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A shot that could cure PTSD

Rick Burth has seen things we experience only in nightmares.

Rick Burth has seen things we experience only in nightmares.

Twenty seven years as a U.S. Marine and Army National Guardsman. Iraq, Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina and the San Diego Fires.

Rick says the years went by quickly, but during his long miles of service and the things he saw, like many veterans, he has to deal with an unwelcome reality: Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

Back stateside, Rick was edgy, quick tempered and couldn't sleep. His mind unfocused, but for the things that had happened to him. Things people don't understand unless they've done things Rick had to do in places people don't visit. Rick knows deep down what it is.

"Some of the things I've seen and done over the years you really don't think it affects you, but yet it does," Rick said.

Not long ago, Rick heard about a Chicago-area doctor who was offering shots to veterans that claimed to cure PTSD. "Stellate Ganglion block," is injected into the neck nerves, and quells symptoms of anxiety and depression most identified with PTSD sufferers. It’s an anesthetic
hundreds of military vets and first responders have received, with 80 percent of them claiming almost instant relief from PTSD symptoms.

"We presented a paper in New York regarding 10 patients who were done under local anesthetic that it worked in 30 minutes,” Dr. Eugene Lipov, the Chicago Anesthesiologist giving the shots, said.

Dr. Frank Ochberg is a renowned PTSD Specialist. He was amazed at the results.

"Dr. Lipov gave the block to someone with head and neck pain who also had PTSD and his PTSD went away suddenly and dramatically,” Ochberg said. “I said, ‘hey, what's going on here.’”

Rick went to Chicago and got his shots, offered free to veterans who qualified and wanted to try anything that might help. He says it’s worked, for him.

"Things have been very peaceful at my home. I have two boys ages nine and 12…and they got their dad back even though they really didn't know who dad was, what type of person I was, until this happened,” Rick said. “Ever since then, things have been great."

The government isn’t sold on the PTSD shot yet.

"We don't provide this treatment for PTSD and are waiting for more scientific support of its effectiveness,” Dr. David W. Schafer of the Northern California Department of Veterans Affairs, said.

Rick says he feels 99.9 percent better and back from that dark place he'd been for years. How long his PTSD shots last, we'll see. If he needs more down the road, he's all in.

Rick’s mother-in-law, Linda Ferrari, is the one who tipped him off to the shot from Dr, Lipov. She’s behind a major fundraiser - The Second Annual Global PTSI Foundation Golf Tournament and Fund Raiser - scheduled for Sept. 11, 2017, at Granite Bay Golf Club. One hundred of the money raised goes to help military and first responders. The goal is to provide 100 treatments for those in need. Dr. Lipov can be reached at www.globalptsifoundation.org.

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