on the office staff that is putting the pre-approval through. It's the old saying you can't pay for experience. And this particular doctor is very involved with Ketamine for RSD patients and has been doing it since before I started going to him which was almost 8 years now. He also works closely with Dr. S and is on staff with one of the best hospitals in the NYC Tri-state area. Also, it helped that I had a PPO Plan through my husbands job so I really did not have restrictions on who I saw, as long as I met my deductable etc.....

I truly sympathize for all that have to deal with this red tape just to get treatment. As SandyRI did she just kept plugging until she got approved, it's very hard and stressful but she accomplished it...

Good Luck to all.

Where are the articles stating ketamine is an accepted form of treatment for RSD. I need to show my insurance company and any help would be great. Thank you so much for all the help in advance.

That is what Dr. Philip Getson's office of Marlton, NJ told me to state to my insurance company when I filed my appeal. My personal insurance company is United Healthcare.

Good Luck, Sandy