Holistic Options for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

The National Institute of Medicine is calling post Traumatic stress disorder, or ptsd, a growing epidemic. The United States Department of Veterans affairs estimates that PTSD affects almost 31% of Vietnam veterans, as many as 10% of Gulf War, Desert Storm veterans, and 11% of veterans of the war in Afghanistan. It is highly likely that these numbers are underrepresented, as many veterans do not actually seek treatment for their mental health concerns. PTSD is not unique to military personnel. However. It is also found among victims of crime, survivors of natural disasters, terrorist victims, and those who have witnessed or endured a near death experience, among many others. You do not have to be physically hurt in order to develop PTSD and the effects. And if untreated, it tends to be chronic and devastating. So let's start with a question. What is trauma? Trauma is defined as any negative occurrence that supersedes a person's ability to cope. There are different types of trauma. There's post traumatic stress disorder, postpartum trauma, sanctuary trauma, vicarious trauma, there's attachment trauma, and so many more types of trauma. There are many effects of trauma. It can impact your autonomic nervous system. It can interfere with your sleep wake cycle, which is your circadian rhythm. Trauma can cause imbalances in your hormones. It can impair your ability to detox. It can cause inflammation in your body. Trauma can lead to poor lifestyle behaviors like cigarette smoking or drinking too much. It can also cause poor eating habits. Trauma is a leading cause of addictions, feelings of isolation and loneliness. Chronic injuries are related to trauma and emotional liability. Let's talk about some statistics from the National Institute of Medicine. PTSD affects about 7.7 million American adults. It can occur at any age. Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men are, and it's often accompanied by depression, substance abuse or other anxiety disorders. Members of the military exposed to war, combat, and other groups at high risk for trauma exposure are at a risk of developing PTSD. The U.S. department of Veterans affairs estimates that PTSD affects 20% of Iraq War veterans. The standard of care for PTSD includes exposure therapy, which is a type of therapy where a traumatized person has to confront their traumatic memories through talking or direct exposure. Another option is drug therapy. There are antibiotics that are supposed to modulate how traumatized individuals experience fear. There are other different categories of medications that are in trials right now. Additional typical medications used are antidepressants. Antidepressants aim to control the symptoms of depression and anxiety that can come with ptsd. We also have used anxiolytics in this culture or Anti anxiety medications to try to control symptoms of anxiety. Another medication for PTSD is prazosin, which is a beta blocker. Beta blockers block your heart from beating really hard and it can also bring down blood pressure. Some doctors postulate that this medication may also help with insomnia and recurrent nightmares. Though this drug is not FDA approved for ptsd, another treatment is Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. My favorite though is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, otherwise known as emdr. EMDR is accomplished by a certified clinician who uses a combination of bilateral stimulation and direct targeting of traumatic memories in order to help evoke brain changes for a curative healing response. Naturopathic and integrative approaches for PTSD are amazingly useful. One of the first steps in naturopathic medicine is to identify the root cause of your symptoms and address them. With trauma we have to consider both the cause and the effects. So while the cause of the trauma may be in the past, the effects of the trauma may continue. In fact, many people report that the effects of their trauma continue to feed into the symptoms of trauma, making it worse and worse. With respect to this, the treatment should emphasize both healing of the past as well as the present experience. Lets talk about strategies for healing past trauma. One of my favorites is mindfulness. Mindfulness is associated with fewer PTSD symptoms, less depression, lowered anxiety and a reduction of other symptoms commonly experienced in those who have endured trauma. There is substantial evidence supporting this and example studies may be found in the references to this video. Integrative medicine also uses emdr, which we talked about a moment ago. EMDR is recognized by the Veterans Administration as one of the number one most powerful forms of therapy for symptoms and trauma in ptsd. Another approach may be hypnosis. Clinical hypnotherapy is effective at mitigating the effects of trauma, both emotional and physical. You might also consider group therapy. Support from people who understand what you are going through can be a powerful tool in helping you move towards recovery. Integrative medicine also looks at endocrine support. Significant amounts of research show that stress impacts the body. In fact, acute trauma will cause endocrine changes that differ from chronic stress. Looking at how your endocrine system is functioning can give clues to how the body is physiologically