My Father has suffered with full body RSD/CRPS like the patient in this article. Even the slightest breeze can cause him excruciating pain. He has a morphine pump in his abdomen that provides a constant drip of dilaudid on his spine, its the only thing that lets him manage his pain.<p>There is some hope. Last year some scientists in Italy discovered a break through treatment that has had good success...though only tested on patients that have recently developed CRPS. The FDA is currently evaluating it for treatment in the US. (<a href="http://www.rsdhope.org/neridronate---new-medication-for-crps1.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rsdhope.org/neridronate---new-medication-for-crps...</a>)
Since July 2012 I suffer something similar (not as bad as the guy in the article thankfully); named "fibromyalgia", I get along with a couple of drugs, one called Duloxetine and the other one is Modafinil (that last one is for insomnia but one of the symptoms of my disease is being sleepy/tired all the time). I'm a strange case because I'm a 25 years old male but most people with the same illness are middle age women.<p>I don't think a cure is between our reach (some doctors don't even believe its a real disease... just in case life doesn't suck enough with the disease itself) but I'm trying to lead the creation of better treatments, and topical pain-relieving in general.
I used to think that something like this wasn't possible. I always assumed that if you were in constant pain or something you would somehow grow used to it over time in the same way that being subjected to cold temperatures raises the bodies resistance to cold temperatures.<p>Another example would be drugs and chemical receptors in the brain. Correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't it be the same as with drugs, the more pain you get the more neurotransmitters are being used and the more are required to make a stronger response? Shouldn't you then technically feel less pain over time if it's constant?
My wife has a friend with CRPS here in Austin. She's just recently started a new treatment involving ketamine. She wasn't put under for five days like Justin, but did experience extreme mental disorientation accompanied by a few weeks of pain relief.<p>Its amazing how she stays positive when the majority of her life is spent alone, in pain, and with no cure in sight.
I wonder if something like <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin" rel="nofollow">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin</a> would work better for this kind of neuropathic pain than opiates like dilaudid?<p><a href="http://www.rsds.org/3/treatment/stacy_campbell_pregabalin_gabapentin.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.rsds.org/3/treatment/stacy_campbell_pregabalin_ga...</a>
As a foreigner, how does the insurance industry deal with illnesses like this? Bedridden for 9 years, with loads of heavy sedatives a day + whatever else there might be of tests and whatnot... From the article, it seems the family is entirely alone with this (apart from some potential community support).
FWIW, I'm not a doctor but have read enough about Ketamine therapy to recommend researching it if you or someone you know is suffering from a form of chronic pain syndrome.
Related to the guy who has 100 orgasms/day? <a href="http://gawker.com/the-undeniable-tragicomedy-of-a-man-orgasming-100-times-1638083407" rel="nofollow">http://gawker.com/the-undeniable-tragicomedy-of-a-man-orgasm...</a><p>Both seem pretty awful.