This is most exciting news
I am SO SO happy for you
I am going to find out how I can do this right away so I can be next.

I will meet you on the slopes next year-

Gmom-Did you bring Mikes article and all the article he has referenced with you posted at the beginning of this thread to an appointment with these people ?.
It will certainly strengthen your argument if you go prepared and armed with evidence that this is a viable option!
They will have no reason to turn you down !!!
Good Luck

Peace
GnP

I did give that to the nurse. The doctor wont even talk to me. I am now trying to get in touch with research hospitals. So we will see. If you find someone that will do this for you please let me know who they are! I will let you know what I find out as well. If you want to know about the cost with out insurance it is about $1500 each time. I'm not sure what insurance will cover and what it wont. I have to pay out of pocket though since I can't get insurance. GL in getting it done! I'm so excited that there is some hope!

Dear GJmom -

My heart was saddened to hear of your experience with your local hospital, but it fits with what happened to me, when I guy who had come well recommended excused himself as a "small town ECT doc" who couldn't posibbly get his hospital to approve it and suggested instead that I seek out a "tertiary medical center," i.e. something connected to a major medical school, and that's where I'm going. The alternative, as has been suggested in this thread, is to ask yourself whether RSD and the resulting social isolation has left you really depressed. If the answer to that one is "yes" then we need say no more . . . .

Secondly, janism raised the issue of memory loss. In addition to using RUL etc., the other thing that really struck me when I put together ther article was research showing that there wasn't even any temporary loss in short term memory when ketamine was used as the general anesthetic, which is really exciting because short term memory loss was always understood as just the basic price of admission for the procedure.

I wish you only good luck in finding a place that can do this for you.

Mike

ps Janism raised the list of article that I will happily email to anyone in pdf formats. For anyone's reference, that list is as follows:

Key Relevant Articles re RUL ECT as Treatment for CRPS-1 (RSD)

1. Rasmussen KG and Rummans TA, "Electroconvulsive Therapy in the Management of Chronic Pain," Current Pain and Headache Reports, 2002, 6:17-22;

2. Wolanin MW, Gulevski V, and Schwartzman RJ, "Treatment of CRPS With ECT," Pain Physician, 2007, 10:573-578;

3. McDaniel WW, "Electroconvulsive Therapy In Complex Regional Pain Syndromes, The Journal of ECT, 2003, 19:226-229;

4. Wasan AD, Artin A, and Clark A, “A Case-Matching Study of the Analgesic Properties of Electroconvulsive Therapy,” Pain Medicine, 2004, 5:50-58;

5. Sackeim HA, Prudic J, Fuller R, et al., "The Cognitive Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Community Settings," Neuropsychopharmacology, 2007, 32:244-254;

6. Takano H, Motohashi N, Uema T, et al., "Changes in Regional Cerebral Blood Flow During Acute Electroconvulsive Therapy in Patients With Depression, British Journal of Psychiatry," 2007, 190:63-68;

7. Fukui S, Shigemori S, and Nosaka S., "Changes in Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in the Thalamus After Electroconvulsive Therapy for Patients With Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1 (Preliminary Case Series)," Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, 2002, 27:529-532;

8. Maihööfner C, Handwerker HO, Neundöörfer B, et al., "Cortical reorganization during recovery from complex regional pain Syndrome," Neurology, 2004, 63:693-701;

9. Nobler MS, Oquendo MA, Kegeles LS, et al., "Decreased Regional Brain Metabolism After ECT," Am. J. Psychiatry, 2001, 158:305-308; and

10. McDaniel WW, Sahota AK, Vyas BV, et al. "Ketamine Appears Associated With Better Word Recall Than Etomidate After a Course of 6 Electroconvulsive Therapies," The Journal of ECT, 2006, 22:103-106.

fmichael~
Thank you for your response! I know I'm not depressed, and will very much so hate to go that rout, but if that is the only thing I can do then so be it. I have called a hospital in Portland that is connected to a school, and "prides" itself with doing research. So we will see were I get with that.
What department did you talk to? I called the ECT unit at the Portland hospital, but I'm not sure if I should also call the neuro department. Do you have any suggestions?

Dear GJmom -

Assume we're talking about Portland Health Sciences (OH & SU). The department in question would be psychiatry, and what you would want to find out is whether there is an ECT coordinator (maybe an RN) who could tell you whether anyone there is working with RUL ECT as a treatment for chronic pain. That said, I just checked out its webpage for clinical trials and didn't see anything relevant, searching under both pain and RSD (http://www.ohsu.edu/research/rda/so/index.php) but that may not mean anything.

Alternatively, I have an uncle who is a relatively recently retired psychiatrist from a teaching hospital in Seattle. I don't know of he's in the country right now, but I will attempt to reach him on Sunday, on the assumption that he must know more than a few psychiatrists in Portland. Should I get a name, I will send you a PM.

Mike

Just wanted to let you all know that I talked to my PM about this. He was open to it & gave me the number of the psychiatric unit at a teaching hospital. He said, by definition, all people with RSD are depressed. No offense, GJmom. I think it's his way of saying that we should be able to get it. Maybe, away around the insurance. Glad he is in support of it. He went into detail decribing ECT to me.

Janism, I am so happy for you.

Linmarie

fmichael~
OH & SU is the one I called. I also did not see anything on the web page, but figured I'd give it a shot. I have also called some hospitals in Seattle, Salt Lake, I have one in Florida that I will call on monday. Thank you so much for all of the info! You are the best!!!!

Linmarie~
No offense taken at all.

Third treatment was Monday AM and uneventful. Am walking around without assistance now and even had lunch today with one of my friends from another forum. How nice to be able to put a face with a name!

It's really nice to hear that ECT is making such an apparent improvement for you. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Mike

If it's done on an outpatient basis (and no reason it can't be), then the cost is in the range of $1500 per treatment. Of course that's only if you don't have insurance. Otherwise they'll pay for it.