In this episode of Wellness Insights with Dr. Chalmers, firefighter and paramedic Matt Vemea talks about his experience with PTSD after nearly 20 years in emergency services. He shares how the stress and trauma of the job slowly built up over time, affecting his sleep, his relationships, and his ability to enjoy everyday life. Traditional treatments helped a little, but nothing really worked until he tried ketamine therapy.
Matt and Dr. Chalmers have an honest conversation about what the treatment was like, how it helped, and why it might be a good option for others dealing with similar struggles. It’s a down-to-earth look at a tough topic, and a reminder that there are new ways to find relief and get your life back.
If you're curious about real solutions for PTSD or just want to hear a genuine story of healing, this episode is worth a watch.
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Introduction and Matt's Background
03:21 – PTSD in First Responders
06:31 – What PTSD Looked Like in His Life
09:43 – Hypervigilance Explained
13:16 – Life Collapsing Despite Time Off
16:36 – Diagnosis and Seeking Help
20:11 – Ketamine Treatment: A Breakthrough
23:31 – Big Changes: Anger, Sleep, Family Life
26:11 – Real-Life Markers of Change
30:01 – Comparison: Ketamine vs. SGB Shot
34:31 – Broader Impact and the Charity Effort
38:51 – Encouraging Others to Seek Help
42:11 – Closing: Hope, Support, and Next Steps
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:01] Hey, it's Dr. Chalmers and welcome back to another episode of Wellness Insights with Dr. Chalmers. What we're doing today is we're kind of going through some of the stuff we've been working with ketamines for PTSD, depression, anxiety, stuff like that, the trauma, the psychological trauma that we get, especially with our first responders and our veterans. And today, Matt is with us today. We're going to go through kind of his stuff and with his journey through ketamine. So, Matt, thanks for coming and talking with us. I think it's gonna help lots of people. So thanks for coming.
Matt Vemea [00:00:31] Absolutely. Thank you for having me and thank you for the treatment. It's been a huge blessing.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:36] Absolutely, man. Yeah, that's that's been I've been super excited about it. Kind of going through. So to start everybody off, you know, go through kind of your stuff. You know, you've been even a first responder for a long time. You've done a lot of stuff. Kind go through and kind of tell us, you have the stuff that you've done. You kind of where life kind of ended up and how how bad it got. And then we'll kind of run through the treatment. So go ahead and jump in with your stuff
Matt Vemea [00:01:00] Yeah, I'll try to do my best to recap, starting the fire service in high school as a cadet, 2002, shortly after 9 11, and then professionally right after I graduated 18 2004 EMT firefighter became a paramedic at 2021 did about 18 years of professional service. I worked all over California, kind of some of the, some of the worst spots as well in the country. I did about a decade in Stockton. Also worked in Oakland, San Francisco Bay Area, as well as for the state. So I saw a lot of trauma a lot. Everything from, you know, accident, shooting, stabbings, being shot at, being attacked, fighting people on drugs and PCP on a more regular basis than there should be for certain. Lost lost folks in the line of duty that I've worked with, lost a lot guys on and off duty. Just saw a a lot tragedy, a lot death. I kind of was that black cloud as well. Like something crazy was gonna happen. It was gonna be my call. I was gonna to be on it. And that carried across every agency I've worked with and my whole career. So that translated, I think now looking back, I think like I said in our initial interview, I was very, I'm just gonna say ignorant to PTSD and very naive about it, especially my earlier career. Little and nothing about it. It was barely being talked about in the earlier 2000s, even until probably the last five years, I would say that I knew almost nothing. And then started putting pieces together, realizing symptoms. But it really took me a long time. Now, knowing what I know, I probably had it at 21, probably a few years in. I saw more in my first couple of years of my career than most guys will in their entire career. And there's new studies, I always felt that way. And then there's data that came out. There were folks that retired or would have started per se in like the 70s and retired let's say on an average 30 year career about 2000. Now anybody coming in and their first like three to five years across the board on average is going to see more than somebody would in a 35 year career, 35 years ago, 30 years ago.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:21] Is that across the board or is that police, fire, paramedics?
