Thank you so much both of you.

You are so welcome Sandel!!

I wish you well!!!

I tried to get on the wait list with both doctors but was told at this time I am not a viable candidate for various reasons...



Abbie

Hi Abbie..
I think perhaps with my heart being involved I would not be a good candidate either, I am gathering the information for another friend who lives here in Canada, she would possibly be a good candidate. I gave her the info provided here thanks again.
I hope you are having a nice weekend with low pain days my friend,

Sandra

Hi Sandra,
I hope you are doing well. I have been in terrible pain. I can't wait until the cold is gone. I don't know how you handle it in Canada. I saw your posting about your friend with RSD and thought I would add my two cents. I know you have to have at minimum $30,000.00 U.S. Dollars in order to have the treatment done in Germany. I don't know if your friend's present PM doctor can refer her either. You may want to research Ketamine Coma treatments in Germany for RSD on the Web and see what shows up. I did that before and found out the city they do it in but I can't remember it now. Best of luck to your friend and I hope and pray the both of you are feeling better. I've been down in the dumps too. I think it is the time of year for everyone. I just want to feel somewhat "normal" if you know what I mean. I can't believe I have been in this horrible pain for over 3 years now and it never lets up 24/7. I find it totally amazing. I hope you are doing well.
Take care,
kathy d

Sandra,
The info on Dr. Schwartzman and Dr. Kirkpatrick is accurate to some degree. The coma in Germany is done in Saarbreucken at the Klinikum Saarbreucken. The piece however that is missing is that the program in Germany is temporarily on hold. They are talking about restarting, but so far that has not happened. I've had the coma twice and the second time, I was the last person to be put into a coma before the shut down the program. As for Dr. K, he is the one to go through to get the treatment in Monterrey, Mexico. Dr. Cantu is the doctor in charge in Mexico. I don't know about Dr. K b/c I've never seen him, but Dr. S has about a three to four year waiting list for appointments and a two year waiting list for the coma. As far as costs, you need at least $30,000-40,000 expendable money and then you need another $10,000-15,000 in credit. I'm not sure on the exact costs of Mexico. The first time I went, we spent $80,000 but that was b/c I got staff infection pneumonia and was in a coma for 3 weeks, so we were there for a month and a half. As for the second time, I was in and out of the hospital in less that two weeks and I arrived home only three weeks after I had left and it cost us $60,000. If you need any further info, feel free to let me know.

Something *that* experimental and you have to PAY that much for this? I would have expected a small fee (to help cover expenses) in order to participate (a fee they pay you).

The Ketamine/Coma treatment is about the only "treatment" that isn't yet considered a valid way to treat. It hasn't been approved. It's highly experimental. So to have to pay THAT MUCH for what is in fact a major experiment. OMG! WTH?! I mean, where are the patients that participated in the study for this treatment? They have done a study, right?

I'm Canadian and I I just self referred by contacting the doctors in Germany directly. I used the the emails on the study publications. I went to Saarbreucken to meet with Dr. Rohr for a consultation while on vacation in Europe a few years ago.

MsL

Hi Marleen,
There was a Ketamine study done here in Scottsdale at the Mayo Clinic on Mayo Blvd and 56th Street. Dr.S , Dr. Harbut, Dr. Correll, and 2 or 3 more Drs. were involveed. It wasn't a Coma however. This was several years ago, at least 10 years. One of my friends was their assistant. I believe there was a German Dr. and one from Australia involved. Dr. S and I believe Dr. Harbut went to Page Arizona and worked at a clinic before going to Philly. The Mayo does not do the Ketamine treatment. I called them a couple of months ago and they have one Dr. working on RSD if it is in the Foot and no spread. If anyone needs the information, I can call my friend who worked with the Drs. or I have another friend that works in Administration at that clinic. We have two Mayo clinics here.
That is a lot of $. The thought of a coma is too scary for me. But I know there are different levels of pain. It's not a good position to be in, that's for sure. Hope today you are in a low pain day. Your friend across the pond, loretta

I can't speak on behalf of the program in Mexico, but in Germany they charge that much because sometimes things go wrong. My first time I got Staff Infection Pneumonia and was in a coma for three weeks. I was in the hospital for 5 weeks. They lost a lot of money on me and the other girl I was there with who was in the coma for two weeks. When you go there, you sign a contract to pay 15,000 or 18,000 (which is what it went up to after we left). If you are only in the hospital for just under two weeks like I was the second time I went, or the five weeks I was the first time, the cost never changes. They sign the same contract that we have to sign that says no matter what happens, the cost never increases. Again, I don't know about Mexico. You have to understand that in Germany, they started doing this treatment in 1999 and have put less than 60 people into comas. The don't take every month, sometimes they only take four months out of the year. The hospital that it's done in, takes on a lot of risk if something goes wrong, so the only thing that funds this project is the money you pay. Unfortunately, you also have to pay room and board for whoever goes with you and all the extra costs of being away from home.
That being said, not one single German resident has had nor will ever have this treatment done on them b/c they have universal health care and the government does not want to have to pay for it. I think that's why it's still considered "experimental". As for a study, before you go to Germany and five to six months after you return, you're sent to Boston to have a specialized brain scan done. They pay to fly you there and back and this is done with each patient, so when they have enough data, they can use it to try to get the same program done here. Also, just an aside, I get a lot of experimental treatments done in the US and they're not covered by insurance. So my parents have to pay the doctor out of pocket and it usually comes to $8,000 or $11,000 each time. So a lot of things that are experimental are not only not going to pay you, but they're going to charge you as well.

Hi, were you helped by the comas, thank God you survived the first one. Did you see the people mag. article?? did you have the second coma in Germany also. ? thank you for sharing. cz