Dear Austin,

I'm so sorry that you have been sick for so long - what a bummer. And that there are so many other things that some of us attempt to use as much as we can to compensate for the absense of strong opiates in our system that you find you can't tolerate.

It seems that you have had a really hard time of it. Life is just SO not fair.

After being on a medical LOA for my RSD for a while, I really wanted to go back to work, and knew that I couldn't do it on the meds I was taking. So I needed to do something to help myself. Ketamine infusions have helped me get SOME of my life back. (I'll never be like I was before the RSD.) I'm so sorry that it's not something that seemed to work for you when you saw Dr. S. Have you considered consulting with Dr. Getson in NJ? He's not too far from where you live and is really one of the nicest docs I have ever met. I bet you would like him a lot. And he will help you with everything - your meds, your belly, migraines, possible ketamine, etc. He talked to my doctor up here in RI when my case was transferred up here a few months ago. He's just a great guy.

What would be wonderful is if maybe you could plan to go back to school someday.

Hyperalgesia, or rebound pain, can occur when you've been taking really high doses of meds for a long time. You won't find out if that is the case until you've come off of them for a day or so. I think that happens to me with all the Fiorcet I tend to take for my headaches sometimes....

What's interesting is how many hits this thread has had - obviously Oxycontin is a med a lot of RSDers have taken, and the change that the drug company has made to the formula has impacted many users. My doc wouldn't prescribe it for me though, he said it was too addictive. I have the 5 mg. Oxycodone for occasional use when needed, most of the time I just take Fiorcet for my head pain.

All the best to you, Sandy