A Push For Alternative Treatments To Deal With PTSD
The number of people that are in the US who are affected with PTSD is estimated to be equivalent to roughly the population of Florida; more than 20 million people at any given time.
It's a serious issue for many and a great deal of people feel that there is a desperate need for creative methods to try and help the problem, to ease the pain that many are suffering from.
We've heard that many veterans have been turning to CBD and cannabis to try and seek remedy for their PTSD, where traditional methods might have failed them, and there are some other interesting ideas that veterans have been looking to for help as well.
Because conventional treatments have failed so many to find the remedy that they're looking for, there has been a push for alternative treatments to try and help and one of them is looking to acupuncture.
To be fair, acupuncture certainly isn't anything new, it's been around for thousands of years. But there has been growing interest surrounding acupuncture over the last several years as people look towards more alternative treatments for their health issues.
There is also a great deal of research that has been done in this area to suggest that acupuncture might be able to assist in helping people to find remedy for a variety of their health issues.
Aside from troops turning to it to help with their PTSD it's also been suggested that acupuncture might help with the opioid epidemic that is alleged to be taking place in many areas around the US. The alternative medicine market is one that has grown into a $34+ billion industry and isn't likely to slow down soon.
Troops who turn to the acupuncture for help with their PTSD claim that it works for them and that it's drastically boosted their quality of living. And acupuncture isn't the only option that people are looking to for some help. Another, which might be considered quite a bit more invasive, involves a brain implant that will help to regulate your mood.
The plan is to create a brain implant that is going to be able to use electric pulses to alter neural activity. It's a project that involves research teams that have been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Researchers note that there are some negative side effects seen from such an implant however, and they are things like speech disturbance, increased aggression, depression, hypomania, memory impairment, and even suicide.
Though researchers have previously and repeatedly suggested that acupuncture could be greatly beneficial in helping many people to find a better quality of life, they insist that more research is still needed in this area.
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The information that is posted above is not intended or implied to ever be used as any substitute for professional medical advice, or diagnosis or treatment. The above is posted for informational purposes only.
Sources:
http://www.ptsdunited.org/ptsd-statistics-2/
http://www.veteransandptsd.com/PTSD-statistics.html
https://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/how-common-is-ptsd.asp
http://www.azfamily.com/story/36897184/acupuncture-providing-relief-for-ptsd
http://www.news5cleveland.com/news/acupuncture-for-pain-does-ancient-medicine-hold-the-key-to-solving-the-opioid-epidemic-
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/americans-spend-30-billion-year-alternative-medicine-n596976
https://www.nature.com/news/ai-controlled-brain-implants-for-mood-disorders-tested-in-people-1.23031
http://www.euronews.com/2017/11/24/us-military-funds-ai-brain-implants-to-treat-veterans-post-traumatic-stress-disorder
https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2010-04/acupuncture-treatment-posttraumatic-stress-disorder-review-evidence-based-research
http://fox6now.com/2017/11/24/acupuncture-providing-relief-for-ptsd/
http://www.ourquadcities.com/news/local-marine-veteran-shares-ptsd-treatment-journey/852541129
CBD oil and edibles should have been legalized a long, long time ago. Lots of lives could have been saved if the dirty, scummy politicians didn't stand in the way.
PTSD a very serious illness. And it is always hidden only whence found out it maybe too late.
I believe government looking this as earlier as when veteran comes back.
MDMA is close to being recognized as a legal treatment modality for PTSD, which I think is incredible.
Entheogens also have incredible potential with a variety of mental health disorders. I am stoked for the possibilities!
Hi Colin, agree completely! MAPS hope to have it legal for medicinal use by 2021, using the revenue to fund studies into ayahuasca, lsd, psilocybin! exciting times.
Seeing a lot more about CBD oil lately. It must be much more popular on the west coast. In the bible belt, it isn't discussed much to my knowledge.
As a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, I would agree that acupuncture is an effective treatment for PTSD. There is current research to support using acupuncture for this and other mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. Done by an experienced and well-trained acupuncturist, it is well tolerated by almost anyone.
that's interesting! thanks for sharing and stopping by @doctormarg
I would have to say the best treatment with cannabis or cbd and a personal counselor might make the symptoms somewhat manageable depends on the person...
Use canabis by legal control, isn't it?
What I have discovered is that some things can help, and they likely vary from person to person. All that can be attained, AFAIK, is to make the symptoms somewhat manageable.
The problem with PTSD is that what brings it isn't something that can be cured. It isn't an option. Things just are, and that can't be cured. What is seen cannot be unseen.
Don't try to be cured, try to manage symptoms, so that you can maintain composure, live with others and not allow the symptoms to erupt.
Mindfulness has been useful, anything which can be a source of focus, of distraction, that allows you to recapture your mind, and resubmit it to your control.
Poking me with pins, stuffing pills down my neck, yacking at nodding, sympathetic heads, are of no use to me. If talking about it helps you, good. It just dragged me back into it, and there's no point in that.
Experiencing the breeze on my face, the ground beneath my feet, the now of being, this can hold things at bay, until I can wrestle control of my brain again.
I won't do a chip, and I won't do psych meds again. I'm lucky to have survived some of them. Doctors don't know how you'll react, so if one didn't do it, they'll try another, and another, until sooner or later, one of them makes things REALLY bad, and there's no way I'm gonna let that happen again.
Just take ahold of now, so that then can't force it's way into your head.
I have a friend who uses acupuncture to treat back and body pain and swears by it. I'm all for non-pill treatments being encouraged. There are so many good alternative treatments that don't require drugs.
I think acupuncture + psychological treatment (like cbt, hypnotherapy, etc) will be more powerful
The conventional treatment for PTSD in returning soldiers, is to make it as bad as possible. Time is of the essence. Therefore, the VA puts them on a very long waiting list to see a psychiatrist. After they begin to see the psychiatrist, they will either waste their time talking, or the psych will attempt to make everything worse through retraumitizing the soldier without having any plan to help rebuild after the bombing run.
Most of the mindfulness techniques work with PTSD. It is an emotional trauma, and so often the person needs to go back into their childhood to clear the pain from childhood, that was the weakness where PTSD implanted itself.
Cannibis has been known to help, as long as they are already working on mindfulness. Also hypnosis. And PTSD support groups, as long as they are a good group. (as opposed to a psych student who runs things for themselves and doesn't allow man-man bonds by controlling the dialog...)
These implants scare me. They are just using soldiers as 6 foot tall lab rats. They do not know enough about the brain to do anything good in there. Basically, it looks like if the heart rate surges, they blast the brain, like you would play a loud noise into the earphones. Yep, it will distract you from what you where doing/experiencing, but it will more likely give you another PTSD.