Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
The clinical syndrome of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a result of exposure to extreme traumatic events which may include combat exposure, sexual abuse, terrorist attacks, physical assault, serious accidents, or natural disasters. This disorder may lead to complex behavioral and physiological abnormalities which can persist long after the original stressor has been removed.
The psychological hyperarousal that is indicative of PTSD results in physiological hyperactivity/hyperarousal including tachycardia, increased blood pressure, tachypnea, tremor, and excessive sweating1 PTSD patients exposed to simulated combat noise, individualized scripts portraying stressful combat experiences, or hypnotically induced imagery of a traumatic event showed increased physiological responses as compared to combat veterans without PTSD2.
The altered function of the autonomic nervous system in patients with PTSD occurs at a number of levels. PTSD patients demonstrate hyperalertness, and higher basal heart rate and blood pressure than do control subjects3. Additionally, PTSD patients exhibit significantly lower HF and higher LF components on power spectrum analysis as compared to matched control subjects4. PTSD patients also exhibit a decreased parasympathetic and relatively increased sympathetic activity in comparison with control groups as demonstrated by PSD analysis of RR interval signal5.
Patients suffering from prolonged PTSD may also experience the following conditions:
- Chronic musculoskeletal pain
- Sleep Dysfunction
- Cognitive Dysfunction
- Substance Abuse Problems
- Cardiovascular Disease
Pharmacologic treatment of PTSD has had limited success in addressing the symptoms associated with PTSD. In many cases the SSRI’s, benzodiazapines, and some antipsychotic medications used to treat PTSD result in a number of adverse side effects that compound the diagnosis. Increasingly, physicians are turning to Rx only medical foods to manage the underlying nutritional deficiencies and symptoms associated with PTSD. Addressing the underlying nutritional deficiencies associated with chronic PTSD and other related anxiety disorders can restore autonomic nervous system function, and ultimately improve the physical and mental health of patients suffering from this disease.
- Da Costa 1971; Kolb 1987
- Pitman et al1987; Blanchard et al 1982; Gerardi et al 1989; Malloy et al 1983
- Blanchard et al 1982; Kosten et al 1987; Pitman et al 1987; Kolb 1987; Yehuda et al 1990
- Choen et al 2000
- Yeragani et al. 1992, 1993
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