Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
By Dr. Steven Reichbach
Nearly 200,000 Americans are diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) each year. CRPS was formerly
known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD). It is a combination of immune system and nervous system malfunctioning. Constant severe pain is signaled to the brain and causes debilitating symptoms.
Many people are familiar with fibromyalgia, which is widespread fatigue, muscle, bone, and joint pain that affects nearly 3 million individuals. The issue with these two painful diagnoses (CRPS and Fibromyalgia) is that it’s difficult to treat. In fact, many people are faced with the decision to be on pain medications on a permanent basis just to get through their day and perform basic tasks. Alternative methods, such as massage and other therapeutic practices often pail in comparison, for the individuals that are suffering on a daily basis with the excruciating discomfort associated with CRPS and fibromyalgia. Along with the risk of becoming addicted, the secondary issue with pain medication is that it often times stops working altogether. This is known as pain medication resistance.
IV Ketamine treatment is a successful therapy that was first used for depressive mood and mental conditions because of its keen ability to make new connections in the brain’s neurotransmitters. Ketamine works by creating new connections in parts of the brain that control mood and emotions. These new neurological connections help the brain to send positive signals. This is beneficial for physical conditions to the body. The effect is notable within hours, but most patients report the results are instantaneous. Along with depression, over the past several years, physicians have discovered that Ketamine is also able to help ease pain significantly.
How Ketamine Works on Pain:
IV ketamine infusion has proven effective in reducing the central nervous system’s signals and alleviating pain receptors and neurotransmitters in the brain. Ketamine also increases the circulatory function, which helps to facilitate blood volume circulation and regulation. This increase in circulation contributes to healing the body and decreasing pain naturally.
Because pain so often is followed by depression or suicidal thoughts, IV Ketamine treatment is ideal for patients with CRPS and Fibromyalgia, or autoimmune diseases and other painful disorders.
Dr. Steven Reichbach has expertise using ketamine for the past 25 years. As a board-certified anesthesiologist, he understands the drug’s mechanism of action, side effects, dissociative properties and potential complications. He strives to make IV ketamine available to any patient in dire need of care when no other treatment modalities have worked.
Steven Reichbach, MD
Board-Certified Anesthesiologist
President and Founder, Gulf Coast Ketamine Center
Dr. Steven Reichbach is a graduate of the State University of New York at Syracuse Medical School. He trained at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in anesthesiology with specialty training in pain management and pediatrics during his residency.
Dr. Reichbach has been Board Certified in anesthesiology since 1994. He practiced in New York from 1997 to 2015 as a partner with North American Partners in Anesthesiology (NAPA), the largest private practice anesthesiology group in the United States. In 2015, Dr. Reichbach moved to Sarasota and served at Sarasota Ambulatory Surgery Center, providing anesthesia for patients undergoing various nerve-block procedures.
Dr. Reichbach has worked with ketamine for more than two decades in general anesthesiology. He became an advocate of intravenous (IV) ketamine infusions after observing the relief patients experienced with treatments and reviewing the growing body of research over the past decade supporting its efficacy. These ongoing studies and successful results have inspired Dr. Reichbach to utilize ketamine as a viable and effective treatment for severe depression and neuropathic pain disorders.
He is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA), the Florida Society of Anesthesiology (FSA) and the American Medical Association (AMA).
Lolita Borges, RN
Clinical Director, Gulf Coast Ketamine Center
Lolita Borges, RN has worked in nursing since 1982. She began her career as an LPN and earned her RN degree in 1988. Her profession has taken her through many disciplines in healthcare, predominantly in critical care.
Ms. Borges brings an extensive background with inpatient dialysis patients, both peritoneal as well as hemodialysis. She was a surgical ICU nurse and a charge nurse in an acute care PACU setting. She was both a procurement transplant coordinator as well as a clinical manager for the New York Organ Donor Network.
To find out more about IV Ketamine Infusions, please contact their office today at 941-213-4444, or visit their website at findpainrelief.com
Steven Reichbach, MD
Board-Certified Anesthesiologist
President and Founder,
Gulf Coast Ketamine Center
Lolita Borges, RN
Clinical Director, Gulf Coast
Ketamine Center
2415 University Parkway, Building #3,
Suite 215, Sarasota, FL 34243
941-213-4444 | www.findpainrelief.com
