Since the Uvalde, Texas shooting at Robb Elementary on May 24 where 22 people were killed and 18 wounded, 40 more mass shootings have occurred in this country. As we spoke about in our post Shooters are Terrorizing Us, people who hear or read about these terrible events struggle to make sense of them, and in many cases feel the rise of PTSD. Traumatic events like this are all around us. PTSD permeates our world.
This is National PTSD Awareness Month, and you can help those with PTSD with your awareness and by understanding their pain.
PTSD isn’t limited to soldiers who’ve survived active combat. It’s also a risk for people in domestic violence situations and those who’ve been assaulted. It can also develop in people who’ve survived transportation accidents, those who have survived a vicious divorce, horrible bullying, and so many other terrible and damaging experiences.
Some say the whole world is living in a post-traumatic era.
I say we’re living in an era that’s currently traumatic. There is so much that threatens to fill our lives with trauma. From the deaths and severe illnesses of people we knew and loved related to the COVID pandemic —which is still happening! — to the wildfires, natural disasters, wars and shaken refugees pouring into any country where they can be safe… to the cruel murders carried out by marginalized people who have a hate crime or score to settle.
We’re seeing it all.
Hypervigilance creates a prison of trauma
PTSD permeates our world. Why is that? Maybe because our world is increasingly permeated by experiences that lead to post traumatic stress …. changes within our bodies and our minds characterized by hypervigilance, fear, and hopelessness.
When we speak of hypervigilance, what are we describing? It’s that exaggerated condition of constantly looking around you for potential threats…something or someone who might hurt you. If you experience trauma, the impact of it can stay with you, always threatening to rear its ugly head again.
This state can prevent you from relaxing, enjoying the circumstances you’re in, because of the danger of missing a threat. Your subconscious is constantly scanning for danger. Because it feels like it can be anywhere.
It can make you feel on edge, tense, fearful, and overwhelmed. Post traumatic stress can keep you frozen in fear.
The stress of PTSD that permeates our world wears down and prunes the nerve connections (synapses) in your brain, making it difficult to think of other things, or focus on the people you love. It’s as though you’re on high alert and ready to jump to defend yourself at the smallest surprise or noise.
IV ketamine treatment has proven especially effective with PTSD. It causes those synapses to rebuild and reconnect to give you the ability to relax and enjoy the moments in your life with loved ones and friends.
How does ketamine work?
By triggering RNA to turn DNA “ON,” and to produce BDNF, a growth factor for brain cells that works like fertilizer to get those synapses growing, flourishing, and connecting…. filling your brain with new, robust connections. It’s as though the lights turn on as the signals in your brain transmit feelings of calm, relaxed enjoyment… and you can feel lighter and infused with hope. Resilience returns (or begins) for you and patience becomes part of you as you find new ways of enjoying your life.
Imagine waking up in the morning with a song going through your mind, or even waking up singing…! (I know, right? when was the last time?) Imagine not reacting when someone playfully slaps you on the back. That you can go about your business without scanning the crowd for some threat…
You can live free of those restraints and painful symptoms, and actually focus on your child’s birthday party, or conversation with your partner at dinner.
At Innovative Psychiatry, it’s a joy to see people freed from PTSD symptoms after ketamine treatment every week. (Makes working so late into the evening doing infusions so worth it!) The robust impact ketamine wields on PTSD is a marvel to witness and can be — hands down — life changing. Whether the trauma is from exposure to tragic events, or verbal or physical assault, or injuries from accidents, or a catastrophic disease.
Even though PTSD permeates our world — and maybe permeates yours — know that there is hope.
If you suffer from symptoms we’ve described here and nothing has helped, call us.
We’re here to help you receive your ketamine infusions in the best possible healing environment. You’ll have a beautiful treatment room where you can relax in a zero-gravity heated recliner while we monitor your heart rate and blood pressure. Your infusion of ketamine will be by a precise infusion pump that measures your dose to the tenth of a milliliter. We don’t hang a bag on a hook, cross our fingers, and let gravity take over, or run a bag in fast because we have to leave. (You wouldn’t believe the stories!) Your recovery is too important for that so we do our absolute best for you.
And while you undergo your infusion, you’ll be safe from infection from the COVID virus, as well as bacteria and molds. Because 99.99% of all viruses, bacteria, and molds in our air are destroyed by the plasma cell technology we’ve installed in our offices. This is that system we’ve talked about before that was developed by NASA and the Department of Defense for the International Space Station. While our technology works to protect you, you’ll be free to focus on your treatment and getting better.
We know that there are lots of ways to administer ketamine — lots of ways to administer IV ketamine… and most practices just don’t do what we do. Your journey starts with me—and with an incredibly thorough diagnostic evaluation—not a checklist, not a quick referral form, or a phone call where someone (medical? not medical? a closer?) just sets up an appointment. We don’t run a clinic with one size fits all…we do the very best we can possibly do to foster your recovery and remission.
Get in touch with us and let’s talk it through.
We want to see you enjoying your life — and you want that, too.
So let’s do this! You have nothing to lose and a bright future to gain.
To the restoration of your best self,
