Update: Kellie's First Ketamine Infusion

Hey everyone!

This is Kellie's friend Christy. I spoke with Kellie on the phone tonight, and I wanted to give you all an update on how her first day of treatment went.

She received a PICC line this morning. PICC stands for Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter. It is a line (catheter) that is inserted in the arm, and it ends near the heart. It is used for long-term IV infusions. It wasn't easy for them to locate a vein, but they used ultrasound to find one, and a radiologist inserted it. It isn't in the best of places (inside her right arm), but she's just happy that it is in, and they were able to get it on the first try. She has some soreness tonight from the insertion, but it's not too bad.

After a failed first attempt at sedating her for the Ketamine infusion, the second time was a charm. She had to get a lot of pre-meds before the infusion including Tylenol, Versed, Ativan, and Clonidine to protect her heart, blood pressure and central nervous system and also to stop her heart rate and blood pressure from increasing. They actually had someone come and perform Reiki on her, and with that, in addition to the medications, she was able to sleep for most of the infusion. 

They started out today giving her 80 mg of Ketamine. The reason they want you sedated during the infusion is because it can increase heart rate, blood pressure, and induce anxiety. Sedatives will prevent a patient from fighting the infusion, therefore allowing the infusion to do its job.

Other than some nausea immediately after and a small headache this evening, Kellie did great with her first infusion. She will get 100 mg tomorrow, and she will work her way up to the full 200 mg. Results from Ketamine, ie. a reduction in overall pain from RSD/CRPS, differs with each patient, but she could start to see results as early as the end of this week!!!

There are many known side effects to Ketamine infusions, so hopefully today is an indicator that her body is going to accept it, and that she will be able to continue treatment. I will update when I hear from her again.

Christy