Matt Vemea [00:03:24] Yeah, that's that's all. Yeah, all first responders and emergency services across the board. So anybody showing up to an island one call. Yeah, like somebody in three to five years now across the Board, you know, it's going to differ on the call volume in the areas. But across the border, they did a national study. And in three or five years now, people will see more than people did an entire career over decades. Previous years ago, just the increase in accidents, the increase. Violence, I guess, studies are just a lot more going on, especially the mental health crisis, I would say. There's a lot of more suicides. So there's just a whole lot more trauma that these first responders are being exposed to at a significantly increased level than it used to be.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:10] And you know, when I talk to you about this, it's like, you know you talk about combat veterans and like, Oh, I totally get that. And I'm like, what I, and a lot of times it's in the worst is our first responders and they look at me kind of funny and I'm like, well, who do you think sees all the car wrecks? Who do you thinks fishes the four year old kids out of pools? Like, who'd you think, sees the gunshot wounds and the burned bodies and so like, like our first responders put themselves between that trauma and us for us. And so that's kind of one of those things. And we start explaining to like, oh, my gosh, I didn't even think about that. Like I have a whole new respect for the firefighters and the police officers and things like that in my area. And, you know, it's true. Like, you we pull up to a wreck, you know, if you're driving by a wreck and there's the cops and the firefighters out there, like everybody looks because we don't really want to see mangled bodies. But, you know, that's what you're looking for. And you guys have to see it and clean it up and move these guys around and, you know, tell them they're going to be fine when you know they're not like that. That's there's a lot of really, really bad stuff that you guys have to deal with. So, you know, that's one of the reasons I was like, we got to include you guys in the charity. So. So so when it was, you saw that stuff, you're real quick, if we can recap on how your life was, as far as what PTSD felt like, and what it was doing to you and to your family just a little bit. So kind of run through that for us a little
Matt Vemea [00:05:26] Yeah. Um, I've always been kind of a, you know, very type a guy. Um. And I figured that was just the mindset you needed. And I've been doing that more than half my life. Now the majority of my life and my entire adult life. So it really was my identity, um, and second generation public safety as well. My, my dad was, wasn't law enforcement. So it's kind of all I've ever known. And I grew up around a lot of trauma and a lot of chaos where I was. So now I'm looking back with what I've learned, the treatment I went through, like... How early it probably really started and all the contributing factors, but it basically escalated to the point where I just, I thought I had pretty bad ADD. That's just was my assumption for the longest time. Really easy to be irritable, distracted. I just thought I have a temper and a lack of patience, but I cared about people wanting to help them, right? So almost like an oxymoron, very, very conflicted there. Didn't really make sense. Really, really bad insomnia. Um, my sleepers. Been awful for years and years and years now and I know that's the shift work the emergencies it's just you know I wake up after like 2 a.m. I couldn't go back to sleep no matter what tried melatonin that increases insomnia I mean I've tried so many just different things so the insomnia was really bad the irritability would definitely cause a lot of strain with the kids getting easily triggered and overwhelmed they really escalated to the point where I started having some dissociative episodes, which was definitely scary. Thank God none of mine got to the point in the extreme that some other people I know with PTSD. I started on TRT, slightly helpful, but didn't fix it. I tried CVD, I tried different other modalities, trying to figure stuff out, was really dealing with irritability, depression, and in denial. I was naive and in a denial. So finally, we were also short staffed. Just like law enforcement, it's really no different anymore. In the early 2000s, California, there were 5,000 qualified applicants per position, per opening. It was like the most competitive job in the country. And then Fast forward about 20 years later, we can't even get enough qualified applicants for positions. Like that is how drastic it has changed. With society, with our culture, people just don't want to serve anymore. People don't wanna deal with it. It's not what it was. It's definitely gotten worse, unfortunately. The working conditions, the environment, the treatment, the things we see, all of that has gotten worse for the first responders. So it's definitely not helping in the recruitment and marketing side of things. As the numbers dictate, you know, the numbers that definitely spell it out. So things change a lot. So with that being short staffed, I was working like two full time shifts for years, minimum plus in California. And we'd had fire season, which ran at least half the year. So we'd be sent out, for instance, for that backfill it behind it. So I was at work just almost all the time, like my younger daughters. I worked almost their entire lives. You know, when it came to holidays, I just knew they were going to the firehouse to see me. If. I wasn't out on a larger fire incident. There was a short window. We finally got staffed up and I'm like, maybe that's it. Maybe I'm just overworked and stressed out. I'm tired. Maybe I'll get some sleep. Maybe that's all it is. I was like, you know, get some actual days off, you know, like that kid, you're going to make six figures. You only work 10 days a month. It's going to be glorious, right? It's like a part-time job, but you know. And here I am working, you know, a thousand hours a month, everyone. You know, not you know minimum 96 straight just none of it was what I thought it would be. So with that I finally got some days off like all right things are gonna get better I'm gonna be able to chill out get some stuff done around the house spend some time with the family and it didn't it got worse and that that was I think that was one of the biggest takeaways for me I finally had some time off in years things got worse uh all the symptoms of The irritability, the triggers, I was so excited to come home. I'd be gone at least five days at a time. Be excited to see the young kids. I'd get home and just instantly get set off, worrying about this. We didn't lock that. Hypervigilance was through the roof, 10 out of 10. You know, that's- Well, we're going to hypervigilate.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:43] Real quick on that one, I kind of explained what that is because a lot of people don't understand what that means. So, walk through what that feels like and sounds like. And there's a lot guys who have that and they don't know it.
Matt Vemea [00:09:54] Yeah, it is. I would say probably every first responder has at least a degree of it. You have to really just to kind of keep you alive, but it's more of a sympathetic, you know, fight response where you're looking for exits, looking for threats, making sure stuff's secure. I mean, I've even caught my teenager sneaking out of the house because of my extreme hyper vigilance, right? So there's some good and some bad with it. It'll keep you safe, but it'll also keep you miserable if it's bad because you're just at that heightened sense awareness where you can't. You can't like engage, be present or enjoy anything. You're there, but you're not. Like you're physically there, but mentally you're checking threats. You're being distracted. What about this guy over here? What about that?
