Treating PTSD/PTSI with Stellate Ganglion Block

On February 13, on live TV in Portland, Oregon, Dr. Ryan Wood joined author Jamie Mustard to discuss a treatment for trauma that can change a person’s life for the better in only 15 minutes. Watch the video, or read about their discussion below. Dr. Ryan Wood is one of the foremost doctors in the world who specializes in SGBs, right here in PDX!  

“Trauma is not the disorder that we’ve all been taught that it is,” says author Jamie Mustard. “It’s 100% a biological injury; it’s the broken leg that you can’t see. And for the last 20 years, mostly for the military and for first responders, there’s been a treatment that’s been developed that can re-set the sympathetic nervous system to the pre-trauma state. I’ve done it and it’s the most profound thing I’ve ever done for my own betterment.” 

After experiencing a lot of trauma as a child, Jamie Mustard has experienced the positive effects of the Stellate Ganglion Block firsthand. “Making a difference would be the understatement of the century,” he says. “I’d say it’s the most important medical innovation since the discovery of penicillin in 1928.” 

“I always love Jamie’s enthusiasm about this,” says Dr. Ryan Wood of NW Regen, who has performed 3000+ Stellate Ganglion Blocks and is regarded as and expert. “I agree, it’s an incredible procedure,” he says, “We’ve changed thousands of lives using it.” 

For people experiencing anxiety from trauma, our brains change due to trauma over time. “We consider that an injury,” explains Dr. Wood. “And we have a way to modulate that now, called the Stellate Ganglion Block or Dual-Sympathetic Reset.” 

How does the treatment work?

 “That highway between the fear-based brain and our body’s response to the physiologic stimulus of the ‘fight-or-flight’ mechanism—like anxiety—this (Stellate Ganglion) block essentially calms that fear-part of your brain down. It just resets it.”  

“Basically, what we do is we put  a little bit of anesthetic on a nerve in your neck,” explains Dr. Wood. “(After injection), a few minutes later, your body separates that fear response from its stimulus, so your body doesn’t react the same.” 

“When the system resets and comes back online, you’re calming down the ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction,” explains Dr. Wood. “We look at is as trauma. We’re trying to change the discussion between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) vs. it being an injury.” 

“If you’re exposed to trauma, like war or domestic violence, or childhood trauma, or a lifetime of stress, like so many are living through right now, the brain changes its chemistry,” explains Dr. Wood. “And when the brain changes, we consider that an injury now in medical science.” 

“We can actually measure the pre-frontal cortex and the hippocampus shrinking in the brain,” he says. “And these parts of the brain do things like modulate our reactivity. Or they modulate our ‘happy hormones’ like GABA (calm hormone) and serotonin, these chemicals that our brain signals to make us happy.”

“If the ‘fear-brain’ is quieting those parts of the brain, because it’s broken,” he says, “They don’t work as well.” 

What was your work in Armenia about with the SGB?

 “Because of being at war (for so long), the general population (of Armenia) understands and feels that heaviness all the time. We were invited over to lecture on this and to teach their physicians how to perform the blocks,” tells Dr. Ryan Wood. 

“I spent four days treating survivors of war and genocide,” he explains. “We met with an NGO (non-government organization) Mission Armenia, spoke with a lot of survivors from a recent conflict, and for me, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.” 

“It was a medical mission, so we were able to help change lives,” he says. “And also carry a message that there is this really unique treatment (SGB) that we have that has the potential to change the world and millions of lives.” 

For more information about Stellate Ganglion Blocks, please visit out website.

Or contact us to set up a consultation with Dr. Wood.