Showing posts with label pain. Show all posts

Monday, April 19, 2010

Combat Clicks: Military Science, Health and Technology News (April 2010)

Recent press reports on science, technology and health re: combat veterans and military. Edric Thompson, CERDEC Public Affairs via Army.mil:

Maj. Gen. Nick Justice, Research, Development and Engineering Command commanding general and key members of his staff traveled to Apple headquarters March 5. Apple officials gave the Army group tours of its laboratories and other facilities and talked about some examples of where the military is already using Apple technology. The Army's research and development command is evaluating commercial hand-held solutions such as iPad, iPhone, iPod, iMac, and MacBook platforms. ...

"We're continuing to leverage commercial technology for battlefield uses; we can't ignore that kind of existing knowledge," [Justice] said. "Our job, as stewards of the taxpayer's dollar, is to adopt and adapt appropriate commercial technology and offer the best possible solution to the warfighter."

The meeting was part of the Army's efforts to support "Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications," an initiative to demonstrate the technical capabilities of hand-held devices and applications to the Army and gathering warfighter. The working group is tasked with looking at how commercial cellular technology - including devices, applications and networks - could be utilized in a tactical environment.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Combat Clips: A Selection of OEF/OIF Veteran Statistics, December 2009

A look at some of this month's news on returning Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. First up, from Gregg Zoroya, USA Today:

About one in four soldiers admit abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period, according to a Pentagon health survey released Wednesday.

The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 U.S. troops last year, showed that about 20% of Marines had also abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, in that same period. ... The survey showed that pain relievers were the most abused drug in the military, used illicitly at a rate triple that of marijuana or amphetamines, the next most widely abused drugs.

About 15% of soldiers said they had abused prescription drugs in the 30 days before they were questioned for the survey. About 10% of Marines said the same thing. Prescription drug abuse is "an issue for American society as well, and we're looking at it from every possible angle," McGuire said.

Painkiller abuse among troops has soared since 2005, the last time a similar study was conducted. The 2005 survey showed that 4% of soldiers had abused painkillers in the previous 30 days, compared with 13% in 2008. Abuse within the previous year was 10% in 2005 compared with 22% in 2008.

Zoroya includes more stats in the full piece, and I've included more recent news clips for you in extended.

Monday, April 06, 2009

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Used at Forts Hood and Bliss, Brain Scan Imaging Detects PTSD Sooner, Migraines and PTSD

Acupuncture Today | Weighing the Costs - "Advocates for the integrated approach in the treatment of PTSD at both Ft. Hood and Ft. Bliss were convinced that the traditional methods of treating PTSD weren't long enough in duration, intense enough or comprehensive enough. A program was created that would address all aspects of PTSD and treat the whole soldier. This integrative approach treats many of the symptoms of PTSD that are not addressed through the standard mental health protocols, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy. The concept eventually led to the implementation of the Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center and the Warrior Combat Stress Reset Program at Ft. Hood that incorporated medical massage, meditation, yoga, acupuncture, marital/family therapy and reiki with the standard treatment protocols of cognitive-behavioral and cathartic psychotherapies and pharmacotherapy."

Reuters | Brain scans may detect post-trauma stress sooner - "The scans of 42 U.S. soldiers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan in the recent past showed that, compared with healthy veterans, those suffering from PTSD had marked differences in some areas of brain activity. The study, presented at the World Psychiatric Association Congress in Italy, suggested identifying certain brain patterns could one day help diagnose PTSD before symptoms appeared and better track treatment, the researchers said."

PTSD Common in Migraine Patients: Study - "Patients with migraine, whether episodic or chronic, are more apt to have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than the general population, suggests new research reported in the April issue of Headache. Furthermore, the presence of PTSD in migraineurs is independently associated with greater headache-related disability. 'Taken together, our findings suggest that identification and treatment of PTSD in migraine sufferers is an important and potentially modifiable part of their care that may reduce migraine-related disability and progression to chronic daily headache,' Dr. B. Lee Peterlin and colleagues conclude. In their study of 593 headache patients (mean age 42.2 years; 92% women) with episodic migraine or chronic daily headache, Dr. Peterlin's team found that PTSD was present in 30.3% of those with chronic daily headache and 22.4% of those with episodic migraine. By comparison, approximately 8% of the population is estimated to have PTSD."

More PTSD Combat Diigo links.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Study: Traumatic Injuries Hurt Even One Year Out

From ScienceDaily:

Most patients have moderately severe pain resulting from their injuries one year after sustaining major trauma, according to a new article. "Pain is a natural accompaniment of acute injury to tissues and is expected in the setting of acute trauma," according to background information in the [JAMA Archives of Surgery] article.

