Hi All,
I had an appt with Dr. Schwartzman by the end of this month after waiting for more than a year. Although my pain level appears to be undercontrolled with the medications, it has spread from hands to feet and may be to other parts of body. I don't know whether or not i should go to see him because he is so far away from me. I am in the west coast and i can not sit at all without pain plus the travelling cost.
My questions are: is there anything that he can offer the local doctor or local major university hospital can't? If i am interested in coma katemine infusion, do i have to go through him.
If it is imperative for me to go to see him, i will try to go especially if there is treatment options that will stop the spreading. So far i think the doctors that i saw were too conserative. I only had total of 5 blocks for all my extremities and medications and that's all.
Take care and hope to hear from you and thank you,
Numb

Hi and sorry that you live so far away. I don;t know what you are looking for in treatment, but understanding and seperating various symptoms and diagx are wha Dr S. is all aout. To have an appointment and not go after waiting a year
He is able to seperate CRPS I & II, fybromyalgia, trigger points, Brachial involvement and many things no other doctor would even think of.

He is the Guru on this type of issue. I am not sure that you just want ketamine and can have the treatment locally, but do you want to know from Dr. S it is going to help or not, what the dose, how long the treatments, how many???/
I never had the treatments, I talked to friends that have, and also the Lidocain IV too. He is not an advocate of Opiate therapy for pain

Do some research on threads of others that saw Dr. S their diagx, treatment options etc.
The man is brillant and compassionate. When he diagx my daughter back in 1996 after 2 years of pain, I could of and may have, hugged him.
I am biased though....
He is only a 2 hr drive but I never wasted a trip, for the vast understanding, knowledge and examination outcomes and information we received.

If you can swing it, I aboslutly would go. If you decide to cancel, man I would give my right arm to have the appointment for my son.
dianne

Hi Dianne, hope this finds you well, in certain cases, like mine, Dr. S supports and approves the opiate route. I have been on large doses of opiates for 3 years with dr. s blessign plus many ohter scripts, such as baclofen, soma etc.Take care, cz

CZ,
Did your insurance pay for your katemine infusion?
Thanks for your response,
Numb

Numb, sorry I just saw this, my insurance has been very good to me. they did not pay for the coma. they did pay for my booster infsuons I consider my self one of the lucky ones. they also paid for 3 five day ICU infusions at Hahnemann Hospital. In total. Good luck. Cz

Insurance company is untied heatlh ppo Dr. Schwartzmans office gets all the preapproval - i did not have to do athing.

Numb, definitely go to the appointment. I don't know Dr. S. personally, but I know many who do and he is considered the premier RSD Dr. by many in the U.S.

Dr. Kirkpatrick in Tampa FL is another option. He runs a clinic specifically for RSD and offers all the traditional options, plus 4 hour - 3 day outpatient infusions. He is also the man to see if you want to get approved for the coma treatment in Mexico.

Having been witness to the coma treatment in Mexico, I can say without a doubt it was the best decision we've ever made. The medical care was just out of this world, and the lead Doctor, Dr. Cantu, is by far, the most amazing man/doctor I have ever met in my entire life.

Someone else mentioned Germany being far cheaper....that's not my understanding at all....I believe Germany is almost twice as much, the wait is very long, and in Mexico they follow the exact protocol.

If someone has RSD really bad and can afford it (outrageous that this isn't covered by insurance) please do yourselves a favor and consider the coma option. I know it sounds terrifying, and it is and can be scary as hell, but there is a very strong likelihood of a return to a normal life.



The link above will show you the videos of the patients who have gone to Mexico so far.

I wish you all the best.

Hi Numb,

I am a Part time patient of Dr. S he works in conjunction with my Pain Management Spec. I have had 3 five day ketamine infusions, the awake version, in NYC and then go to Dr.S for my boosters. He is a very smart doctor and has worked together with my other doctor to try and help and he did. To answer your question about if you should make the trip: The list to do the 5 day is very long if you do it with him, like I said I did it with my PM doctor in NYC and Germany Coma list is even longer but I do know a girl who went to Mexico for the coma treatment through him. If I were you I would first see if you can find a doctor on the west coast who does ketamine treatments so this way Dr. S can recommend a treatment, it might not be ketamine, then they could communicate through phone and letters to proceed with your treatment. That's how it worked for me. I am about 3 hours from him. I would definitely go for the appt. but find a doctor who he can work with. The protocol with either the 5 day awake or coma version still require the boosters so to make it as easy for you as possible I would think you need a doctor relatively close to you so not to put so much stress on yourself with travel. My experience with the ketamine while you are doing it is to stay a calm and non-stressed as possible. If it was not for my doctor and Dr.S I don't know where I would be. I have had RSD for 5 years and right now I feel pretty good I even got a PT Job and I haven't worked in 2 years. I feel if I didn't do all those treatments I would not be doing as good as I am. It does take sometime for it all to jell but I do believe in it.

If you do go there is a Hampton Inn Hotel right around the corned from his office about 2 block away who will give you a discount if you tell them you are seeing Dr.S. It is very clean and the people there are helpful because they have so many patients who stay there. If you need the phone number just ask me and I will dig it out.

Good luck.

Ann

Ann and Diane,
I was talking with my husband this morning. He said i should go to see Dr. S since i have waited this long. My husband will go with me and take a week off. One of my local pain doc is able to do katemine infusion in his office only for about 4 hours per day and it causes $3000 per session. Insurance don't pay. However, i just feel the local doctors here don't seem to be very knowledgeable and compassionate. One doctor was upset at me and my husband because we asked so much questions after a block. My response was quite scary at that time because i could not talk, drink and eat for so many hours after the injection. Although i had partial relief, he said i had no RSD. That was one of the reason why i wanted to see Dr. S to clarify my dx. Now it has become very obvious i do have RSD. May be he can help me to sort out my other nerve problems.
Now i have more practical questions: Which airport? Is there any sites worth seeing? How far away from Boston? May be we can take some time to relax and tour around the area after the consultation.
Thanks for your feeback and greatly appreciate!
Numb

Ann,
I had more questions for you. Did you say you had had 3x-5 days katemine continuous awake procedures? Did your insurance pay for it?
Many thanks and feel very happy for you to be able to work part-time. Be able to work even part-time is very important for our psychological well being. I have to cut down my working hours since i had my pelvic pain. I actually sort of insisting and holding onto my job even though i can just stop working and collect full disability benefit.
Take care,
Numb