out of balance and therefore how we can work to restore balance. A specific example are the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are involved in the fight flight response. Patients who endure chronic stress and trauma have a higher output of the stress hormone from the adrenal glands called cortisol. Cortisol is involved in many other metabolic processes and after chronic stress, the adrenal gland's production of cortisol shifts, causing symptoms. Examples of cortisol changes may be blood sugar issues, blood pressure issues, changes in weight and energy, and sleep. Gut Health Gut health is widely accepted to modulate your dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline and serotonin. We know that the health of your gut often changes in in concert with your mood. And so when we're dealing with ptsd, anxiety and depression, we want to also look at your gut. There's research also talking about homeopathy, prescribed by a classically trained homeopathic physician in its efficacy at helping reduce the symptoms of trauma. There are also other supplements that may be valuable herbal supplements, amino acids and vitamins that are prescribed specifically for your individual needs. There are so many safe, natural and effective alternatives to a lot of the conventional medications out there. And the benefit of herbal medicine is that not only do they help you become healthier, but they're also quick acting and often equally, if not more effective. We talked about amino acids. My favorite amino acids are theanine, taurine, inositol and glycine. An additional integrative technique for PTSD is acupuncture. This has been shown to help with pain, anxiety, anger, rage, nightmares, depression, fear, and more. I want to share with you a story about Sarah. Sarah is an army veteran. During her time in the military, she was deployed to Iraq and served active duty for several years. During her time in the military, she endured the pain and fear of seeing her comrades killed, killed, and wounded. She lived in suboptimal conditions where amenities were scarce and disease ran rampant. She was exposed to toxic metals, including lead, mercury, and more. She also endured significant sexual harassment, which further exacerbated her already fragile state. As time passed, her emotional health deteriorated and the only options given to her were short term and palliative at best. After returning to the United States, reintegration into civilian society was almost impossible. Sarah struggled to find community. She suffered from extreme brain fog, migraine headaches, digestive upset, anxiety, anger, and despair. She also had the typical PTSD symptoms, flashbacks, nightmares, an exaggerated startle response, hypervigilance, anger, anger. She was given a diagnosis of PTSD and qualified for a handful of sessions of psychotherapy and psychiatric medication management. Sarah presented to my office in 2011 looking for an alternative to the bottles of pills that she was taking. She was looking for hope. Within the first month of treatment, she reported the anger, violence and Screaming. She said, this is a lot better. I'm not as explosive as I used to be. The annoying people in my chemistry class are still annoying, but I do not feel like bashing their heads in anymore. I'm less vengeful driving too. Regarding screaming matches with my fiance, he and I both feel that this is better. My gastrointestinal symptoms, she said, are so much better. The cramping, the sharpness, the stabbing. This is so much better. For the first time in my life, she said, I don't have pain. I've even been eating really poorly and my digestion is still holding steady. Migraines. She said that she'd only had two since starting her integrative treatment plan. This was a big improvement from what she had before because before treatment she had headaches daily that put her out for most of the day. Another month later, she reported her anger and violence and screaming was 90% better. She said, I have no anger problems if I take my remedy and follow my protocol. Maybe I get a little bit cranky around lunch, but that's it. And as soon as I redose, I feel back to myself and I know relief is in the works. We also wanted to check in on the flashbacks and she said these are happening a lot less frequently and I think the EMDR is making a huge impact. After several months of treatment, we retested her baseline tests. Part of her testing was the high toxic metals, remember? And we wanted to make sure that she was in fact effectively detoxing them. So we retested her and saw that in fact, a lot of her numbers were significantly better. It empowered us to make the changes that we need so she could continue improving. As you can see with Sarah's example, naturopathic doctors treat the whole person. As you see in her case, we looked at her physical body as well as her psychological wellness and and as she healed, her whole body and mind healed, as well as her relationships. As you search for a doctor, make sure that the one that you choose is willing to look at the entire picture of your symptoms and what they can do to help you start to make changes in your life to get your life back and your health back. For more information, subscribe to our YouTube, our podcast and as always, check back here often as we're constantly adding material for you. My website is www.Dr.nicolecane.com.