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Super ketamine coma is last chance for treating chronic pain

Reader Royce tipped us to this story about a young man who has such severe pain that he cannot function. His only hope? A radical ketamine treatment, in Germany.

The treatment is not allowed in this country, the parents say, because the FDA does not allow patients to be deliberately placed in comas for more than two days. The treatment in Saarbrueken, Germany, involves putting the patient in a coma for five to seven days, during which the body is filled with massive amount of ketamine in an attempt to “reboot” the body system.

Dr. Schwartzman has written that of the 41 patients he has sent to Germany, 14 came back pain free and have remained free for five years, while others have come back with their pain reduced.

Ketamine is a miracle. I think there's nothing a good ketamine coma can't cure...

Posted By jamesk at 2008-07-13 18:05:26 permalink | comments
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guest : 2011-04-12 12:03:38
CRPS/RSD DOES S--K and needs to B dealt with. The worst part is when your kid has it. She is now 19, NO INSURANCE and feels she has NO HOPE... Does any one Know how to raise money any faster than I am???? Yes, YHWH (G_D) is very important to us. it is just getting old now. I am just sooooo tired..Miss Sherry WI 920-562-9165 Please, NO BS phone calls....
E. T. Shea. : 2011-01-18 22:55:24
I too saw the episode of House dealing with House's Ketamine coma and resulting relief of his leg pain. I couldn't figure out if it was for real or a hallucination. It seemed too good to be real. Oh the indignity of all the visits to the dr's and the looks from the pharmacy tec's. I've had total body pain since 1981, when a drunken driver hit my car head on at 95mph. No one in my life has understood how I could possibly be in serious pain all the time. After losing my home and being put in an ALF, can I possibly hope to walk again without every nerve in my body screaming out "sit down, get in bed". I am going to actively seek out this treatment starting tommorrow. Please God let this be the anwset
Robert. : 2010-11-07 10:37:04
I've been using Ketamine for 10 years to abort my Cluster Headaches. It is the only thing that has ever helped at all for me. I am able to abort an acute attack as well as abort an entire " Cluster Cycle "... I am lucky enough to have lived outside of the Pharma-controlled USA and have open access to the Ketamine. I wouldn't be alive if not for the Ketamine.
Jacqueline Rose. : 2010-10-23 21:53:09
I suffer a minor ankle sprain and after the cast was removed I starded exercising to combat the muscle atrophy but I got injured and now I suffer from severe foot pain and unable to use regular shoes. Can this procedure works for me and where can I get it done in the US.
Tracy. : 2010-10-09 18:54:00
I have had chronic pain for thirteen years...i have been told it is not RSD but nothing takes it away!!! Its in both legs and feet. I have some good days but when its bad it's BAD! I think of the "unspoken alternative" often but am not a selfish person and love my family too much! I just want so badly to live pain free again! I am desperate and would have this procedure in an instant if I thought it would work...do you have to have RSD for it to work?? PLEASE help me!!!!!!
Lin. : 2010-08-24 12:14:13
I have had 21 out-patient ketamine infusions for RSD, and nothing - the blocks (26 so far) , opiates, PT, hydrotherapy, TENs unit - nothing can be compared to how effective this medication is when it is administered per established protocols in a clinical setting. I was almost in remission from it - my physician and the nurses were stunned. To all of you patients awaiting the coma, my prayers are with you. We are all brothers in sisters in arms - we fight to hold on to hope every day. To those of you suffering, there is hope, and it's through the ketamine infusions.
bartdude. : 2010-07-05 12:09:27
how much is ketimine and how do i get it.. rsd is almost a death sentence with no way out.it also kills all your friendships and relationships cause no one understands.
a. : 2010-04-15 02:42:50
check a compounding pharmacy in the U.S.A Some do low doses of it - daily use.
Jo. : 2010-02-06 22:04:42
Many people with RSD have had fabulous results with Dr Schwartzman of Philadelphia (the best specialist in the US) for RSD.

