Inducing Coma, Rebooting the Brain, Helps Chronic Pain Sufferers?

[Eddie G]

As I'm watching a House marathon on Justin.tv I heard of this. I googled it to find a few posts on Ketamine induced comas to reboot the brain. Nothing on this site about it, but has anyone even heard of this? No not the Greg House Show, the inducing of comas to reboot the brain, silly.

How is rebooting the brain going to help if the body has physical pain generators?

I find this as interesting as Substance P Isolation. (very interesting)

Here is a post about it:

Ketamine is being aggressively used in Germany in an unusual way-- inducing coma for an extended period of time, allowing the CNS (central nervous system) to 're-boot' in chronic pain patients. As a result, those able to afford the treatment are going overseas in an attempt to find a way to make living bearable, because the United States forbids the induction of a coma lasting longer than 2 days.

THIS STORY tells of a young man named Matt who went in for a minor surgical procedure on his foot and ended up in pain so severe that even speaking is impossible. Somehow, his pain continues to worsen. The odds of complete recovery are still a long-shot, but this experimental procedure at least gives hope where before there was none.

Ketamine is used for Migraine, but infrequently. It used to be considered a potent veterinary drug sometimes known as "Special K" on the streets. Ketamine works along the Glutamate pathways mentioned in my blog post HERE.

Those of us with intractable or chronic Migraine have likely heard of Ketamine, but physicians are reluctant to use it as the medicine used in Migraine treatment and prevention is but one of many with a street value. It's not the street value that makes most physicians leery, but the professional risk they take in prescribing it for chronic pain patients. Diana of Somebody Heal Me chronicles her own experience with Ketamine HERE.

My post isn't meant to focus on Ketamine however, but instead on the practice of inducing a temporary coma or anesthesia in Migraine and chronic pain patients in desperate effort to ease their suffering.

I was once offered a temporary coma to end a 6 month long Migraine. I like to think things over though, especially when contemplating something so serious that several days in the Intensive Care Unit and no promises given. I didn't want to make a decision based solely on my pain level. I wanted to be smart, not desperate.

I admit it. I was afraid. I didn't want to be put into a coma because after several episodes of serious drug reactions resulting in brain swelling, and with no promises that I wouldn't have another one, I was gun-shy. I was living in terrible pain, yes, but I wasn't ready to risk death... yet.

Eventually, I was bad enough to seek that option, but my doctor had taken another position in the hospital administration, and I found myself not only in desperate pain, but also without any Neurologist at all.

When I found another neurologist, he was unwilling to do the procedure and I had to start at square one again. Eventually he mentioned Propofol, which I tried unsuccessfully when I had to undergo a medical procedure.

Still, my concerned hubby continued to inquire about the elusive "temporary coma" as a way to give me some relief. In honesty, he tells me later, he feared greatly for my life. He didn't know how anyone could continue to want to live while enduring such unending horrible pain, and unbeknownst to me, took matters into his own hands to be sure there was nothing around I could hurt myself with. My current Neuro was unwilling to entertain the idea however. In my current state of health, I must undergo even surgical procedures with only a local anesthetic because of the unwillingness of anesthesiologists to treat me.

I am one of those few who are running out of options.

For me, it brings to bear the question, why is the FDA unwilling to allow physicians to treat patients that don't respond to other treatments, the way those physicians would choose, when the drug is already approved for pain and being used for the same treatment of shorter duration? What purpose does that really serve? I could find no evidence of these longer-lasting comas ending in death or disability. Why does Matt have to endure a torturous and unbelievably expensive airline flight to get the treatment he so desperately needs to try?

I am glad the treatment is available to this elite few. It's better than availability to no one. Perhaps there will be enough successes with it that it will be recognized, long term, as a last ditch effort to save these patients lives.

Pain is a killer and is estimated to take more lives yearly than guns. You won't find it on a death certificate, because pain causes death by other more quantifiable means-- addiction, overdose, suicide, stroke, but the results are still the same. It's not enough that someone is screaming "MERCY" for their loved ones. Someone must be allowed to hear them.

Here is the link....

Whatcha think people? Would anyone try this? Some of us would try anything at this point...induced coma included.

And by the way, If you want to watch House with no commercials:
welcometohouse3 on Justin.tv

Search the archives if you want to start at season 1. It's in there somewhere if you look hard.

[Eddie G]

bump.

Hey I finally hit 100 posts! Where's my prize? Cash is fine. Massage coupon works too. Maybe a new cane?

On man, I have been watching House for like a week straight now and I've only seen one spine case so far. Dr. House should check this message board for tough cases! We'll sure keep him busy.

[Eddie G]

House channel moved AGAIN!

welcometohouse on Justin.tv

for now....

[mmglobal]

Eddie, I have a client who was in the worst shape of anyone I've seen. He was in bed 22 hours a day for years. He lives near munich. Bertagnoli did not think he was a surgical candidate. Zeegers did not think he was a surgical candidate.

Dr. Baumbach stayed with him and kept looking for solutions. He sent him to a clinic in Germany that does a similar treatment. High doses of a variety of meds for about a week, followed by another week of PT. I may have some of the details incorrect of oversimplified, but it is similar to what you have posted.

He came back to almost 100%. It's been a year and a half and he still bikes all over... travels... he and his wife trekked in Nepal last year!

This is similar to what Dr. Mikhael (my pain management doc) does. See Marissa's story on the GPN story pages.

With years of chronic pain, we can develop a chronic pain disorder that becomes THE problem. The underlying issues can resolve themselves with time, but we still have a pain disorder. I believe this treatment can resolve the chronic pain disorder for many of us.

Mark

[sk8ter]

This is a usual practice now for RSD patients and there are doctors in LA that do out patient Ketamine boosters that give relief. UCLA and USC are two places that do this but usually insurance does not cover it and it can run 1500 to 2000 a day. The top doctors with this research are Dr. Schwartzman in Philly and Dr. Kirkpatrick in Tampa, FL. Both are the ones that direct the coma studies in Germany and Mexico. Many people are now doing the ketamine boosters with some success. I hope this helps.