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:35] Yeah, one of the guys I was talking to, he was talking about in a restaurant, he was like, I can't go to a restaurant because I'll have to sit with my back to the wall and every single thing that moves, everybody who comes in, everybody who's moving around, I have to assess that and be like, is that a threat or is that not? They're like, can't even enjoy a meal. And so like, that's the funny thing. That was the big one because I talked to the guys like that. They're, like, you know, I kind of have that too. And so that's why I was like you get this hypervigilance from XYZ. So, but that's what I want to make sure we covered it. But yeah.
Matt Vemea [00:11:03] Yeah, that's it. You know, you're double, triple checking the doors are locked. You know if guys have cameras, you know, not I wouldn't say full blown. I mean, some people may. Confuse it with paranoia to an extent, if you will, but you're walking around distressed out, wound up to the door, get shut. Did this get checked to that? And I attribute a lot of that to being a firefighter, a medic. I got to show up and handle any emergency at any time. And, you. Know, hey, hey. I can't do it. Hey, I don't know what to do. Hey, I forgot my stuff like none of those are acceptable answers. Know, somebody's loved one of their life on the line. And I think that's it. It's like a death by a thousand cuts or more. You just don't realize like how much that that gets to you 24 seven, just having to be ready for anything and everything. In any moment's notice, you got to be read for anything, everything under the sun. So that, you know, you just can't disengage and like step away from that. And what's weird is the body keeps the score. Excellent book on drama PTSD. Excellent book, if anybody hasn't. Dr. Bessel von Kirk, I'm probably saying his name wrong, but he was kind of the one that really pioneered it from war neuroses to shell shock to really what PTSD is now. And a lot of the early information a lot a psycho farm as well. And he talked about that a lot. It really resonated with me made sense about PTSD and And there were studies done. But one of them was people that seek these careers, a lot of them have experienced trauma, which adds up for me and makes sense in their youth, their childhood. Uh that seek these things like one of the things was uh like dangerous dangerous behavior um reckless behavior things like that and i was like well i'm pretty disciplined i'm squared away i'm responsible i have kids and then i'm sitting back thinking i'm like well my job is dangerous i work in the most dangerous city i'm doing tactical medicine um at one point i was doing fugitive recovery on my days off. My wife shut that down. And then I started to go back and think, I'm like, yeah, okay. I guess I was trying to get myself killed on and off duty every day. Like, okay, you know, definitely I think checks the box to qualify at that point. You know, I was in denial of a lot of my symptoms and a lot of my behaviors to say the least.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:13:18] So, so, okay, walk us through the walk us through how the ketamine like that little treatment piece went and then kind of how, how things are now and contrast to how they were.
Matt Vemea [00:13:29] Yeah, absolutely, like we were just talking about, my hypervigilance was to the point where I couldn't really enjoy life, outside the house, especially driving. It's much better, but that was a real struggle just because I've seen so many accidents, threats, unsafe drivers, that if anybody asked me anything or made a noise even while I was driving, it would startle me, pretty significant, where it would really trigger that sympathetic response. And get me really worked up to where it wasn't pleasant for my family or enjoyable at all, to say the least, right? So like road trips and that, we're miserable, we're not fun, we are super stressful. Having young kids, adding that to the element, doesn't make it easier, but it's normal life that I should be able to live and anybody else should. Like it shouldn't trigger me to the point or extent that it did. Talking about going out, I didn't go to movies, to a movie theater for five, six years. I just wouldn't go because it was, it was the stress was just too much. Like so many people, unknown elements, the things that I saw. It made even the simple things like that, just not enjoyable, which is not cool or fun. So, um, went through a lot of treatment leading up to ketamine, um. Circling back to that finally got some time off. Things got worse. The noise, you know, the, the noise that that's where I was getting out with that is traumatize people seek trauma. So like on those calls, on those emergencies, I was my happy place and my sense of peace in that chaos. And I thrived in that and I worked really well, which didn't really make sense because you would think a difficult situation is where you'd struggle, but it was actually all the normal day-to-day life, the simple things where I struggled the most, significantly. So that's when I sought help. I finally, finally saw a specialist, the specialized PTSD first responders and backstory on her. Her dad was a chief of police in Tel Aviv, Israel. And he had really bad PTSD. He saw bombings and trauma, like literally every single day over there. So that what got her to seek a path in treating that. So pretty cool history. And she did EMDR, but it was, I wasn't there maybe 10, 20 minutes. And she was like, yeah, you have severe PTSD, really bad. She's like, you're a couple of years too late. We're going to do what we can, but like, you should not be working. She's, like, this is really bad, like all the sentences you described are PTSD to the max. She's you basically have every qualified criteria factor. I'm like, oh, great. You know, it's kind of like I was in denial and avoiding it, but it was getting worse, getting worse. And that was it. When it really, you know, when I really. Picked up on a little bit of self-awareness and saw how much it was affecting the family. That's when I went and sought help. If it was me and like a lot