Notice to my readers!

Sorry I have not posted in a while, I am working on a post to do with Depression due to PTSD, still researching & working on it. I hope to have it done in a day or 2. Thank you all for reading my blog, and the great support I get from you.

Part 2 of 2 Part Blog PTSD & TBI, TBI Section

Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI), Like PTSD, is another unseen wound of this war. Because it is unseen, The Army has found many ways to discredit many returning OIF & OEF Veterans suffering from TBI. As I did with PTSD I will now give Wikipedia's definition of TBI.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI also called Intracranial Injury) occurs when an outside force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism (closed or penetrating head injury), or other features (e.g. occuring in a specific location or over a widespread area). Head injury usually refers to TBI, but is a broader category because it can involve damage to structures other than the brain, such as the scalp and skull.

TBI is a major cause of death & disability worldwide, especially in young people. Causes include falls, vehicle accidents, sports, & violence. Prevention measures include use of technology to protect those who are in accidents, such as seatbelts & sports or motorcycle helmets, as well as safety education programs & enforcement of traffic laws.

Brain trauma can be caused by a direct impact or by acceleration alone. In addition to the damage caused at the moment of injury, brain trauma causes secondary injury, a variety of events that take place in the minutes & days following the injury. These processes, which include alterations in cerebral blood flow & the pressure within the skull, contribute substantially to the damage from the initial injury.

TBI can cause a host of physical, cognitive, emotional, & behavioral effects, and outcome can range from complete recovery to permanent disability or death. The 20th century has seen critical developments in diagnosis & treatment which have decreased death rates and improved outcome. These include imaging techniques such as computed tomography & magnetic resonance imaging. Depending on the injury, treatment required may be minimal or may include interventions such as medications & emergency surgery. Physical therapy, speech therapy, & occupational therapy may be employed for rehabilitation.

That was the Wikipedia definition, I am not a doctor, so I thought it was important to put a correct definition, for those not familiar with TBI. Unfortunately TBI along with PTSD, is often a hidden war wound, so the Army, in it's infinate wisdom, feels that most soldiers, who claim to have PTSD & TBI are "faking it", so the Army can save it's money for more important needs, like "Beans & Bullets". It is criminal what returning Army OIF & OEF Veterans go through at Walter Reed Army Medical Center & other army hospitals, Fort Bragg, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Benning, Fort Lewis, the list goes on, it is Army wide, which means there must be an Army wide policy, denying soldiers, PTSD & TBI diagnoses and preventing compensation from corrupt and inept Army Medical Evaluation Board(MEB) & Physical Evaluation Board (PEB).

While at Walter Reed I was friends with an E-7 SFC w/ over 26 years service, along with his other injuries, he suffered from PTSD & TBI, being alot of symptoms are the same, The Army doctors & pshrinks determined that because he suffered from TBI & PTSD, that one cancelled out the other, so he was diagnosed with neither. Another doctored claimed that he was just faking to get compensation. The E-7 served 26 years, I think if he wanted to scam, he would have done it a long time ago, but because he is also a National Guard soldier, which we are still being looked down upon by active duty doctors & soldiers, even though we are doing the same job in Iraq & Afghanistan, & put our lives on the line, there is the stigmatism that we are inferior soldiers & must me faking when we get PTSD & TBI and other injuries.

I have testified at a Senate caucus on mental health led by Senator Edward Kennedy(D-MA) & Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), I also broughts these facts up to both Senators before my testimony. I have brought it up to President George W. Bush, Former Senator Hillary Clinton(D-NY), Senator Snowe (R-ME), Senator Webb (D-VA), Tried to bring it up to Rep Steve Isreal (D-NY ) but his people blew me off, Numerous other Congressmen, Governors & Senators that visited during the Building 18 scandal at Walter Reed, but as typical politicians, they smile, shake your hand take a picture with you & you never hear from them again. We tried to bring it up to the Commanding General at Walter Reed during "townhall meetings", but we were forbidden to talk about it during townhall meetings, so much for hearing our problems & the truth of what was happening under his command.

These atrocities are still going on, I got a phone call from a friend of mine. a senior officer that was at Walter Reed with me. He told me about a soldier who had come back & tried to get help for PTSD at Fort Benning Ga, he was accused of "faking it". His condition became so bad when he left Fort Benning, that he had to commit himself to get the help he needed. There are thousands of returning war vets, who have been misdiagnosed, ignored, humiliated & treated like fakers and goldbrickers, because they have sought help from the Army. We need to stop this travesty and get these brave men & women the help, treatment & compensation, they have earned, by putting their lives on the line for this great nation. What will it take to get the changes made in the way the Army treats our Veterans. I urge everyone who reads this blog to start calling their Senators, Congressmen, Governors, & even the President & urge them to investigate the corrupt & inept Army Medical Evaluation Board(MEB) & Physical Evaluation Board(PEB) & to overhaul the Army Mental Health System.

