Interview with Jeff Oliveira
Jeff Oliveira has been dealing with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) for nearly 17 years. He tried multiple therapies, surgeries and medications before finding Dr. Newman and Virginia Ketamine Therapy. Since receiving ketamine infusions, Jeff’s pain has drastically reduced and his quality of life has improved. We talked to Jeff about his experiences and below is an excerpt from that interview…
Tell me a little bit about your history with the RSD or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
I’ve had it for about 17 years now.
I broke my right foot at my ankle in an accident at work. The doctor who diagnosed me with the RSD said it did a bunch of nerve damage in my right leg.
About a year later doctors started doing spinal injections to try and slow the pain down. My pain management doctor told me they waited too long after the accident to do anything, and if they couldn’t stop the pain within 6 months there’s no cure. And basically my pain level kept going up and up to a point of making me pass out, it was so bad.
Then doctors did spinal stimulator surgery, they put a stimulator inside me, and that was to calm the pain down a little bit. They put me on a lot of heavy duty medicines at once for pain, anxiety, depression and nerve pain.
I had five spinal stimulator surgeries as I had to keep changing the stimulators over time. I had to have surgery on my arm for nerve damage there. And it got to the point where the stimulator started backfiring. It wasn’t helping me and was causing more problems.
What events led up to your seeking treatment with Dr. Newman?
I got to the point where I was having all kinds of side effects, spasms, you name it, getting sick constantly.
So I decided to take the stimulator out. And shortly after that, I decided I didn’t want to be on all those medications anymore because I was starting to get really sick. So I told my doctor and we kind of got in an argument about it because he didn’t want me to stop the medications.
My lawyer started looking for another doctor for alternative treatment. And that’s when they found Dr. Newman. He was doing something new and different.
I went to see him and he told me we’d have to wait and see how long the ketamine would hold off my pain.
With Dr. Newman I go to Williamsburg, they put me up in a hotel, I go to his office every day. He does the treatment on me for four or five hours. And then I go back to the hotel and come back the next day and just keep doing that for the whole week. And by the time I get to the end of the week, my pain is knocked down a whole lot.
How have the Ketamine Infusions affected your pain level?
My pain got down to about four or five on the pain scale, which is pretty good for me. At about two and a half months, it starts coming back on and then I come in and see Dr. Newman and he does what he does and the pain comes back down.
I’ve had more success with him than I have and all those other years with doctors doing everything else they did to me. I’ve only been with him for about a year and a half now.
You mentioned a few things that you’re able to do now after this treatment, but share with me anything else that you’re able to do that has affected your quality of life and would resonate with others suffering with CRPS/RSD.
Well, for one thing, it helped a lot with my depression, because I was pretty down being stuck in a wheelchair and not being able to do anything.
Before Dr. Newman, I couldn’t wear shoes. I had to wear shorts because of the sensitivity with the disease is really high. But now I’m wearing socks. I’m wearing shoes, I’m wearing pants and I can tolerate it now. And actually about 6 or 7 months ago I started walking again.
All those years after the spinal surgery I ended up in a wheelchair. And I’ve been in a wheelchair ever since.
But now I’m starting to walk around the house a little bit with my cane, and stuff like that. And ever since Dr. Newman’s taken over my case I have not passed out from the combination of the pain and medications I was on.
One of the best things is all the side effects I was having before – like four or five days a week, I was puking, and I don’t I don’t do that anymore. I used to have spasms so bad that my whole body would jerk and throw me out of my seat. I could be drinking a drink and all of a sudden my arm would just swing out and throw the drink uncontrollably. And all that stuff is gone now.
I’ve also started to lift weights again, because I was pretty healthy when this happened to me, and now I’m lifting weights trying to get full strength back.
You mentioned that you see Dr. Newman about every three months. Do you feel like the symptoms are the same at the end of the end of three months?
It’s gotten a bit less, to be honest, because before I saw him, I was at a 10 on the pain level every day by the end of the day. Because that the thing about this disease for me. I don’t know how it is for other people, but the more I do throughout the day, the more my pain picks up.
Now I’m starting to hit sevens and eights at the end of 3 months.
I’m so glad you found some treatment that works for you.
Well, I’ve had quite a few doctors tell me that the pain levels with this disease are equivalent or higher than cancer. I don’t know what cancer feels like, but I know what this stuff feels like and it’s not fun.
Tell me a little bit about your experience and interactions with Dr. Newman and his office.
With Dr. Newman from the very beginning, he sat there and he listened to what I had to say. And he talked to me like I was a person not just, you know, a subject. We hit it off great. He’s nice to me every time I come to see him, his staff extremely nice to me.
I couldn’t have found better. He’s just compassionate and he cares about you as an individual, not just making money.
The thing I like most is he listens to what I have to say. I felt comfortable during the treatment. His office was relaxed and comfortable. His staff is outstanding and his nurse Christy couldn’t be better.
Have you noticed any side effects with the ketamine infusions?
None whatsoever. And I was definitely having bad effects from everything else. In fact, before Dr. Newman one of the medicines I had been taking actually gave me diabetes. But so far no side effects from the ketamine treatments.
If you had knew someone dealing with the same chronic pain and nerve damage, what would you want them to know about Dr. Newman and Ketamine Therapy?
Well, it’s more successful than anything they’ve ever tried, so I’d advise them to go talk to Dr. Newman. I can tell you, I wish they would have put me with him in the beginning. I could have avoided a lot. The only medicine that I have to take on a regular basis is my insulin. Everything else I cut out completely.
This is great. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me.
You’re welcome and thank you.
For more information on Virginia Ketamine Therapy and Dr. Newman, call our office at 757-258-2561.
