No more Lidocaine, now we're talking Ketamine
I have failed two Lidocaine Infusions and today my doctor prescribed me Ketamine nasal spray and wants to admit me AGAIN, but this time for a Ketamine Infusion. Anyone done both and have any advice or insight? This is all taking place in Philadelphia.
Thanks in advance.
Dana
Hi Dana,
Yes! One of our contributors does both. I'll reach out to her and see if she can come in and share her journey with you!!
Nancy
Hi Dana!
I've been going to Jefferson since 2014 or so. I did one round of lidocaine and it was not the best experience. I just didn't like the way it made me feel and I didn't get much relief.I've now been in-patient for ketamine six times, averaging about 2 visits per year. Once I became chronic, I have pain 24/7 and haven't had a break in 8 years. With each hospitalization for ketamine the severity of my pain gets knocked down a few notches and makes life a little more bearable. I also have a ketamine nasal spray. I honestly don't think I would be as functional as I am without this protocol. But of course, please do your own research and talk to others - theres a great FB group called Medical Ketamine and Migraine.
I've also written multiple articles about my experience. Hopefully this will help you:
https://migraine.com/blog/ketamine-for-management/
https://migraine.com/blog/headache-camp/
https://migraine.com/blog/headache-camp-round-2/
https://migraine.com/living-migraine/ok-to-say-feel-good/
https://migraine.com/blog/lessons-headache-camp/
https://migraine.com/living-migraine/headache-camp-5-advocating-for-yourself/
https://migraine.com/living-migraine/official-study-results-from-headache-camp/
This may seem like a silly question but, are your visitors allowed to stay overnight? They weren't at Methodist....which you know (what an awful experience), but I anticipate the Ketamine will make me very out of it and with my already high anxiety, the thought of being alone terrifies me!
Oh, and your articles were incredibly helpful!
Dana
Also
M. Golden
I also have the nasal spray, it's so far been the only abortive that has given me any ..albeit temporary.... relief. My admission was supposed to have been January 23rd, but had to be rescheduled because I was hospitalized with pneumonia at my local hospital in Delaware. It will now be March 6th. How does the main campus compare to the Methodist campus....as far as.....I don't know....you said with the Ketamine you had decorated your room, brought your oil diffuser, seemed like your visitors were there all the time (like I asked in my previous post). Methodist wasn't at all like that, at least not for me....but maybe that's because I didn't know I could bring things like that. I'm just very nervous because I did Lidocaine at Methodist twice and the experience (both the meds and the care) was a nightmare. To the point that if the Ketamine Infusion was there, I would suffer rather than go back 😢
I’m a daily severe migraineur and have had several ketamine infusions that were very helpful. That amazing dr retired in 2015 and I’ve been absolutely miserable since bc ketamine is still controversial so availability currently seems to be in the bigger cities. However, then I found a dr that said he would be willing to give nasal ketamine a go. This nasal ketamine was compounded and was not effective at all - no dissociation (which is what is necessary to reset the depression and pain thresholds). I haven’t tried Esketamine yet but it’s 5x stronger than the compounded ketamine and it’s dosed once per week. It does warn about dissociation so I imagine that drug works. I hope this helps a little. It is certainly more convenient to be able to take this medicine at home as opposed to a hospital or infusion site.