Mary Davis
Executive Director
1910 East Busch Boulevard
Tampa, Florida 33612
Tel: 813 907-2312

e-mail: info@rsdfoundation.org

beccimc : 2009-10-19 13:39:24
stacey..
my pain doctor has just reffered me for the ketamine treatment for fibro, i am going in next week!
so yes you can have it for fibro. im in the uk so i dont know if its different elsewhere.
i am quite scared but excited to be free from pain if only for a short while. i am not being put into a coma just a slow 12 hour drip with results expected to last 4-6 weeks. if successful i will then have the coma.
fdj. : 2009-08-26 01:28:14
just watch out for the hallucinations from r-ketamine, they can easily invoke the "near-death experience"
fdj. : 2009-08-26 01:25:12
its good to see such positive benefits to such a great rave drug.
mark. : 2009-08-23 04:49:53
Christopher thankyou!!i also stumbled across this site mate,thanks for your realistic approach,and i think i do have high expectations of myself which may just need too be put into context with my condition,fa some reason i seem to think that once i relieve myself of opiates everything is gunna be just fine!well you have made me rethink that issue and i am very thankfull!Take Care,Mark
Christopher. : 2009-08-14 07:25:59
Hi Everboy,
I have just come across this site, I will tell you about my experience with ketamine. I am a 50 year old 'ill health retired' paramedic. I was retired from work after sustaining back injuries from repetitive lifting of heavy patients in work. I prolapsed L1,2,3,4 and yes...numer 5 too! L2 and L5 both had annular tears and several nerve roots showed some compression but minimal neurological deficit although i now have total sensory loss in my left thigh. I had/have chronic severe back and abdominal pain and constant proctalgia (not nice!)
MRI and X- Ray also showed extensive and severe facet joint degeneration. I was referred to spinal ortho surgeons etc and eventually ended up under the care of the chronic pain team and a very forward thinking anaethetist consultant who is one of the pain team leaders. To cut a long story short I was by now on high doses of opiates i.e. 130 mgs of Oxycontin BD (twice daily) and 30 mgs of Oxynorm for breakthrough pain PRN (when required.. at minimum or 3 hourly intervals.) I was also on pregablin, duloxetine, Lidocaine patches, paracetamol, and used my TENS machine daily.
Some days i did not wish to live anymore such was the severity of my pain. I have three daughters and a wonderful wife who herself is a nurse pracitioner in a busy A and E unit (ER room) at a major hospital. Last year I was admitted 8 times with uncontrolable pain and yes I know what you mean when you say the ER room (A and E) staff treat you as if you are a fraud and 'seeking' (looking for more meds) even though I would make a point of taking my opiates in to the hospital with me to show i had loads left at home and i certainly didnt want any more, just wanted some form of pain relief. When will people learn that we hate opiates, the physical dependancy and tolerance that is well known attributes of opiates certainly doesnt help but all we want is some pain free time or at least a reduction to a level where we can fuction, a level where some qualty of life is given back to us?
I also reached a stage whereby increased levels of opiates be it oxycontin, MST or indeed IV morphine just made matters worse. my pain consultant said i had become hypersensitive to opiates. I now had no pain relief.
Untill the last time i was admitted when my pain team and my pain consultant anaethetist suggested a ketamine infusion that eventually lasted for ten days. I started on a small infusion rate (dont forget this was a 24hour infusion) and what they did was as the ketamine was increased daily, my oxycontin was reduced) until eventually i reached a high hourly rate of ketamine which had exceeded the pain teams own protocols for ketamine infusion but i was closely monitered with hourly obs taken, once again over a twentyfour hour period and over ten days. Eventually the ketamine was then lowered, i was weaned off it and my opiate levels are now at a much much lower daily level, a level that now works! I dont have unrealistic expectations and yes some days are bad but no where near as bad as before. last christmas was the first time i had sat down for a xmas dinner with my family for five years and I even went to the local cinema with my wife the other week.
I think ketamine has a lot to offer in the management of chronic pain at all levels but just wish it was made an accepted form of treatment. to illustrate this, the original plan for me was to be discharged home on a daily ammount of oral ketamine, indeed i was put on this new meds regime after the iv infusion had ended but we had problems as my GP wasnt able to prescribe it as the LHB (local health board) wouldnt sanction it. even though it worked for me and i was willing to sign any disclaimer, but thats beurocracy for you and so i am still on opiates but at a much lower level, its as if i was 'rebooted' and reset by the ketamine! its a good medication but only when used in a proper setting by people who know what they are doing!
I wish you all well and prey that your pain is at a level you can manage, only those who have been there know what it is like.
Chris
mark. : 2009-08-12 03:58:40
Felix what is your problem mate?i've just gotten out of hospital again from/with cronic neck pain!If you seriously think being in 400mg of kapanol daily and having too go to hospital&they not believe ya that your on that dose,keep ya hang'n out like a dog all whilst in plenty of pain without that also then mate i would more than likely say that you are a fraud and more than likely have not ever had a pain issue whatsoever&if you seriously think a life on opiates is a good thing then i would also presume you have never been in withdrawl from these sinister drugs,mate we're trying too get help&info from each other on ways of stopping both and i'll give you a big tip,god has not been there whilst i have been in acute pain whilst detoxing from opiates which i personally despise,if ya want opiates go get them but dont sit there on ya high horse telling me that god will cure my pain and opiate addiction cause seriously if that is what you think then thats proof enough fa me that you know jack shit,get a life ya twit!mark
kim . : 2009-08-08 16:02:38
my husband has been suffering from head trauma as well lyme that has entered his spinal cord and his brain. he is 31 years old. he has been to top hospitals and has been in pain management for years. he has tryed every procedure and medicine to relieve his pain to have it only get worse and worse. He has been paralized and come out of it and also suffered seizers. they are saying he has brain damage. at this point he can barely function and wants to die. we have 2 small children and Im afraid I am going to loose him. I just want someone to reach out to me and let me know that this will work and what to expect. he is going to die if something isnt done... here is my email.. Minx1123@yahoo.com.. please someone reach out to me.. thank you kim...

