[PurpleFoot721]

Hi everybody,

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with my new pain management doctor. I have to say, I was quite impressed. I walked in there figuring that it was going to be another one of those appointments in which I knew more about CRPS than him. I was wrong. He went through describing why I am experiencing the pain that I am, why my symptomatic limbs can feel cold at one moment and hot at another, what vasoconstriction is and how it is making my arms and legs change from red to even purple. He mentioned a few different new medications that could be beneficial, sorry, I tried to write them down but as I was searching for my pen, he told me not to worry right now because my insurance doesn't cover them yet. He used all the right terms and even made me laugh quite a few times. He told me that his whole goal is to reduce pain enough for me to be able to continue pt, which in turn will help me regain some function. I was told that my last PM was giving up too early with meds, that my dosages were still quite low, and it was wrong for him to even suggest SCS already. He told me that because I am experiencing symptoms in more than just my right leg and that he believes I have CRPS II - numbness in 2 of my toes - that I would not benefit from a lumbar sympathetic block. When I asked his opinion about ketamine or lidocaine infusion, he told me that lidocaine would be worthless but I would be a very good candidate for ketamine. He then proceeded to tell me the 3 hospitals within a 2 1/2 hour drive that he believes does them, none of which he is affiliated with - Henry Ford Hospital, U of M Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic, but wanted to try a few things before I make the decision to go that route. The first thing that he wants to try is to continue with the medication that my last doctor put me on - Gabapentin 600mg 3x a day, Amitriptyline 50mg 1x daily which he wants to increase next time I come in, Hydrocodone 10-325 as needed - and he was going to right a script for low dose methadone - 5mg 3x daily, but wanted me to look into it to make sure I was willing to before I fill the script. He explained that it works on the same receptors that ketamine works on and would be a better pain medication for me than the hydrocodone.

Does anybody have any experiences or knowledge about using low dose methadone for treating the pain that CRPS causes?

Thank you all in advance for sharing what you know.

Alaina H.