In January 2018, my life turned upside down after a freak accident at work. While sitting in the Emergency Room, I began having spasms in my right foot. It would pull inward until I couldn’t go in any further and stay there (sometimes for hours). These spasms came and went, multiple times a day, every day for months. I was put on high doses of Valium, Percocet, Lyrica, Baclofen, Dantrolene and so many more medications just to relieve the pain. After about a week, scarier symptoms occurred and I was finally diagnosed with CRPS.
I was out of work for 3 months, on crutches for over a month, a boot for 6 months, and restrictions at work for 6 months. After medications, nerve blocks, PT, chiropractor, Botox and so many more interventions my doctors told me that my only option would be a DRG stimulator on my spine. I was in denial that this could be my only option to get back to a normal life. As a nurse, I couldn’t accept this last option. There had to be something I could do. This couldn’t be the rest of my life or my new norm. After doing research every night for months I finally came upon a doctor in Rhode Island that compared all the treatments of CRPS and read about Ketamine IV Infusions. After more research I found Ketamine Wellness Center in Burnsville, MN, just an hour away and researched more.
I spoke with my husband and mother in law, both pharmacists, about the treatments and we all decided it was something that I needed to at least try. The process was so easy, everyone was very friendly and helpful while answering all my questions, even up to the day before my infusion. The 3 days I did my infusions, everyone was very nice, supportive and explained everything that was going to happen. As well as letting me have my options of treatment, they were accommodating to my work schedule and getting my kids on the bus.
During my first round of treatments, I started feeling the difference and started tapering off on my numerous medications each day. By the end of the week, I was only taking 1 medication at night and only using Tylenol for a headache. My once flipped upside down life started flipping back. I could walk without a brace. I could wake up with little pain. I was sleeping through the night without pain waking me up. I had no limp because my foot hurt. My pain went to almost nothing, down from my daily average 7 to maybe a 1 or 2.
Even returning to my follow up infusions, the pain was still the best it had ever been in the last 9 months. I returned to my pain doctor a week after my infusions and told him I had done the infusions and he was thrilled with the results. He even researched KWC while I was in the office and discharged me from his clinic. Honestly, KWC has given me something back I thought I had lost forever: my life, a normal pain-free life. I may always have CRPS but thanks to Ketamine Infusions I will no longer let it define me.
