Neural Therapy: Resetting the nervous system to unlock healing

Disclaimer The Cell to Systems podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Listening does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding your medical conditions or before changing your health regimen. Do not disregard professional advice or delay seeking it because of something you heard on the podcast. Reliance on the information provided is at your own risk. Guest opinions are their own. Cell to Systems may utilize affiliate links, feature sponsored content, or discuss companies in which hosts or guests have financial or advisory interests. Relevant disclosures will be noted during the episode or below.

Introduction to Neural Therapy

If you are a patient and your longevity medicine protocol or the things that you're doing aren't really hitting all the factors, it may have to do with neurotherapy. Today, we're going to really blow the lid off of it with Dr. Furry and talk about this next level in longevity and cellular medicine that is just so exciting. We heard a talk from her at the CALM conference a month ago and, holy smokes, when I heard it, it was just eye-opening at a whole another level.

Dr. Furry, a lot of people want to know: what is neural therapy and how does it work? What can people expect from it?

What is Neural Therapy?

This is one of the most exciting things we've added to our practice and it's been so beneficial. I really can't think of a client that I haven't used it in; there are so many benefits. Neural therapy is the precise placement of a local anesthetic into areas of the skin, fascia, or around the nerves—it can be given IV as well—that causes a specific reaction around the body affecting the nervous system as a whole.

We use procaine in particular. If you remember back in the 1920s, cocaine was the original local anesthetic, but everyone of course became addicted to it, so they couldn't use that anymore. People smarter than me came up with the chemical called procaine, which does not have addictive properties. Yet, it has many additional benefits beyond what it does for local anesthesia, which is why we use it.

Addressing Resistance to Treatment

One of the things I kept bumping into was these patients who looked great on paper—high-functioning international business people with an excellent repertoire of lifestyle habits—who unfortunately weren't responding to things as I expected them to. You’d give them testosterone and their levels would only inch up; their blood sugar wouldn't move; they still weren't sleeping. Despite trying everything for their care, they weren't progressing.

What we were seeing in these high achievers was a slowed-down cortisol curve. Instead of having a nice morning rise to wake you up, raise NAD levels, and turn on clock genes, they had a flattened morning cortisol that leveled out throughout the day. As a result of this HPA axis dysfunction, we see changes in the glucocorticoid response. Even if they aren't clinically insulin resistant, they head toward a 5.4 to 5.8 A1C and higher insulin levels. Their receptors aren't working well, nutrients aren't being taken up, and they become sarcopenic despite exercising and eating plenty of protein.

The Autonomic Nervous System and "Interference Fields"

Neural therapy involves the precise placement of procaine under the skin to treat a specific area of trauma or to provide a whole-body treatment. We might treat the ganglia—clusters of nerves in the neck, abdomen, or pelvis that control the whole body. When we think about this, we talk about the autonomic nervous system: the fight-or-flight response versus rest-and-digest. When you are in a chronic fight-or-flight response, you are unable to respond to the protocols we normally expect to work.

A lot of longevity studies were done on people who weren't in this stressed category—people who had time for weekly meetings and regular schedules. Our clients are different. We take care of them through neural therapy and other simple interventions, like 15 minutes of morning sunlight, which can make a huge dent in their responsiveness.

Provider Perspectives and Clinical Applications

From a provider standpoint, neural therapy isn't just about blocking pain; it’s about resetting the communication between the nervous system and the rest of the body. This is especially true for chronic sympathetic activation. Often, the issue isn't purely structural; the nervous system is trapped in a sensitized state where peripheral inputs from an old injury drive central nervous system activation and inflammatory cascades.

In practice, we see applications across the spectrum of care: endometriosis pain, PCOS, IBS, IBD, PMS cramping, and interstitial cystitis. We also look at post-surgical scars or unresolved injuries, like a broken bone that didn't heal right, which can act as an "interference field."

