A PTSD injection study commissioned by the U.S. Army aims to find out whether an injection can alleviate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Stellate ganglion blocks have been used for arm pain and shingles, but the $2 million Army study is the first to examine whether the treatment might be helpful to those with PTSD, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“It has yet to be proven that it really does work,” said psychologist Ron Hoover, who oversees the new PTSD study on behalf of the Army, according to the WSJ. “The Army takes a fairly conservative position about treatments or any kind of medical care. They don’t want to risk service members’ lives or experiment on them.”
But those who have had the shot, which blocks messages to nerves that control the fight-or-flight response, claim it is effective.
“Once people have the shot, they get dramatically better immediately,” said Col. Jim Lynch, command surgeon at the joint Special Operations Command-Africa, according to the WSJ.
Clarence Elkins, who spent seven years in prison for crimes he didn't commit, told Fox 8 Cleveland he noticed an "incredible change" after receiving the treatment.
"Probably the biggest difference is I'm able to sleep," he said.
The treatment has alleviated symptoms including nightmares and hot flashes.
"The positive effects from the injection, the medical procedure, are so incredible and amazing. It's like one thing after another," Lynch told Fox 8.
The Army is having trouble getting volunteers to participate in the study because they have heard of the effectiveness of the treatment and don't want to risk getting a placebo when they could get the treatment, the WSJ noted.
“The problem is word of mouth is very powerful,” co-principal investigator Kristine Rae Olmsted of RTI International told the newspaper.
Twitter users were both optimistic and skeptical.
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