Suffering from PTSD & TBI, makes it difficult for Veterans to reintergrate with society, Vets often have trouble with personal relations, work relations, dealing with rage, dealing with crowds or crowded places, loss of concentration & short term memory loss, depression, insomnia, having trouble getting to sleep & staying asleep, sexual problems, & easily frustrated. A lot of Veterans can not maintain a job, or relationship, which is why many are ending up on the street & homeless. I just read an article on NBC NEWS dated 4/13/2009, "Female Vets struggling to get treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder", where they say that female Vets suffering from PTSD, are the largest growing homeless group. It is criminal in this day & age to allow our Veterans, who have put their lives on the line for this counry, to be living on the street. We spend billions & trillions on countries who bad mouth us and never support us, but when it comes to our Veterans, the checkbook is closed. We spend billions bailing out corporations who mismanaged their money, and who are still mismanaging the taxpayers money, yet again the checkbook is closed for our brave men and women Vets. We the people need to elect a new breed of Congressmen, Senators & President in 2010 & 2012, forget the politicians, get real people elected, people who kn ow what it is like to work for a living, who care about The Flag, our Nation & our Veterans, we need more Vets elected to office, they know what it means to fight for freedom and their beliefs. Ok, I will get off my soapbox now.

I will have more info on TBI to follow, I do not suffer from TBI, so alot of my info is second hand info, but I am still researching it. I will also ask some of my fellow Vets, to post their stories about TBI on this blog. I am also research, some potential traetments for PTSD posted on my Twitter account, as I get this info and if treatment helps me, I will post in the hope that it helps my fellow Vets. Has to do with adrenal glands, and an adrenal complex of herbs & vitamins. You can check it out on http://www.wholehealthmd.com go to reference library, & enter adrenal complex. Thank you all again for reading & feel free to comment here or u can reach me on my twitter account http://twitter.com/Wounded_Warrior Enjoy The Day!

The Real Battle - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI) Part 1 of 2 PTSD

This is part 1 of a 2 part blog dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), and Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI). Two seperate medical issues, but are often dealt with the same by an uncaring & inept Army Medical Evaluation Board(MEB) and Physical Evaluation Board(PEB). First I will give a definition and symptons from Wikipedia.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to one or more traumatic events that threatened or caused grave physical harm. It is a severe and ongoing emotional reaction to an extreme psychological trauma. This stressor may involve someone's actual death, a threat to the patient's or someone else's life, serious physical injury, an unwanted sexual act, or a threat to physical or psychological integrity, overwhelming psychological defenses.

In some cases it can also be from profound psychological and emotional trauma, apart from any actual physical harm. Often, however, incidents involving both things are found to be the cause.

PTSD is a condition distinct from traumatic stress, which has less intensity and duration, and combat stress reaction, which is transitory. PTSD has also been recognized in the past as railway spine, stress syndrome, shell shock, battle fatigue, traumatic war neurosis, or post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS).

Diagnostic symptoms include reexperience such as flashbacks and nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, increased arousal such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger and hypervigilance. Per definition, the symptoms last more than 6 months and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of fuctioning (e.g. problems with work and relationships.)

The above was taken from Wikipedia, for more info gp to wikipedia.com and type in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. I felt it was important, to put a description and symptoms for readers who do not know what PTSD or who have never suffered from PTSD. Now I will go into how the Army medical systems deal with PTSD(or avoids the issue), and I will describe how the MEB/PEB also avoids the issues of PTSD, and in second part on TBI, I wll show the similarities, in the handling of these to very real but unseen war wounds.

In the military, there is still a stigmatism associated with PTSD, soldiers are often looked upon as being weak, and are expected to "Suck it up & drive on", I know, I was an Infantry Fire Team Leader, and I at times feel ashamed of myself for not being able to overcome my PTSD issues. In previous wars, PTSD was known as Shell Shock, Battle Fatigue, Combat Fatigue & Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome(PTSS). Often, soldiers suffering from these disorders, were thought of as "Gold Brickers", weak, cowards, etc. When in fact, they were suffering from very real and very hard to deal with mental and physical issues. Because it is an unseen war wound, it has a potential to be exploited, so naturally the Army assumes everyone is faking it.