Layering Modalities: PEMF and Peptides

To support the benefits of procaine, we often layer other modalities. We incorporate PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field therapy), which reduces circulating TNF-alpha and interleukin-1 beta while improving microcirculation. We also use peptides that work on the innate repair receptor to downregulate microglial activity and dampen inflammatory signaling.

The results have been fantastic. We’ve had patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain feel like "whole new women" after IV procaine infusions. Others with pelvic congestion syndromes or endometriosis have seen significant benefits. While some respond to one treatment, others need recurrent care. For someone struggling daily, even a few days of relief is profound.

Case Studies: Parkinson’s, Anxiety, and Trauma

We have an engineer with Parkinson’s whose tremors progressed despite other treatments. After his first infusion, his tremor went away for a day. We now do infusions every 10 to 14 days, and he gets almost a full week tremor-free, allowing him to work on his computer again.

Another patient in her 50s dealt with chronic, anxiety-provoked abdominal discomfort her whole life. As a high-end home builder, the stress limited her capacity, but she is now back to building multiple homes at once. Most personally, my own mother developed panic attacks after a complicated corneal transplant. Neural therapy gave me my mom back by controlling those attacks. It’s heart-wrenching to see the difference it makes when it hits so close to home.

The Resistance to Outcomes Framework

In the world of medicine, we often see a "resistance to outcomes." It’s easy when peptides and hormones work, but when they don't, it usually falls into two buckets: gut/autoimmune dysregulation or stress/sleep management issues. This is where neural therapy lands.

It’s been incredible to watch the evolution of this therapy. At conferences, you can see providers leaning forward in their chairs because they are all thinking of that one nagging patient they haven't been able to help. Neural therapy finally gives them a tool for those cases.

Patient Sovereignty and the Nervous System

Part of the therapy is giving patients back the agency and sovereignty over their own nervous system. As providers, we often take on the responsibility of the client's nervous system. Instead, we should say, "I appreciate how anxiety-provoking this is for you, and I look forward to helping you with that at our next visit." This allows the patient to grow their own nervous system strength.

We’ve seen miraculous shifts: a patient who was agoraphobic for 14 years was able to drive and date again after eight treatments. Another patient with chronic infectious disease symptoms for years saw them vanish after one treatment. It’s about attacking the problem from a different angle.

Sourcing Procaine: A Pharmacist’s Warning

As a pharmacist, I have to emphasize: do not get procaine anywhere other than a compounding pharmacy. You want a 2% solution that is ideally preservative-free. Some pharmacies use benzyl alcohol or parabens for stability, but benzyl alcohol can cause a burning sensation, and certain preservatives can actually degrade the product over time.

Physicians should always ask the pharmacist what is actually inside the drug. It’s a broken system when you’re dispensing anabolic compounds to a patient in a catabolic, sympathetic-dominant state. A drug can only do what the cellular environment allows it to do.

The Future of Training and Access

We are currently building a directory of trained providers. We’ve put about 50 to 75 providers through the program, and our goal is for them to be ready to implement it on Monday morning. We even help them get signed up with pharmacies ahead of time so they have the tools ready.

We also discuss supplemental treatments like oxytocin, which helps maintain parasympathetic tone, and rapamycin or testosterone, which can lower sympathetic tone when used at the right time.

The "Lightning Response" and Final Thoughts

Procaine metabolites (PABA and DEAE) increase blood flow through nitric oxide production and change the electrical charge of cell membranes to let nutrients in and toxins out. Sometimes we see a "lightning response," where injecting one area—like a toe—causes pain in a distant area—like an ear—to vanish. This is because fascia is an information superhighway. When it's damaged by surgical, physical, or emotional trauma, communication breaks down.

This therapy is more important now than ever. With AI and modern expectations, we are moving faster and processing more information than humans were ever designed for. Our nervous systems are under attack. Neural therapy offers a way to reset that system and return to a state of flexibility and health.