Chelsea. : 2009-07-14 20:30:40
I've had interstital cystits for 4 years now. It's an awful pain in the bladder and urinary tract. Doctors don't know what causes it or how to fix it but it HURTS. Taking Percocet now and want to have a baby soon. Hoping this coma would put me out of enough pain to have a baby. Anyone who's had the coma, please e-mail me. chelseabodart@aol.com
Bruce. : 2009-05-19 20:10:32
Could anyone that has had the Ketamine treatment PLEASE give me some contact information.....THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
bdes64@yahoo.com
mark. : 2009-04-30 16:02:44
have had chronic neck pain for so many years now ive seriously looked into lots of treatments,but to b quite honest i thjnk the morphine medication is worse than the pain.Im actually looking to go through with the coma just to get off the morph!all we need is to get together,become a mass and keep annoying the people that are stopping these comas&let us live our lives painfree,without opiates,gettn off the opiates has been harder fa me to deal with than the pain,WELL,they both are soul destroying really,if anyone has rid opiates using the coma treatment let me know how,when where&cost,comas arnt cheap,but they could be if we do a bulk order,thanks,mark!
Katie. : 2009-04-06 04:55:43
OMG, Stacey T! I don't know how you've managed for 20 years!!! My heart goes out to you! I've been in pain/disabled for 8 years now, was diagnosed with FMS and CFIDS 3 years ago & have it so bad I too am contemplating the ketamine coma. Saw an episode of House where he asked for "ketamine" & he was able to walk better & have less pain after...got me thinking so I decided to google ketamine & see what came up? So I too would love any info on whether this ketamine coma is being done for FMS patients as well. At the end of my rope - opiates I started on 3 years ago aren't working any more & I hate the idea of having to get into that upward spiral of increasing doses so I haven't yet. Stacey T, how have you managed opiates for 20 years? Did you & your doctor have to up the dose at all? Last doctor visit I mentioned they're not working as well, next doctor visit I was planning on asking about ketamine coma but thought I'd research it first. I'm completely debilitated from pain.
Stacey T. : 2009-03-15 06:52:36
I have suffered from Fibromyalgia for over 20 years and too would be happy if I never had to take another opiod again. I am interested in having this Ketamine treatment done as well. Does anyone know if it is being used to treat chronic pain such as that of fibro??
BHAKTI. : 2009-02-23 21:40:05
To FELIX: I have been living with SEVERE chronic pain for the past 4 years. Three discs in my neck slipped out at the same time and pressed against my spinal cord as well as crushed three nerve roots. I am stuck in bed for the majority of the time. I get out of the house to go to the doctors 1-4 times a week. I used to be an international award winning commercial photographer, published writer, and an accomplished musician. Now I am stuck at my parents house living in hell. I have tried every treatment known to mankind (except the ketamine coma, which I am researching now). I have migraines virtually every night. I feel like I'm being hit repeatedly with a 2x4 in the back of my head all of the time;; I'm being stabbed in my upper left arm continually with what feels like a butcher knife; I have lost a third of the use of my left hand. AND YOU MAKES JOKES LIKE 'YET ANOTHER REASON TO FAKE CHRONIC PAIN'. This is my life. That is the attitude I get EVERY TIME I GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM BECAUSE I AM CRYING SO HARD BECAUSE I CANNOT HANDLE THE PAIN AND I'M NAUSEAUS AND VOMITING. It's not funny. Most doctors I know see things your way, except they aren't joking. They know nothing about how to heal my pain besides filling me with opiods--which I hate taking---and so they blame me because they're too