of other guys, you know, they're selfless. We're also really stubborn. You know, those two things are not not a good combination, especially like mental health or self care. So there's a lot of guys that won't get help because it felt like they're letting guys down. I got pulled off on the holidays. I felt terrible letting my guys down, letting the crew down. But in hindsight, obviously, I'm glad I did it for myself, for my family. Things are much better because of getting that help. And also, um, I got two guys in my department that went and got help short thereafter that were, we're not doing good. I mean, to the point where, uh, you know, one of my guys, a little police chief found a walk the beach with a lot of gun. So like, thank God got there in time. He's getting treatment. He, he was, he reached out, uh touch base with me, which is great. So you just really don't know how bad I think people are struggling and how many issues are really out there until you bring that out. And I think that's it too. We're such a proud community of stubborn. Tough guys, that it's hard. And then for me, it was just like information or the lack thereof. I didn't even know I could get PTSD. I thought that was on the combat meds. And then we had talked before, I had a lot of guys coming back I worked with that were medics, that worked medevac, that were reservists still. They're coming back and I'm like, man, I feel like I never left Afghanistan, I never I left Iraq. I'm seeing, I saw more shootings today than I saw in my last appointment, like in one shift. And I was like, so I'm starting to piece all those things back together and then it makes sense, right? Where it all comes from. So with that, um, I ended up retiring out, um service retired from the PTSD. I got a lot of treatment, basically hit maximum medical improvement is what they've qualified it as after, uh, traditional therapy modalities. I went to the IFF, uh COE, the center of excellence, which is just outside of DC, um an incredible place just for professional firefighters. Uh, many of them were veterans that were there as well. And they treat trauma and PTSD. So with their EMDR and a lot of other therapy there, which is very helpful really just to kind of get a better understanding, but it still didn't mitigate all my symptoms. And I also didn't want to be a medicated zombie. I've seen so many bad experiences there with people just hooked up on a ton of psych meds. A lot of bad experiences personally that I've seen with many people I know and through my career. So I've been stuck in this really, really difficult place. I'm struggling. I think things are going to get worse if I'm on, on psych meds. I've seen it get worse for people. So I'm like, you know, it's been a rock and a hard place on what I do. And then somehow, you, I think grace of God, I got a hold of your comment feed or something came across from some mutual friends, um, about you with the charity and, um. Do Academy and then we touched base started the treatment and, um, it has been so helpful. I believe I did six sessions in total and, uh, Each one, I definitely got more relief, which was incredible. I think just to start with the I took notes and I was reviewing after each session as well, kind of how I was doing the treatments changes. And that was one of the things is like I got my first time. I think I slept like six hours and I think I was probably averaging like two, two and a half up to at that point. Like I track it with my watch. So that was huge. One thing I wasn't ready for and it only happened the first session. I know we're re rewiring pathways and I really think that happened because that first session I had the most splitting headache and I was, I was hydrated, um, it was, it, was a lot the first night it went away after a few hours, but, uh, it wasn't tense, but I really, I think I was actually feeling my brain being reset in a good way because shortly there after that, it like my thoughts weren't as foggy, I thinking more clear. Things were moving a lot better, which I know decreased the frustration level. My frustration level was very high. I was able to release, I think a lot of the stress and anxiety is definitely turned down significantly. I don't know about a percentage, but a significant amount. Significantly decreased the anxiety, which I thought was just stress before. I never knew I was anxious until I started getting treatment.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:20:28] A lot of guys will think it, like I typically, guys will be like, Oh, I don't have any anxiety. I'm like, how about stress? We're like, Oh, ain't up with stress. I got all the stress in the world, but I don' have any anxiety. And I'm, like, it's the same thing.
Matt Vemea [00:20:40] Anxiety is for women, stress is for men.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:20:42] That's right, that's right.
Matt Vemea [00:20:46] Yeah, so when they told me that I had really, really bad anxiety, you know, secondary to my PTSD, I was like, what? That was just still something I had to sit with. And then, you know, it made sense as I absorbed it, processed it, but the doing traditional treatment therapy helps a little. EMDR helped a little more, but it wasn't enough. Like I was still having a lot of the dreams, the nightmares, the insomnia.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:21:14] How are the nightmares now?
Matt Vemea [00:21:18] I would say they're almost gone and my sleep has been substantially better.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:21:23] So you had multiple nightmares at night for years, and then after the ketamine, they're more or less gone.
Matt Vemea [00:21:30] Yeah, which is significant like that's probably that's the biggest thing is I've been able to actually sleep now and be somewhat of a normal human, which is incredible.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:21:39] How has the anger been? Because I talk to you all the time. One of my buddies called me. He was like, my anger is gone. He was, like, I don't know how to live without it. He was so we had to walk through that. But how has your anger been.
