Complex regional pain syndrome is a chronic pain condition where nerve impulses are sent to the affected site. It happens due to dysfunction in your peripheral or central nervous systems.
There isn't a single cause of CRPS. Some studies claim that pain receptors in the affected body part are responsive to catecholamines, nervous system messengers. When it comes to CRPS related to an injury, your immune response's trigger might cause the syndrome, leading to inflammatory signs of warmth, swelling, and redness in your affected site.
The symptoms vary in length and seriousness. One of the symptoms is intense and continuous pain that worsens over time. Other symptoms include:
- Stiffness and swelling in the affected joints
- Burning pain
- Motor disability
- Skin changes
- Changes in your hair and nail growth pattern
Once you have been diagnosed, the doctor will first use various treatment methods to relieve your pain. Ketamine might be the solution if the following treatments fail:
- Medications like steroids, prescription painkillers
- Neuromodulation (involves the uses electrical stimulation to reduce the pain and slow the nerve firing)
- Physical therapy
- Nerve blocks
How Ketamine Treats CRPS
A person suffers from CRPS because there are changes in their central nervous system. And these changes cause pain signals in the body. This form of amplification of pain is caused by the activation of nerve cell receptors called NMDA receptors. Ketamine is an anesthetic that works on this receptor, blocking it from firing and decreasing pain.
Before starting your ketamine therapy, you should speak with one of our specialists. We will screen you to make sure you do not have a health condition that might worsen with ketamine.