egotistical to admit that they don't have any answers. And regarding 'meeting Him (God) during the coma...God is available to everyone, everywhere, at all times. If you would only look inside you would find "Him" (pure consciousness) there. The opiods don't take me closer to God...They block the meditative experience that is more blissful than any opiod could ever wish to be. I hate being on opiods (because they block me from the reality of the Heart Center)...and doctors in emergency rooms treat me like an addict when I go to the emergency room. The LAST thing I want is more drugs. I want to be pain free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sherrie Gregory. : 2009-01-19 23:46:46
I am trying to get the ketamine as well. Do any of you know about Dr. Harbut's work here in the USA? He uses the low dose ketamine in the hospital for a week. He has very good success with it. Currently is in Hot Springs, Arkansas but at the VA hospital. Please contact me about your results and experience. I would very much appreciate it. I have CRPS type 2 in the left foot and lower leg. One year now.. since surgery screwed it up. I am mssherrie@aol.com date is January 19, 2009
Anita. : 2009-01-11 15:21:12
I was the 19th American to go over to Germany to have the Ketamine treatment in 2004.
Calvin. : 2008-12-10 13:37:20
Have had upper extremity rsd since 1994..on SSI and medicare. No way I can work, and have no way of raising the money. Got to say: that truly bites. All docs have tried have failed. On opiods..again..so sick of this.
bhansill@rcn.com. : 2008-11-12 21:23:37
I had great results with four days of 4-hour infusions of ketamine after going off all narcotics. Over the last 9 months, pain has returned. The pain is less and there is no anxiety related to pain increasing. I am hoping that Drexel Neurology will give me another 5 - 10 day out-patient infusion. I would go for the coma if I could raise the money.
melissa . : 2008-10-20 12:19:26
I recently had the ketamine treatment in Germany, in fact I returned home
on Aug.11,2008. It is amazing how you awake and your rsd pain is gone. Dr. Rohr is amazing he gave me my life back. I wish the patients in Germany now all the luck. If anyone who is going to have this tx. has questions I will be glad to help.
Gordy. : 2008-10-19 09:21:55
Tabitha, Sarah, and Jamesk: our 22-year-old daughter is just completing the coma treatment in Saarbrucken, Germany. In fact, she and the other ketamine coma patient were just moved out of ICU today. We're keeping family and friends updated day-to-day with a blog at www.brandyupdate.wordpress.com. I will say the treatment is amazing, but very hard on us as parents due to the side affects and hallucinations (which haven't ended yet). But her legs look great, and she obviously isn't in pain anymore!
jamesk : 2008-08-13 13:01:12
Sarah, we would love to have you or anyone you know who has tried this procedure come back and tell us more about it.
guest : 2008-08-12 23:13:22
Oh, and to jamesk: the ketamine coma lasts for 5-7 days depending on the patients, on rare occasions longer. The doctors and research fully understand and it does show that you do actually have to be "asleep" for quite some time to be more effective. The more ketamine you get in higher doses in a shorter period of time, the more effective it is.
sarah. : 2008-08-12 23:07:58
