has it been a problem with sex after the ketamine procedure.asking because its tough enough with all the meds now,finally have a grasp on it now with this procedure coming up wondered if it would set me back even further.

Nice to know I'm not alone as having that as one of my chief concerns.

I may be coming from a different approach as i'm unsure if you are male or female but the meds do wreak havoc on sex and I'm praying that's something that will improve after the ketamine. 3 more weeks to go for me but I guess you'll be first. Let us know!
Dawn

Assuming I get clearance from a glaucoma specialist at USC, I'm probably going to do the ten day, out-patient infusions of 200 mg. over a four hour period.

Just exactly what side effects - for men and women - are you guys talking about? And how long do they last?

Thanks,
Mike

mike, thats why i asked because im not sure have'nt had the procedure yet, but i know with a lot of the meds doctors prescribes, having so much can be tough on sex assuming you are even in the mood from your condition

I guess the thing with ketamine is that once its left your system, and the quoted figure is 72 hours, it's gone. Compare that to most meds, where when you're on them, you're generally trying to keep a relatively constant level of the drug in your system at all times.

Then again, thinking back at least 30 years, it was never all that easy to get it on when I was directly under the influence of any substance intended to put me in a "dissociative state." Perhaps other other folks had more luck in that department. Dunno.

Mike

Hi All,

I just wanted to make a comment about the long lasting side effects after having a ketamine infusion. We all have heard about the hallucinations, I refer to them as heavy, heavy deep, deep dreaming I really never felt hallucinations. Prior to this nightmare I was a normal sleeper remembered a slight dream here and there, except when I was a child I used to sleep walk which makes my next point interesting I think. Since all the ketamine and after the first 2 weeks and then you start your boosters you are basically back to normal and with less pain, headaches, sleeping better, the burning has stopped blal.blah. The one thing that did get worse and not in a bad way is that as my husband puts it, you have a whole live of you own at night when you sleep, I talk, full conversations, I dream extremely heavy and they are not nightmares or scary but it's a whole episode not every night but a lot. As I mentioned above I used to sleep walk as a child so I always must have had some kind of sleep issue but I grew out of that by 10-11 and never experienced this type of dreaming until the ketamine, it prompted my memory of my sleep walking immediately. I just thought that was interesting. Please don't read to much into it.

gabbycakes

Mike, I just wanted to thank you for one of the first serious smiles I've had since this nightmare started. Your reference to what you did 30 years ago made me giggle, because I personally related to those experiences. I'm seriously considering the ketamine at this point because the spinal injections are not working and they want to take away my pain meds. This sounds more promising, and less invasive, than the implant they want to put in my spine, a sort of tens unit. Not really to excited about that one - so thanks everyone for the information!

Pix

Hi, Mike -- are you doing the ketamine infusion through the USC Pain Center? I'm newly diagnosed with RSD and literally just starting to research the ketamine infusion treatments, there is nothing where I live currently, but I used in live in L.A. [and went to grad school at USC] so would consider that center. Did you get a consult with Linda Rever, or how did you go about it? Any info would be appreciated. thanks!
T.

T -

I understand that the ketamine program at USC is just getting off the ground. I have been a patient of Steven Richeimer, MD, the Director of the USC Pain Center and Chief of Pain Medicine at USC, since 2003, in one capacity or another: first as a consultant and w/in the last 3 years as my primary.

When I last saw him in August, he told me that I was not going to be his first patient - he didn't know who was - because with my histrory of glaucoma and the apparent need to have my pressures monitored during the procedure which he is setting up through another department - he didn't want to take the chance that their first case could be scrubbed by Ophthalmology well before the series of infusions had ended.

As it is, my glaucoma specialist has referred me to an ophthalmologist at USC, whom I will see in a week or two, both to to determine if I need additional meds for my glaucoma and whether he will oversee the monitoring of my pressures during the infusions by a resident of clinical fellow. But if he does not believe that I should be receiving ketamine under any circumstances, then it's the same result as I had via email with the doctors in Saarbrücken, Germany on Aug. 13, 2004, when I was told - with tickets for travel in 9 or 10 days already in hand - that even well controlled open angle-glaucoma operated to per se disqualify me from participating in their ketamine coma trials.
Hopefully, that won't happen here. And so far, the early indications are looking good, at least on the issue of per se disqualification.

And while there are other doctors in LA administering ketamine, I would trust Dr. Richeimer with my life. That, and USC takes most insurance, whereas the other guys who are into this are essentially (if not exclusively) on a cash basis.

So I'll see what happens. Thanks for asking.

Mike

Mike - I think it is so incredibly cool that this is finally happening for you. I truly wish you the very best. Please keep us all updated....

love and peace....Sandy