Matt Vemea [00:21:50] Yeah, I can I can definitely resonate with that because that was my to my anger my temper like have a big heart but I was easy to get triggered and easy to get frustrated and especially having toddlers teenagers you get tested daily by the dozens. I think that was the thing like I kind of say almost as like a release, like, like almost like a control, delete, dumped a lot of the stress and the anger that was just, I think stuck in there that nothing else was helping get rid of that and process it out. Almost like a cheat code, you know, almost seem too quick, too easy, which is awesome, especially after years of struggle and years of treatment, getting me only, you know, smidgens of improvement, if you will. So that's been huge. Cut down on insomnia, cut down on the triggers, the dissociations. I don't think I've had any sense where I would get super stressed or being like. Situations that and that was one of the things that made me make the decision to go to the center I didn't want to leave my family for almost two months Um, you know, it wasn't an easy decision to make especially through the holidays last year But it was one those ones where I realized like I needed to because of how I was again how it was affecting them And that was the craziest thing is getting off work I actually got substantially worse and it was like the noise settled and then all the trauma and all the other stuff showed up Definitely wasn't ready for that. You know, I think that's another thing too is So many of us are like, oh, I'll just take a vacation. I'll take some days off and it'll be fine. And it's normally almost always not the case at all with everybody that I've talked to by the hundreds that have dealt with this. So with the dissociations being gone, and that's basically where you get to a point where your mind will actually separate and check out because of the stress levels, right? And then with PTSD, your prefrontal cortex is pretty messed up and misfiring. It gets triggered really easy. And that's what sets that stuff off when you hit that fight or flight. That's substantially cut down to almost none. There was like one incident where my wife jumped in my blind spot. She was at the door, ran around the back as I'm backing up for her. Scared the hell out of me, like restarted that. But I was able to like reset and process, which before would have been like would have it. Yeah. Yeah, so I was able to actually like work through that. So and still doing therapy, working through a lot. But I'm actually able to make significant progress now instead of getting stuck. So, huge difference there.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:24:23] How about like restaurants and theaters? You said you couldn't even go see a movie. How are you now? Can you be in a movie theater and a restaurant without
Matt Vemea [00:24:30] Yeah, I have. You know, I still, the hypervigilance is still there to a degree, but it's, it's probably, you know, a two when it used to be a 10, something like that. You know it's it's substantially less. I was able to take my daughters just over the weekend and everything was good. So that's nice.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:24:48] To be able to live. Your daily, if we're gonna do numbers on a scale, like your normal day of just anxiety and stress and crazy, where was it then and kind of where is it now?
Matt Vemea [00:24:59] I would say before I started the treatment, especially with you, it was the worst that had ever been, you know, on the personal side, affecting the personal life, the family, the marriage, I would say it's pretty it was pretty close to a 10. I would say I'm probably between a two and a three now baseline. Now, yeah, so way, way better, way better. The marriage is way better communications way better. We made a ton of progress, you know, in counseling for ourselves, as well as one on one. So I feel like this was this was kind of that missing link that's really helped me make a ton of progress that I just wasn't able to get before. And I've literally sought probably more treatment than anybody I know traditionally, you know, and going through intensive inpatient at the center of excellence, doing all of it. Um, and again, all of it was helpful. I don't want, I don' t at all want to say anything bad about that. And those people are great, but I, it only got me so far. You know, I feel like I was pretty stuck treading water is really what it felt like on a daily. Just treading water, trying to keep my head above. And this is finally like kind of in that life raft, if you will, where it's like, okay, now I can actually catch my breath and make some progress. So it's been huge.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:26:11] Good, good. Has your family noticed the anger? Has everybody noticed the decrease?
Matt Vemea [00:26:16] Yeah. Yeah. My wife, obviously she probably knows me better than anybody, you know, good, bad, everything in between. And she's also incredibly intuitive. Like she for years has known that I was either triggered or about to be in wound up and could pick up on all the symptoms of me blowing up and nostrils flaring, all the things that I wasn't completely unaware of. She would pick up all that before and be like, what's the issue? And I'm like, there's nothing. Right. So she, she always knew. So she was the first one she took me to treatment and she actually was, you know, she was opposed to it at first, too, because it's new, it's scary, it s different. Yeah, I think it really just had to do with just a lack of information education. You know, we know that we look at it, I mean, it is super safe, helpful. I know a few other people that have taken it too with PTSD and same thing, been incredibly helpful for them. So she saw almost instant changes and the level of frustration I think she had with me and what I put her through with the PTSD for her to say anything, I think took some significant change on my part before she would even be willing to admit anything. So her admitting anything at all is significant. And she did towards the end of the treatment in my last couple of sessions, she said she saw a huge difference and it's been great for the family because of that and the marriage, definitely.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:27:37] Yeah, one of my buddies was telling me that he was with his kids in his car. And, uh, somebody cut him off and he didn't say anything. And his son was like, wow, dad is like, you're a lot more calm. He's like, he should have ripped that guy up. And he told me he was like he was, yeah, okay. He has been later. He was like what environment was I, was I creating for my children? Like what kind of toxic environment was, I didn't handing my children because I hadn't been able to deal with my stuff. And he's like that's usually, he was like, I almost started crying. He's like, cause I realized what I've been doing. And now that he was able to deal with his stuff better. He was like, I'm he's like now I can create an environment for my children where they can grow up with without the trauma and that, you know, with all that stuff. So that's why I asked to live with the kids. So you told me a story that I don't even know if you remember it stuck out so well for my mind. Um, tell me the story about the dog. You told me this story about how you sat down next to your dog.
