Closed or Mild traumatic brain injury Desert Storm Vets

How many vets were told their problems were due to stress ??
17 years later Remember us.
Not understanding you suffered from this could ruin
relationships, marriages and disrupted careers.

We vets struggled to function with shorten attention
and mild cogitive defects. Yet we also suffered "Well
Warrior Syndrome", where we deny as many sympthoms
to deal with the challenges of daily life;
avoid going to sick call;
avoid doctors visits - unless there is a GREAT loss of blood.
We avoid complainting to our family and friends.
Venus Hammack ARCENTCOM
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Are you suffering from Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) ??

Some place the number of U.S. citizens who took part in the Gulf War
at over 1 million. Official Pentagon numbers only show a total of
697,000. 45,000, about 6 percent of Gulf War veterans have reported
an ailment they believe is linkedto their service.

Further Defense Department research is focusing on the 15 percent, of
all Gulf War veterans, whose ailments could not be diagnosed. Their
problems included headache and memory loss, fatigue, sleep disorders.
These have come to be known as the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.

Complications and lasting effects
Some concussions can have serious, lasting effects.

Cumulative effects
Some evidence suggests that the severity of concussions worsens with
successive injuries; symptoms, cognitive test performance, and
neurophysiology all change after a patient's second concussion.
[2] In addition, in some cases symptoms of the third and subsequent
concussions are worse, and patients take longer to recover from them.

[2] Even if a subsequent concussion occurs months or years after an
initial one, evidence suggests that cumulative damage may occur.
Repeat concussions can lead to problems such as loss of long-term
memory and psychiatric disorders. Some researchers have suggested
a relationship between concussions and the eventual development of
Alzheimer's disease.

Post-concussion syndrome
In post-concussion syndrome (PCS), concussion symptoms do not
resolve for weeks,months, or even years, and the patient may have
headaches, light and sound sensitivity, memory and attention
problems, dizziness, difficulty with directed movements, clinical
depression, and anxiety. Symptoms usually peak four to six weeks
after the concussion, but may go on longer, some
even lasting a year or more. Physical therapy plus rest is the
best recovery technique, and symptoms usually go away on their own
sometime.

It is not known what causes PCS symptoms to occur
and persist or why some patients who suffer a mild traumatic brain
injury (MTBI) develop PCS while others do not. It is commonly
believed that physiological and psychological factors before,
during, and after the injury all take part in the development of
PCS.

I know of many vets, who have been turned down for advance
neuro diagnostics tests which could have point out this disorder.
Don't give up, go back to the Clinic if you are still suffering
these sympthoms. You can demand to be seen at the WRIISC
clinics in VAMC NJ or Washington DC.

Moser RS, Iverson GL, Echemendia RJ, Lovell MR, Schatz P, Webbe FM, Ruff RM, Barth JT (2007). Neuropsychological Evaluation in the Diagnosis and Management of Sports-Related Concussion. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, Volume 22, Issue 8, Pages 909-916. PMID 17988831. Retrieved 2008-01-08.

Anderson T, Heitger M, and Macleod AD (2006). Concussion and Mild Head Injury.
Practical Neurology 6, Pages 342-357. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-concussion_syndrome