Vagus nerve stimulation therapy for treatment-resistant PTSD | Hacker News Reader

Vagus nerve stimulation therapy for treatment-resistant PTSD

brainstimjrnl.com

32 pointsbookofjoe11 comments

No relation. For those looking to try VNS, check out the TruVaga device: https://www.truvaga.com/product/truvaga-plus/

This is tVNS, which means it's just a device you hold against your neck - the VNS device in the study is implanted in the neck. There's a lot more scientific evidence for the implanted device than the handheld.

For those of us who want to try VNS but not get surgery, the most proven device seems to be the Nurosym, which is an electrode that clips on to your left tragus. It's also not approved for use in the US.

It very interesting because vagus nerve theory has been seen as unproven and is often cast upon with doubt as we don’t understand the underlying mechanism - a lot of PTSD treatments are along those lines.

I think they just don’t work universally/don’t understand the myriad pathways of presentation and are bad at predicting them - IE PTSD is a set of symptoms but we try to see it as a set of causes). There’s a big problem with “evidence based” because many fall into the cracks.

An implant is quite a thing though - looking at the wiki for VNS it seems to be seen as effective for a whole array of things, but without understanding why.

In my experience, vipassana meditation also stimulates the vagus nerve and includes a kind of exposure therapy when practiced properly. It seems much safer than surgery. Also, the meditation skill can be useful later in life, helping one to be more resilient against adversity.

So basically it's a vibrator on the neck part of the vagus nerve that is controlled by an app ?

Not dismissing the device, but I'm wondering why a massage can't do the job ? It could even be done by the patient if explained how to.

Many PTSD patients have difficulty with being touched (understandably). Even self-touch can be difficult if the own body is not emotionally felt as safe. Devices like this could be useful here as a bridge towards being touched.

It's not a vibrator, it's an implanted electrode. The neck band is the wireless power source.

Interesting they would implant it instead of an on-neck device.

I have seen these types of devices for sale (Sensate, etc) and wondered if they provide benefit to those using them.

I was seeing a neurochiropractor for a concussion last year and she used one of those on-neck devices to lower my heartrate in-between rehab exercises. It worked very well in my experience.

Pretty interesting!

Do they need to have intractable hiccups first?

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