Iraq war vets battle war's signature wound: Brain injuries
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Lance Cpl. Sam Reyes survived three horrific attacks in Iraq.
An insurgent shot him in the chest with a machine gun. He took a gunshot wound to the back during an ambush. And a suicide bomber blew apart a lightly armored 18-wheeler Reyes was riding in, killing 12 of his fellow Marines and leaving him with severe burns and broken ribs.
But Reyes' lasting injury is one that cannot be seen, and it continues to cripple him long after he arrived home with a clean bill of health.
He suffered an undetected traumatic brain injury when the explosion sent a powerful shock wave through his brain tissue, bursting blood vessels and smacking his brain against the inside of his skull.
"I thought I was a mess-up, just damn near dumb," Reyes, 22, said about the mysterious fogginess that plagued him long after his physical wounds healed. "I thought I was just a failure at this. I was recognized before as being the best. I knew my stuff real well. It made me feel like I wasn't a Marine no more."
Medical experts say traumatic brain injuries are the signature wound of the Iraq war, a byproduct of improved armor that allows troops to survive once-deadly attacks but does not fully protect against roadside explosives and suicide bombers.
They have become so common that special brain injury centers are being set up at Veterans Affairs hospitals to deal with it. So far, about 1,000 people have been treated for the symptoms, which include slowed thinking, severe memory loss and coordination and impulse control problems. Some doctors fear there may be thousands more active duty and discharged troops who are suffering undiagnosed.
"People who were hit by lightning, a lot of energy goes through their systems and their brains are cooked," said Dr. Harriet Zeiner, lead neuropsychologist for the polytrauma unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto. "A lot of that happens in (improvised explosive device) blasts. Your brain is not meant to handle that energy blast going through it."
The injury is a physical loss of brain tissue that shares some symptoms with but is markedly different than post-traumatic stress disorder, which is triggered by extreme anxiety and permanently resets the brain's fight-or-flight mechanism.
Battlefield medics and military supervisors often miss traumatic brain injuries. Many troops don't know the symptoms or won't discuss their difficulties for fear of being sent home.
"Most of us are used to the Vietnam War, where people didn't trust the government," Zeiner said. "That's not going on here. A lot of these guys want to go back, they want to go help their buddies."
The most devastating effects of traumatic brain injuries - depression, agitation and social withdrawal - are difficult to treat with medications, said Dr. Rohit Das, a Boston Medical Center neurologist who treats injured troops at the VA Boston Healthcare System.
Read the rest at the San Jose Mercury News
An insurgent shot him in the chest with a machine gun. He took a gunshot wound to the back during an ambush. And a suicide bomber blew apart a lightly armored 18-wheeler Reyes was riding in, killing 12 of his fellow Marines and leaving him with severe burns and broken ribs.
But Reyes' lasting injury is one that cannot be seen, and it continues to cripple him long after he arrived home with a clean bill of health.
He suffered an undetected traumatic brain injury when the explosion sent a powerful shock wave through his brain tissue, bursting blood vessels and smacking his brain against the inside of his skull.
"I thought I was a mess-up, just damn near dumb," Reyes, 22, said about the mysterious fogginess that plagued him long after his physical wounds healed. "I thought I was just a failure at this. I was recognized before as being the best. I knew my stuff real well. It made me feel like I wasn't a Marine no more."
Medical experts say traumatic brain injuries are the signature wound of the Iraq war, a byproduct of improved armor that allows troops to survive once-deadly attacks but does not fully protect against roadside explosives and suicide bombers.
They have become so common that special brain injury centers are being set up at Veterans Affairs hospitals to deal with it. So far, about 1,000 people have been treated for the symptoms, which include slowed thinking, severe memory loss and coordination and impulse control problems. Some doctors fear there may be thousands more active duty and discharged troops who are suffering undiagnosed.
"People who were hit by lightning, a lot of energy goes through their systems and their brains are cooked," said Dr. Harriet Zeiner, lead neuropsychologist for the polytrauma unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto. "A lot of that happens in (improvised explosive device) blasts. Your brain is not meant to handle that energy blast going through it."
The injury is a physical loss of brain tissue that shares some symptoms with but is markedly different than post-traumatic stress disorder, which is triggered by extreme anxiety and permanently resets the brain's fight-or-flight mechanism.
Battlefield medics and military supervisors often miss traumatic brain injuries. Many troops don't know the symptoms or won't discuss their difficulties for fear of being sent home.
"Most of us are used to the Vietnam War, where people didn't trust the government," Zeiner said. "That's not going on here. A lot of these guys want to go back, they want to go help their buddies."
The most devastating effects of traumatic brain injuries - depression, agitation and social withdrawal - are difficult to treat with medications, said Dr. Rohit Das, a Boston Medical Center neurologist who treats injured troops at the VA Boston Healthcare System.
Read the rest at the San Jose Mercury News
posted by iraqnam at 4:24 PM
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