PTSD is defined by 4 clusters of symptoms

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma- and stress-related disorder than can develop following exposure to a traumatic event.

  • Reliving the trauma
  • Avoiding the trauma related to the PTSD trigger
  • Negative mood and cognitive changes
  • Persistent physiological arousal and reactivity meaning being startled, irritable, reckless, overly watchful, disturbance with sleep and thinking.

Therefore, PTSD can be debilitating by deteriorating the quality of life. First-line treatments for PTSD include psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy or mixture of both. Not only the overall success of current PTSD treatments is low and variable with remission rate of 30%-40%, but non-compliance is also a deterring factor. Due to these limitations, Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) is an innovative approach to help further improving the health and well-being of people with PTSD.

Stellate Ganglion block is a minimally invasive procedure which helps alleviate symptoms from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and chronic pain (involving face, neck and upper extremities). SGB help block the body’s fight or flight response, which are the stress hormones (epinephrine, norepinephrine), and bring in balance with parasympathetic tone which is the relaxed state.

The benefits of SGB include: improved quality of life, improve quality of sleep, decreased alcohol and substance use, improved cognitive function, improved physical functioning or exercise capacity, can help digestion issues, improve mood and healthier relationships.