I’ve had 28 Stellate Ganglion Blocks (SGBs) for Complex PTSD, hypervigilance, quadrilateral Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, and other sympathetically driven conditions. These are symptoms of extreme central sensitization from a lifetime of environments adverse to my well-being, especially repeated sexualized violence by caregivers, followed by consistent institutional betrayal when there is no justice or accountability.
There is a version of this treatment promoted as a one-and-done fix for PTSD. That has not matched my experience, and it doesn’t match the conditions under which many of us live. It cannot fix the environment. It does not remove the ongoing threat. It does not create the relational and material conditions required for homeostasis.
What it can do, in my experience, is give the system a break. That is important, because when the system does not have to allocate everything toward threat detection and protection–even temporarily–it has more resources for other things. It can more easily think, plan, connect, and make changes that are otherwise out of reach.
From a Relational Neuroscience perspective, such a break does not hold if the conditions stay the same. The system will reorganize again around what the environment requires. So the question becomes “What can be done with that window?”
For me, the SGB has been a tool, not a fix. It has bought time and energy. And over the years, especially during the periods when I experience the benefits, I have used that time and energy to focus on building conditions that support my system.
I’m doing it in a culture that is very much against supporting human nervous systems. Which means the work is slower, more deliberate, and requires ongoing attention to where energy goes and what demands can be reduced. But even a temporary reduction in hypervigilance provides an opportunity to redirect resources. To move something, even slightly, in a different direction.
By understanding what my nervous system needs, I’ve been able to slowly and carefully build better conditions. This includes improved physical environment, but especially the relational environment. My focus is on building and strengthening safe connections with the people around me.
Understanding a few basic concepts about how this works at the neurobiological level changes how that time is used. It gives us language for what is already happening in the body and in lived experience. It makes the pattern visible. And that creates options that were invisible before. When you can see the pattern, you can change it.
The SGB does not resolve the conditions that created the need for it. It does not replace attunement, safety, or consistent support. But it can create a window where those things become more possible to pursue. That has improved my quality of life because of what I have been able to do with the time and energy it gave me.
SGB is a tool. It buys space. What happens in that space depends on the conditions and on what can be built despite them.
