Controversial Successful New Treatment 4 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

From Denny: Since we have such a long sustained war going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s understandable that our soldiers are experiencing difficulty dealing with long-term stress. There is a new – and controversial – experimental treatment developed that doctors think may give hope to war veterans.

What they are proposing is to numb the nerves in the neck. OK, for me, any time you start messing around with the delicate area of the neck and spine, it makes me wonder if that’s such a bright idea.

Part of the usual treatment for PTSD is an anti-anxiety pill that can make a patient drowsy yet left still feeling nervous. Many patients tire of taking pills for months on end, looking at a lifetime of medications. This new treatment, an injection to the neck, apparently calms a patient within five minutes. The injection is a local anesthetic to a bundle of nerves in the neck. Apparently, this pain block has actually been used since 1925.

PTSD generally is treated with pharmaceuticals addressing flashbacks, anger, anxiety, and constant sleep disturbances. This new study is from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It was published in the journal Pain Practice, Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB), discussing a mere ten minute procedure with excellent results. Doctors caution more research is necessary to make sure how safe it is before making this procedure available for widespread use.

Right now the treatments available such as therapy and antidepressants require months before getting any relief from symptoms. The known side effects are impotence, weight gain, and sedation. The attraction of this new procedure is that it works within 30 minutes and does not appear to have any side effects. It also has a long lasting effect of from six to 18 months.

People wonder how a shot to the neck can affect psychological symptoms. Apparently, when a traumatic event occurs, there is new nerve growth factor that increases dramatically, to the point that nerves in the brain can sprout like flowers.

When this nerve growth factor spikes, this sprouting effect increases adrenaline production in the brain, causing patients to feel anxious. The beauty of the local anesthetic applied to the nerve cluster in the neck, returns the nerve growth factor back to normal levels and so the symptoms subside or disappear.

When doctors did brain scans of PTSD patients’ trauma centers they noticed those areas lit up when the patient was shown violent pictures. After receiving the nerve blocking treatment, those parts of the brain no longer responded to the visual trigger.

This new treatment is welcome news for a short fix, sure to provide immediate relief to returning war veterans as they transition to civilian life. What does concern me is how this treatment could be abused. How? It has the possibility of being used on professional soldiers to keep them in the field beyond what is a healthy level of stress by masking what is going on internally. Time will tell how this all plays out, hopefully for the best.

Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder With a Jab to the Neck: (ABC) New Research Suggests Numbed Nerves Could Cure Anxiety and Flashbacks in Veterans

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What is the Simplest Most Unusual Way to Live Our Life to the Fullest?

Water balloons like little egos all in a row – Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: And I’m getting caught up since my power outage yesterday from the massive thunderstorms that dropped so much water we thought for sure we would see Noah’s Ark appear and float by on our front yard…

This quote is both instructive and downright amusing. How many times have we looked back at a situation we found difficult only to find our own ego was what got in the way of our success? Some egos are bloated with pride, others with doubt, still others with fear.

Forget about feeling guilty or unworthy as those feelings are useless to us. It really doesn’t matter what caused the “bloating” over time but rather the ego is so out of shape like a huge water balloon that it is easy to trip over it while pursuing something worthwhile! The whole point of this quote is to get rid of the bloat that is holding us back and making life more difficult than it has to be.

Reality is about interacting with life as it happens without the Negative Nannies filter in our heads. Once we set aside all these silly habits we grew from this or that disappointment here and there along the way in our lives we soon realize it’s all old garbage that is time to trash.

Once unburdened of our past attitudes or ideas that have been holding us back, it’s easy to relate to this quote. This profound quote is the most wonderful way I’ve ever seen to describe how easy it can become to live our lives to the fullest!

Quote

“When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.” – Byron Katie

Byron Katie, Bloat, Water balloon, Home, positive attitude, Family, trauma, PTSD

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