Recent studies have shown that most patients with pelvic fractures and lower extremity injuries continue to experience chronic pain five to seven years after injury. Pain after injury can lead to disability, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Emotional Warmth and Sunny Saturday Light Chase Away the Darkness at NIU

I wanted to quickly share a few photos and reflections with you of my return visit to NIU yesterday [see them all at Flickr].

It was a chilly day, in the upper 20's; but, the warm hugs and heartfelt nods among Huskies -- now feeling more related and open to one another than at any time before -- leaning on one another cast a soothing glow in my heart. It was quite a tonic to my soul.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Malingering as Vet Brain Injury Cases Soar

A brief respite from my post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] series to call attention to a somewhat related piece of reporting appearing in Salon today.

More U.S. soldiers than ever are sustaining serious brain injuries in Iraq. But a significant number of them are being misdiagnosed, forced to wait for treatment or even being called liars by the Army.

Being called liars?!

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Mark Benjamin's Salon piece introduces us to 24-year old Spc. James Wilson. He's a proud soldier who's served two tours in Iraq - including heavy combat in the opening days of the invasion.

In the fall of 2004, his 1st Cavalry Division was mostly fighting in Sadr City, a volatile sector of Baghdad. On Sept. 6, Wilson was manning a .50-caliber machine gun atop a Humvee when a bomb or bombs went off directly under the vehicle, rocking his head forward and slamming it into the machine gun. A fellow soldier told Wilson that his Kevlar helmet had been split open by the impact. The heat from one blast felt like "a hair dryer" on his skin, multiplied "times 20," Wilson later wrote in his diary. To the best of his recollection, the force of the blast also knocked the gun from its mount, smashing it into his leg.

From all outward appearances, he miraculously survived the incident.

Two weeks later, however, he was on his way to Walter Reed Hospital; Wilson's dazed, light-headed symptoms had led Army medics to believe that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. But the medics turned out to be wrong.

Wilson's symptoms included:

seizures
short-term memory loss
severe headaches with eye pain
dizzy spells that lead to vomiting

The above symptoms it would seem (when coupled with the documented head injury he'd suffered during the attack) should have clearly been enough for the doctors at Walter Reed to diagnose a case of traumatic brain injury, right? Wrong. A visit to the Pentagon in which Wilson threw up all over Paul Wolfowitz' carpet apparently wasn't enough evidence, either.

Despite Wilson's description of his injury and his symptoms, Walter Reed officials repeatedly questioned his mental state and the authenticity of his combat story. In a June 2005 memorandum from an Army Physical Evaluation Board, some Walter Reed doctors stated that Wilson exhibited "conversion disorder with symptoms of traumatic brain injury." Conversion disorder holds that symptoms such as seizures arise from a psychological conflict rather than a physical disorder.

Col. James F. Babbitt, president of the Physical Evaluation Board, accused Wilson of being a liar. "I believe that the preponderance of the evidence available to the Board supports an alternative diagnosis ... one of malingering," Babbitt wrote in that memo.

Malingering?

Defined: Evading duty or work by pretending to be incapacitated.

Spc. Wilson and his wife, Heidi, weren't going to just roll over and take the malingering charge without a fight. They strongly opposed the diagnosis, and worked vehemently to get the proper medical treatment. The malingering charge also stung this proud veteran. "I want my dignity, pride and respect back," Wilson says. After serving his country, being accused of misleading doctors, he says, "is the worst thing in the world."

Is this the proper care that our soldiers should be receiving upon their return to us? A year spent dealing not only with physically debilitating symptoms, but with the added burden of fighting the very government that sent them to war?

On Dec. 19, 2005, more than a year after he was admitted, Walter Reed finally sent Wilson to a neurological center to be treated for traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychological testing done at Walter Reed on Oct. 11, 2005, led officials to conclude that "there was no indication of malingering."

According to a neurosurgeon with extensive experience treating combat head injuries, an October 2004 MRI of Wilson, combined with a description of his symptoms, showed that he should have been treated for a traumatic brain injury right then. Medical experts say the failure to treat a brain-injury victim promptly could hinder recovery.

Unfortunately, Wilson isn't the only one getting this type of `treatment'.

Salon conducted interviews with other soldiers suffering from brain injuries at Walter Reed. They are as frustrated and anguished by the delays and suggestions that their problems are a result of mental or hereditary illnesses.

Salon also interviewed military doctors and examined medical records and found Walter Reed is swamped with brain-injury cases. " [A] significant number of brain-injury patients are falling through the cracks from a lack of resources, know-how, and even blatant neglect."