I have full body RSD and am awaiting the ketamine coma. The condition does not only merely involve pain, if left unchecked it can ravage the entire body and its organs. As easy as it is for those who have abused ketamine to think it would be a vacation- being induced into a coma with it is far from it. It is nothing like these "trips" I here people speaking off- you are literally induced into a COMA state of consciousness- I'm not sure anyone really can comprehend what the magnitude of that is unless they are in it. The trouble they have with hallucinations is when there brain is turning back on or "coming back on line" per say after coming back out of the coma, the brain cannot totally seperate what is real and what is not. But there are other serious risks0 over 50% of the patients get lung infections that are potentially deadly. Since I am part of the coma study I have seen and heard about what others have had to go through, and its no picnic. Mine will be scheduled soon, within several months. The ketamine coma induced for medical purposes is not like the trips those who have abused it that refer to experiences of heaven or hell when they are making there own attempts to seperate themselves from reality. This is very real and deadly disease- and the ketamine is used for the coma because it binds to specific receptors in the brain whose overstimulation is linked with RSd. Once this overstimulations starts, it begins a wind up effect in the central nervous system and the cycle of pain of rsd is likened to an engine revolving out of control. There are actually metabolic and enzymatic changes that take place in the spinal cord and central nervous system from the pain, and simply, the ketamine coma is the only and safest way we know of right now to turn of communication between the brain and body- yet protect the body. Since everyone on here is interested in the mysteries of ketamine and the brain- the ketamine coma was discovered because a girl had contractracted rabies and was left untreated, and ketamine was the only drug known to protect the brain from that type of neurotoxicity, and it completely worked. The ketamine coma literally like restarting a computer, because you are restarting your nervous system. And Tabitha- since I will be the 62nd person to get the coma so far, there are not that many of us out there- so it would be interesting to here more from you.
Roberta Schwartz. : 2008-08-12 22:25:01
Its a shame that the richest country in the world cannot find a way to restore a person to a normal pain free life without bankrupting them.
jamesk : 2008-07-22 12:56:59
During the time I was experimenting with ketamine I came to the conclusion that it could be used for a kind of super-healing where the patient's brain is placed in a state of low-activity suspended animation and the patients body is stimulated with electric pulses, steroids, and trophins to quickly repair cellular damage while the patient "sleeps". This kind of thing is seen in science-fiction movies where the wounded hero floats in a mineral solution in a low state of consciousness, but to me it would only be effective if you could keep the patient's neural activity suspended for a day or two at a time. Ketamine is probably the safest way to do that.
Tabitha. : 2008-07-21 19:11:34
I'm on the list for the coma and its so nice to see it being written about in more places. Living with this kind of pain is no way to live. If it didn't cost so much to do, I wouldn't have to spend so much time fundraising and I could be treated already. RSD sucks.
the chroncicles of weeds i have smoked. : 2008-07-14 16:46:36
I have pain brought on by a lacking of chronic access, does that count - can I have ketamine too now?
God. : 2008-07-13 23:20:34
Anyone watch House? There was an episode where he had this treatment... it's an interesting idea. Good luck to the young man.
Felix : 2008-07-13 19:14:46
Yet another reason to fake chronic pain...nevermind the opiates, how about a ketamine vacation!?

But cynicism and jokes aside, the condition of that poor young man is horrible to read about. I hope they can get him to Germany for this treatment and it is worth it. I would be hard-pressed to go on living if even sound was painful....His family must be having an awful time as well.

Perhaps if his faith in God is as important to him as is suggested, he'll meet Him during the coma...with "massive amounts" of ketamine, I'd say it's quite likely.

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