Matt Vemea [00:28:31] Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got a dog. He's, uh, he's still somewhat of a, he's almost two years old now, I guess. So he's, but he's young. He's still a horrible anxiety. Like he's been super anxious, always anxious around me. Super skittish. He'd never been hit. He really good. We have other dogs, but the breeder told us not to take him. But my wife fell in love with him, probably because we're bleeding heart and he was, you know, all the, all the love he needed that I just did not have the capacity for. At all, not even kind of where the patients and I came home after the first treatment and he normally he would kind of avoid me and be really skittish and he came up and was just totally like almost normal with me, leaning up against me wanting to pet him and I was like what in the world? That was significant too. You know, I know dogs obviously are incredibly intelligent and intuitive and pick up on a lot. No, that was for me, that was eye-opening like whoa, kind of like the story of the kids in the car. And did he notice that big of a difference from me just after the first treatment? And he has been much better, you know? And I mean, that there was a definitive timeline there where there was no denying, you know, there was nothing else different other than that right then and there. And that was like instantaneous. Yeah. When I came home and he was just totally chill and comfortable sitting next to me walking up and I was, what? Listen, normally he'd be all skittish run to his crate. Wouldn't want to come out. So that was pretty cool.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:30:00] We'll use dogs to sniff out diabetes, to sniff out epilepsy, like they'll do all sorts of things. So they feel your rat have a seizure. Like this has been well-documented. And so, you know, that's always one of those things. You know, people always say, you, you know, if my dog doesn't like you, I don't like you because you know dogs have such a great, you know ability to sense people. So that's when you told me that story. I was like, Oh, that means so much more to me than everything else. So I was so excited when you told me about that story, so. Um, yeah, that was fantastic. So, um, I guess, you know, we went from a, a 10 to a two or a three. So, you, you in, in what, uh, how long did it take you to do the six treatments? Three, four weeks.
Matt Vemea [00:30:39] For me? Yeah, just under a month. Yeah, it's been almost, it has been about three, right at three months, just over three months since the last treatment, which is good.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:30:51] So have you noticed a big uptick back to where you were, or are you pretty much level, like you're still good?
Matt Vemea [00:30:57] I would say pretty level. I know they've talked about, you know, I've talked to other people in herself about, you know problem that I think they recommended maybe quarterly, right? And maintenance is not necessarily a one and done lifetime. I would maybe it's crept back up to a five at times a little bit, but for the most part, it's been pretty consistent. I can definitely see the need to do it maybe quarterly. You know, some type of modality that's very doable and reasonable for sure. But definitely been a substantial help and for an extended period of time, right? It's been several months. And I'm still doing pretty good, way better. So I'd say, yeah, I definitely, I would say I would like to do it again on a therapeutic level every so often. And I know only time will tell as we work through that but it's definitely been incredibly helpful. Incredibly helpful. I did, when I was at the center, some people because of my anxiety, I was basically stuck right in the fight response, just indefinitely, fully aggressive, ready to go, ready, to fight, ready. To hit the door, any noise, I was triggered and I was just, you know, I, I. Was ready to. In the worst of ways, in a good way, if there was, you. Know, a life or death situation, but in a terrible way for everything else in life, which is almost all of it, especially for me now off duty. That's all of life. So I was stuck there. And there was a, there was Dr. Anesthesiologist. He was a combat vet and a military doc, now private, and he does, this is offered elsewhere, this SGB, the Stellar Gangrelate Block, and some people said it was phenomenal. There were probably dozen guys that got it while I was there. Like some guys wouldn't even talk to you because they were so angry and wound up. They would, even our own people, right? Guys we worked with and all that in the community, which is helpful, they wouldn't talk to. And then one of the guys, you know, he got the shot and he came back in tears, hugging everybody and it was great. And the responses were very varied. Some people felt nothing. Some people helped for a month. Some people help for a week. And so I went and they lay you on the table. If anybody's not familiar, there's some videos you could look up SGB and strap you down. They ended up missing the first time you get it. Essentially a dart through your neck they're looking at the ultrasound and you know it was not fun you know me being a medic i know enough about anatomy physiology where they were like a lot of risk and uh just not fun so i'm laying there i'm listening to my heart and start tacking away and they missed the first time so it'll do all over again and the second time at one they were pulling my head to manipulate it they actually took a resistance band around my wrist. Hide it down to the end of the bed to pull my shoulder and hyperextend to get through. Like my traps were in the way just from my anatomy. I'm not little and they were having a hard time accessing it. So yeah, I had to do that twice and they did it and instantly you feel it. You feel the nerve block, but it helped me for probably a week, two weeks tops. Like it's like, okay, cool. I came down from a 10 to probably a 5 or... It wasn't very long, I was like, damn. Not only that, it was one of the most miserable and uncomfortable experiences of my life. I was on that bed for like 45 minutes with them poking and prodding at my neck, in total. It was miserable as hell.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:34:31] Well, and the worst part about that is, and this is, this is the thing that I, whenever I have to go to a hospital and see stuff, cause like, you know, you, they're sticking needles in your neck. You're like, if you miss at all, I'm in a really bad place. And so you've got to deal with that the whole time. Like it's driving me insane.