While I was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, recovering, rehabilitating and fighting the corrupt & inept MEB/PEB process. I was witness to many soldiers being misdiagnosed and discredited, in order to save the Army money. It is hard enough for a soldier to come forward about PTSD or the symptoms. At Walter Reed, the psychiatrists there would often diagnose these brave men and women with Bi-polar disorder(a pre-existing condition so the Army does not have to rate or compensate the soldiers for), or my personal favorite other psychological disorders with PTSD like conditions, also not rated, anxiety disorders, depression, PMS(yes I am serious about this), genetic disorders, substance abuse, the list goes on. Because if the shrinks diagnose you with PTSD, then it has to be rated on your MEB/PEB boards.

The Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed and other Army medical centers across the nation, are often frustrated and disheartened by this corrupt process. Suicides are way up for these Vets, I am researching that now, when I have exact figues I will put in future blog. The Army does not deal with the severe guilt, that medevac'd soldiers feel for leaving their brothers and sisters in arms, back still in harm's way. It can lead to a deep depression or suicide, more should be done for these brave combat Vets who get medevac'd out early.

I myself went through this process, it was the most humiliating experience I have ever gone through. When I finally went for help at Walter Reed, I was diagnosed with anxiety and other psychological disorders with PTSD like conditions, I asked the doctor, isn't that PTSD and he said no. Strange, I never had these disorders or problems before I went to Iraq. I suffer daily with having trouble getting to sleep, and when I do I keep waking through night jumping out of my bed, I suffer from night sweats, nightmares, severe anxiety attacks, & chest pains. I avoid friends and family, at times I don't leave my apartment, I have trouble working and going to work, I am on verge of losing my job. i have to fight of a depression everyday, I have had flashbacks, I have to sleep with a light on in next room, so when I wake up I know where I am. My relationships with my fiancee and friends and family suffers, I avoid crowds and do my shopping at 2am to avoid dealing with strangers. I have severe road rage when I am stuck in traffic(In Iraq if u get boxed in u are dead). Once the Army puts u out, they want nothing to do with u, my old unit B Company 1/69 Infantry wants nothing to do with me, I call for help with my benefits, and can not even get the time of day. Ok, enough rambling about me, just wanted to give u an idea of want Vets go through, it is different from person to person.

While at Walter Reed, a group of us tried to get changes made to the Medical Evaluation Board(MEB)/ Physical Evaluation Board(PEB). Basically we were stone walled by the Commanding General, in fact we were ordered not to bring it up in the townhall meetings, that he would have, to talk about everything but the real issues and problems facing the Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed.

While doing research for this blog, I found an interesting paper, written by Kathy A. Debar at the University Of Illinois at Springfield, which u may find interesting. Titled "To Hell And Back: Wounded Warriors Return Home to Fight Yet Another Battle". http://www.csuchico.edu/cjhp/5/2/058-066-debarr.pdf It is a real good read. It was published in the California Journal of Health Promotion 2007, Vol 5, Issue 2, 58-66. Kathy A. DeBarr, M.S., Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Springfield.

I hope u found this blog interesting, please feel free to sign up as a follower and leave your comments. "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." John Wayne.

Sgt Patrick M. McNally, U.S. Army, Medically Retired.

Test Blog - This is only a test, if it had been an actual...

Hello and welcome again to the Wounded Warrior Blog, just getting my feet wet here, I have never done any actual writing before, outside of college english courses, many, many moons ago. I am attempting to bring attention to the problems and issues facing many Wounded Warriors, returning from war, and finding the real fight has just begun. This is not a fight they should be fighting, they should be welcomed back and treated with respect and fairly compensated for their wounds and injuries. Some of these wounds can not be seen, such as PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and TBI(Traumatic Brain Injury). Unfortunately, the U.S. Army is more concerned with saving money for "Beans & Bullets" and does everything possible to discredit these returning men & women, who have put their lives on the line to defend this great nation of ours. I will be telling many of these stories along with my own personal experiences, I will not be naming these brave men & women unless they ask me to include their names. I also want to say that this is not a bash of the medical professionals that daily strive to save lives and heal the returning Veterans, this is more on the administrative side, The MEB/PEB (Medical Evaluation Board/Physical Evaluation Board) of the US Army, a corrupt and inept system designed to frustrate, hamper and screw over the Wounded Warriors. This is just an intro blog, more to follow. "When you come up against trouble, it's never half as bad if you face up to it" John Wayne, A Great American