A Journey to find Post-Traumatic Stress relief. For many of us, the transition from the military to civilian life can be a difficult one. Too often, reminders we would rather not have from our military service follow us long after our time in service is finished. The quest for “the new normal” begins while trying to manage old hurts, both physical and mental, in addition to our daily lives. I am one of those veterans and this is my journey to real post-traumatic stress disorder relief. As a result of my PTSD chronic pain, muscle loss, foot drop, neuropathy and personal frustrations with the Veteran Affairs system I have made it my personal aim to research alternative medical treatments that deviate from the “tried and true” standard treatments. After my divorce, I was at a point where I absolutely needed to find a way to manage my PTSD. It was just my daughter and me; she needed me to be better and I did too. I decided to hit it hard and I reached out to a PTSD expert I knew from my Air Force days, where I worked with him in England as a younger medic and he was someone I looked up to because of his immense medical knowledge.
Known to the Special Operations Group as the infamous “Doc Dougherty” I knew there were not many others who would know more about new, alternative and effective treatments for PTSD because of how closely he worked with it. He immediately recommended the Stellate Ganglion Block as a possible treatment for my severe PTSD with some pain-relieving properties. The Stellate Ganglion Block uses a numbing medicine that is injected on each side of the voice box. The injection quiets the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for “the fight or flight response.” It also helps relieve neuropathic pain, vascular pain, and anxiety; after reading many patients noticed an immediate diminishment of symptoms, I was intrigued. (RTI, 2019). Could something so simple really have such an effect so quickly?
Freedom Sisters Magazine
HER Next Mission- MendHER
