I have a long personal history of psychological and physical trauma beginning with the migraines that began in grade school in the 70's. The 1978 / 1979 school year at Georgetown Prep traumatized me and I began my adult life with trauma that I buried, and with a baseline depressed mood. In 1982 I had my first concussion, coma, and other injuries in a 60 mph head on collision. I had to get out of the car I was trapped in before I burned to death. Between then and 1987, an important relationship ended, I contended with a bi polar father's severe depression, his attempted suicides, his hospitalization, and the loss of our family's home. In the summer of 1987, I lived through my second near fatality with two broken vertebrate, a severed ulnar nerve, extensive soft tissue injuries to the upper right hand part of my body, extensive injuries to the muscles of the neck, a variety of lacerations, a concussion, and a coma. The day of my return from the hospital, while using two canes and in a clam shell type body cast, I was beaten up. A week later, when getting a ride from a friend, my back would be broken again in a third accident.
1987 marked the year that I began what would become an unproductive odyssey with doctors, physical therapists, scans and specialists of every kind, and hundreds of medicine trials. As I tried to move my life forward, the myofascial pain that began in 1982, and increasing physical dysfunction spread relentlessly throughout my body; migraines became a daily event. The best I ever accomplished was to stay on my feet, until 2017 when I was no longer able to lift my arms above my head.
The protocol I had in the summer of 2020 was for chronic pain, although I had other conditions that it might benefit. In less than 30 days, Ketamine accomplished more than other therapies accomplished in almost 40 years. I cut my overall pain levels in half, almost completely eliminated the sciatica while in a standing position, stopped another bout of severe depression from taking me over, and reduced my migraines by about 80%. In the same amount of time that people built fortunes, families, and careers, "conventional" therapies accomplished little, were time intensive, and wasteful. How is it that Ketamine, with no addiction potential, and an established safety record is "unconventional", but the drugs like methadone and Oxycontin that were repeatedly offered to me are acceptable?
Ketamine clinics are not a modern day speak-easy disguising access to drug trips; there is no little window where the magic word gets you into the party. My intravenous infusions were performed by trained anesthesiologists from Georgetown, with the aid of a specifically qualified registered nurse each time. The doctors added meds to the chronic pain protocol to control my blood pressure, and added an NSAID for pain, which I otherwise can't tolerate. They staff was very professional.
My GP and another doctor turned his nose up at the idea of Ketamine infusions. My mother begged me to stop half way through and a brother advised me to do the same. This was all intellectually invalid overemotional glip glop and discourages patients and practitioners alike from thinking beyond the pill.
