Treating Chronic Pain With Ketamine
“While ketamine does not cure neuropathic pain, treatment can put the patient into remission long enough to give the nervous system a chance to repair itself.
NEW YORK—As human beings, we instinctively avoid pain—the sting of nettles, the burn of a hotplate, the pinching of door hinges. Pain is useful because it communicates immediate danger and helps us keep out of it. However, some pain is chronic, as neuropathic pain often is.
Neuropathic pain derives from the central nervous system or peripheral nervous system. It is pain that comes from the nerves, as opposed to common muscular aches and arthritic pain. Sometimes it is triggered by traumatic accidents.
In support forums, patients suffering from neuropathic pain describe their symptoms as “burning all over,” “shooting pains in the arms and legs,” “agony,” and “unbearable.” Many of them recount their experiences in seeking relief “frustrating,” that they’ve “tried everything,” or that “not one doctor can give me an answer.”
Neuropathic pain, as a broad category of conditions that include neuralgia, phantom limb syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and central pain syndrome, is a little-understood realm in medicine. We don’t always know its causes. And current treatment methods are mediocre at best.
Read the complete story on Epoch Times…
In British Columbia, Dr. Brenda Lau at St. Paul’s Hospital, provides Ketamine infusions. I don’t know enough personallly to speak to it, but you can read a little about it at the website ‘Imagine A Lifetime – Living With CRPS’. I consider Trudy a dear friend and I don’t think I’m out of line saying that she has expressed that receiving treatments under Dr. Lau’s care has significantly impacted her life.
Another resource that comes to mind is the article ‘Overview of Ketamine Infusion Therapy’ on the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association’s website.
If you know of any resources or have experience with receiving ketamine as a treatment for your chronic pain, I would love if you shared your thoughts below.
Blessings,
Jacqui, Damselfly
Related articles