Matt Vemea [00:34:48] Yeah, my anxiety was already here. And then I just hear my heart tacking on the monitor and they got the volume. I was just, you know, so there's this noise. I'm tied down. I can't move. I'm being hyperextended. I'm getting stabbed. I mean, it was like, it was the perfect storm for anybody anxious.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:35:06] That is going to be the worst possible thing to do to somebody with PTSD.
Matt Vemea [00:35:09] Yeah yeah yeah it was it was a traumatizing experience on its own right and then he's like you know you're the most difficult patient i've ever had like anatomy wise to do that i'm like of course oh my god that makes me feel but that all makes it all better right
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:35:24] Yeah.
Matt Vemea [00:35:25] So when I was leaving, when I graduated the COE and discharging and I was talking to the doctor, the medical director and psychiatrist there, she's like, look, I know you don't want to take a bunch of psych meds, you don' want to be a zombie, I get it, but your PTSD is so bad, your anxiety is so mad. We recommend you getting frequent SGB shots of the caps, like there's gotta be a better way. I'd rather jump off a bridge, like no thanks. So I'm super grateful for the ketamine option, especially. With that being my other treatment that was recommended that wasn't successful or helpful. Like it was not worth, even if it would have been great for a month or two, it was not worth how miserable that experience was. So I would really like to avoid that and ketamine has helped me and was much better. So very grateful, very grateful for that.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:36:14] Well, absolutely. I'm just, I'm just real happy that we could, you know, we could be able to get in and help somebody. Yeah. The thing is, is that, you know, I was kind of, you talk about the psych meds don't work very well. Um, we tried, I I'm not saying that we didn't try like those, we, we did it, we did what we could with psych med. They just didn't work. They don't for what we're talking about. Um you know, and then we've got some other stuff, some of these nerve blocks are helpful for some of the guys, but you know, when we talk to guys like yourself who are at the very peak of problem, right? They're at the 10 level. This being the only thing that brings them down. You know, I'm really, really glad that we're able to, you know, get this information out. Cause you know I talk to guys, I'll talk to these vets, I talk, you know I talk the first responders all the time and we have these conversations. I'm like, have you guys been told about ketamine? And they're like, well, yeah, we use it all the time. And I'm, like, no, for mental health. And they were like, what do you mean? They're like we use this to knock people out. And I was like, No, no it's great. And so, you have, that's one of the reasons I want to make sure we did this was that to the guys like yourself who. Have given so selflessly and helped so many people and had to deal with all this trauma. Had we not had this conversation, you would not have gotten out about it. And so that's why I'm hoping that with the charity and everything else, we can start getting more guys in, we can starting having more conversations. We can be like, look, and the thing is that, like you said, Ketamine does an amazing job. And the way I like to use Ketamin is, we use Kettamine to take you from the 10 to the two. And then, you know, we can use quarterly things to just, you know, reset everything. And then hopefully, we'll get some laws changed. We can use some of the daily psilocybin to kind of keep things at that lower level as well. The research on that is spectacular. So, you know, this is where we're trying to go. We're trying to change the world, we're trying to change the country. And we're trying to change mental health. I believe that the psychedelics and the academy can easily be a renaissance in mental health, because it's not like it helps a little bit better than everything else. It helps. Substantially more than everything else. And it's not a miracle, like here you go, now you're fixed. But this is the thing we should be spending our time and energy on, not trying to put people on 65 medications and then they go shoot up our school or do something like that. Like if we can actually fix the problem, let's fix the problems. And so that's why I was so excited about this. And everyone I've talked to who's done has been like, it helped, either helped a lot, or it fixed the problem. Like no one's been like, I did it and it didn't do anything. Like I haven't talked to anybody. And I'm sure those guys are out there, but this has been the thing that I've been so excited about and I've so happy with the results we're getting. Cause like I said, you guys put yourselves between us and the trauma. I don't want to be around that stuff. I don' want this stuff around my kids. So thank you guys for doing that. But that's really why, when we started the charity, I was like, we got to help these guys out and do whatever we can. So it's people ask me, I'm in this all the time. I'm talking to guys like you, I'm talking to the guys who are having the problems, talking to the guys that have much better they're doing. And people were like, like, why did you dedicate your whole supplement store to this? And I'm like, because this is now my life. Like, I don't understand how you can be part of this and help, you know, have people tell you the stories that you told me and be like, that's nice. I don't really want to, that I'm not all in on that. Like because it's, it's real easy to go. Like if you're a guy who likes to help people, it easy to go all in this because it's If all I do is just tell other people about this and you guys can go find somebody else to do it, fantastic. Because as long as you know, you can do so you can make the decision to go get help. And so, you know I've been super excited about being able to do this. And so I'm very happy that you and your wife, you both have the trust in what we were doing to you know to go through it. And I'm really, really glad that it's been able to help you guys, you know, it's one of those things I talked to vets and I talked with your first spotters who. Go through divorces and they lose their kids and stuff like that and they tell the stories and you're just like, that's horrible. And I've talked to so many of them, they're like, you know what? It's better for them now. They're like what are you talking about? I was like, I'm such an ass. Like I was, I was all I did is scream at my kids and my wife and I was always angry and I could never get rid of it. And so I'm just glad that they're not around this anymore. And I was just always broke by heart. So it was like we can just fix you.
