u/TheSaxo

I’ve been in a 3-week acute anxiety episode with somatic anxiety, adrenaline/hyperarousal, insomnia, and catastrophic looping thoughts. My baseline is usually calm, but after certain triggers my nervous system can get stuck in fight-or-flight.

I had a very low-dose ketamine infusion at a pain clinic because proper ketamine mental health clinics were not available where I am. The dose was 50 mcg. During the infusion, the looping thoughts felt even more real: “my life is over,” “I’ll never recover,” “I’ll lose everything,” etc. Anxiety increased, and near the end they gave me a sedative/benzodiazepine.

But afterward something shifted. Later that day and the next morning, I felt almost back to baseline mentally. I still had some somatic anxiety, but it was much more manageable. My mind felt “rebooted,” the loops stopped, and I had insight into how those catastrophic beliefs were feeding the alarm.

The relief lasted about 24 hours, then anxiety started creeping back.

Etifoxine/Stresam isn’t helping much. Propranolol only slightly helps the body symptoms. Nothing has worked like the window after ketamine.

I’m now wondering whether it makes sense to go back to Europe for a proper ketamine clinic/protocol, with my mother there for support, instead of doing random low-dose infusions in a pain clinic.

Has anyone had a difficult first session but strong afterglow/clarity afterward? Did a full course make the relief last longer or help you return to baseline?

Has anyone used ketamine for acute trauma-related hyperarousal / severe somatic anxiety?

My baseline is usually calm, but after a trigger my nervous system feels stuck in fight-or-flight:

Constant adrenaline/cortisol feeling, gut pain, insomnia, body shocks when falling asleep, buening skin, and intense physical anxiety.

I don’t really have flashbacks or nightmares. It’s mostly physical nervous-system activation.

I’m honestly desperate right now because the anxiety and body symptoms are getting worse. I had a similar crisis in 2022 and destroyed my life, and it took several months to recover. Meds and benzos did not help much for this specific type of anxiety.

I’m also booking a consultation for Stellate Ganglion Block because this feels very sympathetic/autonomic, but I’m wondering about ketamine as a backup.

For people with PTSD/CPTSD/anxiety: did ketamine give fast relief or reduce the body alarm? Did it help, or did it make anxiety worse?

Looking for real experiences, not medical advice.

I don't really know what's happening to me anymore so I'm just gonna write it out.

About a year ago I had an ED moment with a girl during sex and she laughed and left right after. That was the first hit. Over the next few weeks I had a couple more situations where I struggled, some of them in contexts with peer pressure or where I felt judged.

After that string of experiences stacked up, I had a full breakdown. My nervous system got completely stuck in fight or flight for weeks. Bad sleep, intense anxiety, my gut was wrecked, pins and needles all over my body, depression so deep I couldn't recognize myself.

On top of all that there was this constant loop of "I'm broken, I'm defective, I'm unlovable, no one will ever want me" running in my head. Crying spells coming out of nowhere with no real trigger. And weird stuff coming up from years ago, like emotional flashbacks from things 10 years back I hadn't thought about. Took weeks to come back to baseline.

In February this year it happened again. Another ED situation, same crash but a bit less intense. That time I did one brainspotting session focused on body sensations and I got unstuck within a day. Genuinely felt like a miracle.

Now the third time, which is why I'm posting. Last week I had a double date thing. Friend present, two girls, stacking pressure. I had days of strong anticipatory anxiety before, bad sleep. Then the actual evening came. Nothing bad even happened. Didn't end in sex. But still anxious the whole time. And here I am a week later still stuck.

Anxiety stuck in my body (but no more anxious thoughts), burping all day, gas, gut all weird, pins and needles, brain offline, no joy in anything.

I've been doing the work this week. 90 min body awareness session with my therapist. TRE a few times. Yoga Nidra. I've been trying to work on my aversion to the sensations rather than the sensations themselves, because I notice I keep checking whether they've gone away yet and that checking is itself keeping me activated. I know this on a cognitive level. Doesn't help much when I feel like shit and just want to feel normal again.

Same approach that worked last time isn't working this time. I also do IFS with my therapist for a year now and not much has shifted there either. I have a hard time actually feeling parts in my body, talking to them feels unnatural, my protectors don't move.

Has anyone here had something similar happen? Where one specific anxiety event puts your body in crash mode for weeks at a time? Would really love to hear from people who've been through this. What helped you eventually break out of these long crashes? Any advice or strategies that actually moved the needle.

Also how do you work on this stuff to prevent it from happening again, or at least reduce the intensity next time? Because at this rate every few months I get knocked out for weeks and I can't keep living like this.

Not looking for medication advice, I'm cautious there for reasons.

Thanks for reading.

Looking for input from people who've done TRE long term, especially anyone who took a while to get something out of it.

I started TRE last summer. Been doing it inconsistently since then. Sometimes weekly, sometimes twice a week, sessions around 20 minutes. Sometimes I'd skip a month. The tremor itself works fine, my legs shake.

But here's the thing. I have never felt a release. Never had emotion come up. Never felt unstuck after a session. The only thing I can clearly say it does for me is help me sleep a bit better that night. That's it.

I've also tried doing Yoga Nidra after TRE sometimes for integration. Doesn't seem to add much either.

The frustrating part is I'm exactly the kind of person it's supposed to help. I have nervous system sensitization issues. I get stuck in fight or flight after anxiety events and it lasts for weeks.

Right now I'm a week into one of these crashes. I've done TRE a few times this week trying to discharge the activation. Nothing. Same as always.

I've also been doing IFS with a therapist for over a year, no major progress because I can't feel parts in my body and my protectors don't move.

Questions for the longer term TRE folks:

Did anyone here go a long time without feeling anything and then suddenly start getting releases? How long?

Should I be doing longer sessions? 30, 40, 60 minutes?

Am I missing something on the setup side. Pre-session orientation, post-session integration, anything that might be the missing piece.

Honestly losing motivation to continue. A year of doing it and the only return is marginally better sleep. When I'm in actual dysregulation, which is what I started TRE for, it doesn't help me get unstuck.

Thanks.