Hello,
This is Dr. Justin Yanuck MD and I have given myself 10 minutes to answer this question about trauma and the brain.
Question: “I feel I am always waiting for something bad to happen. Can ketamine help me relax?”
Answer:
What you are describing is the classic “startle response” of PTSD. This happens because your amygdala, the part of your brain that senses danger, has become overactive. At the same time, the prefrontal cortex, which is the logical part of your brain that tells you that you are safe, has lost its ability to regulate that fear. The connections between these two areas have been pruned away by the stress of trauma. You are essentially living with a fire alarm that is permanently stuck in the on position.
This constant state of high alert is physically exhausting. It leads to a fixed way of processing the world where everything feels like a threat. Because the neural architecture is fixed, it is very hard to “talk” to yourself out of this feeling in traditional therapy. Your brain is simply not plastic enough to accept the new information that you are safe. You are stuck in a loop of fear that self-perpetuates every single day.
Ketamine works by rapidly opening up that neural architecture again. It allows for the growth of new connections between the logical brain and the fear center. It creates a window of time where the “alarm” is turned down and you can finally process your environment differently. This is why we advocate for doing the work during that 48 to 72 hour window. We want to help you rebuild the “safety” pathways in your brain so that you can finally move out of survival mode and back into living your life.
If you have more questions, feel free to email us at info@renewketamineinfusion.com or book a free consultation.
Cheers,
Dr. Justin Yanuck, MD & Dr. Tanya Dall, MD, Dr. David Richter, MD
Renew Ketamine Infusion
Tustin, San Juan Capistrano, Seal Beach