Matt Vemea [00:40:26] Yeah, no, that's definitely the thing. And like you said, I know a lot of people have done every other traditional therapy and it's been across the board and not highly successful. But Academy has been the one with everybody that I have talked to, probably a dozen in total. Personally, they've gotten a lot help. So, definitely helped me a ton. I'm definitely an advocate. And hopefully, yeah, we can get the message out. I think that's another thing too for guys on duty. Guys are still on the job. I'm sure they're concerned. About that, about being able to get back to work. If they do do the treatment, there's still a lot of judgment out there, still a lotta tough guys that they wanna put people down and there's a lot judgment guys are worried about for sure in that. And it definitely takes some bravery to reach out and to get some help. But another thing for those guys, if anybody that does or is on the fence. I was functional, same day, no problem. You know, I know everybody responds slightly different, but it didn't set me out. It didn't knock me out, it didn' set me back other than, you know, needing to rest for a few hours and being a little lethargic. That's it, that was the extent of it. There was no hangover. I wasn't out of service for days on end, anything like that. I could have absolutely done the treatment and been to work the next morning. You know? No problem. And I would say cognitively, You know, you guys are probably familiar with like Alphabrade. You see a lot of the ads. Joe Rogan, I was talking about how sharp, you know, he is with that. I felt I felt like Ketamine was like what they describe Alpharbrade, you, know, symptoms are supposed to be. I was I was sharp. I felt my thoughts, my speech, everything has been more clear and fired a lot better. So honestly, I would say you're going to be going back to work in better shape for sure than you then you were. I would see after Ketamine. Um, so. Other than to if you share this, you know, my socials are just my name here. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, if any of the guys do want to reach out. If there's any other nonprofits or first responders and vets, I'm connected with a few. Hopefully we can do a lot more work. But if any of them want to have a personal conversation with me, too, I'm you know. I'm happy to have that. Feel free to reach.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:42:39] Well, you know, my whole thing is getting this information out. So if you've got guys that, you want to bring to the group, like bring to the charity, please do if there's ways that we can help you reach out to everybody else, let's build that out. You know, if we can, you, and I think one of those deals is that, you know and I'm literally thinking about this as we're talking. I've got a Facebook group already used the wellness insights Facebook group. We can just kind of take that over for this and start, everybody can go in and you know we'll add some admins and stuff like that, but we'll be able to all discuss it like, Hey. You know, this is what's going on, this and that, but like, have you done this? Have you done that? Like, I think that'll help everything else. So we'll add it all that in and see if we can't, you know form a group that, you know where we can all talk and be like, hey, you go, this is, this was what did for me. This is what did it for me, so I think that, putting this all together is gonna be a good idea. So I'll start setting that up, but.
Matt Vemea [00:43:29] Yeah, I love to love. Yeah.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:43:31] Yeah, well, yeah, you know, your first you choose to be a first responder because you like to help people. You know, that's that's, you don't know it because the firefighter does other things you do if you don t want to help people. So like, I'll set it up, and we'll get started. We'll chat. I've got some guys, one of the guys who is that I was a cannabis company in Colorado, I'm sorry, in California. They're they're doing some great stuff. So you're bringing them in. We got I got meetings with guys today. So We're going to build this out pretty well. So I'm really excited about what this is going to be able to do to help people. Um, and so, yeah, I mean, we'll do, we're do everything we can to get the word out and talk. So I just appreciate so much. Not only you, you know, trusting me to do this, but then, you know, having the love for your, your fellow brothers to come out and tell your story and tell how much has helped you so that everybody else can kind of get a little bit of piece of the, uh, the pieces piece and call.
Matt Vemea [00:44:23] Yeah, I hope so. You know, I know there's a lot of guys out there that need it for sure. And I was one of them just and I'm grateful for you, you know, everything you've done to create this opportunity for us to get help. So thank you very much for that.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:44:35] Absolutely, man. Well, thanks, man, and like I said, I'll make sure that when we start setting this stuff up that you've got a spot on the admin board to talk to these guys and we'll get it all pushed through. But thank you so much for everything that you done and we're gonna go on. So thanks for being on.
Matt Vemea [00:44:49] Love it. Thank you.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:44:50] Actually, man, I'll put y'all pull your Facebook stuff in the notes at the bottom.
Matt Vemea [00:44:54] Okay.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:44:54] Cool, Thanks
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