Brains of vets with PTSD can change as they age

What is your Desert Storm Era vet and you have some of the undiagnosed illness. What if you have the brain fog along with symthoms of PTSD and years later the veteran has sympthoms of early dementia. They only place get an evalution inot this situation currently is VAMC San Francisco said Jagmedic

SAN FRANCISCO — Combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are more likely to have dementia, cardiac problems and structural changes in the brain as they get older than veterans without PTSD, according to new research.

The findings, which for the most part resulted from research at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, raise concerns about the overall health of aging veterans, but hold promise for the potential of helping to treat these diseases.

"Our concern is that veterans who honorably serve our country ... are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and over the next 10 to 20 years we will see a lot of Alzheimer's in the veteran population," said Dr. Michael Weiner, director of the institution's Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases.

The impact of combat on the aging brain was the focus of Thursday's fourth annual "Brain at War" conference in San Francisco.

Much of the research presented during the daylong conference was conducted at the city's VA hospital and funded through San Francisco's Northern California Institute for Research and Education, the nation's leading neuroscience research institute.

Of the 2 million Americans who've served in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least 400,000 -- or as much as 20 percent -- have developed or are at risk of developing PTSD, a psychological condition caused by exposure to severe trauma.

Some 23 million veterans will face more common illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's, as a function of aging. A growing body of work shows traumatic stress may exacerbate these diseases, the researchers found.

For example, veterans with PTSD are two to three times more likely to develop heart disease than those who do not have the disorder.

"No effective ways to prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease yet exist, but researchers are studying soldiers' brains to learn more about how combat-related stress affects the brain's biology and increases the chance of developing Alzheimer's.

They have found that a section of the hippocampus -- the part of the brain devoted to short-term memory and learning new things -- is significantly smaller in veterans with PTSD. Researchers are trying to determine if this smaller section can grow with treatment.

"It's possible new stem cells, new brain cells are made, or it's possible the existing neurons or cells get plumper or have more synapses and connection," said

Weiner, also a professor of medicine, radiology, psychiatry and neurology." ... Our ability to probe the brain and understand these mechanisms is really limited."

"Humans are amazing in the sense they adapt to anything," he said.

Research at San Francisco's VA center has led to new information about:

- PTSD and heart disease. Veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have been diagnosed with PTSD and other mental health issues have two to three times the rate of heart disease risk factors compared with veterans without those diagnoses.

- PTSD and the hippocampus. Research using magnetic resonate imaging, or MRI, at the VA hospital have shown the hippocampus, the part of the brain that stores memory, is significantly smaller in the brains of veterans with PTSD.

- PTSD and dementia. Older veterans with PTSD are almost twice as likely as veterans without such trauma to develop dementia.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/jun/24/brains-vets-ptsd-can-change-they-age/

Remember this Memorial Day

The U.S 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stated in a 2-1 ruling that the delays are so “egregious” that they “violate a veterans constitutional rights.”

...There is little doubt that the approximately 6500 suicides a year must be addressed with urgency and budget allocations. Yet I do not see that it is the sole job of the VA to ameliorate a seeming intractable problem that is owned by the entire war making machine.

The data is showing that an average of 18 returning Armed Service members commit suicide each day. Most folks cannot even allow this to seep into their own activities of daily living, let alone a national psyche.

Environmental and battlfield exposures are what some of us suffer now 20 some odd years out. It is physical ailments,(undiagnosed chronic sympthoms) which have been denied by VA doctors and adjuticators which have broke the sprit of
some Desert Storm Era veterans. We are warriors and will continue to fight for diagnosis other than PTSD that we deserve said Jagmedic.


http://tucsoncitizen.com/veteranveritas/2011/05/22/are-expectations-for-va-mental-health-care-achievable/

Burn Pits -Oil Well Fires Gulf War

The burn pits in Iraq are just larger version of
the burn pits created from 91 till 2003.
Some 175,000 soldiers who fought in the Gulf War
have lived a nightmare for 17 years. Plagued by
debilitating illness since they deployed in this
theatre. Environmental medicine is not practiced
by military and VA doctors.
The VA and DoD is failing to advertize on going studies.
Veterans have not been told they could use the VA-WRIISC
clinics and hospital directors mis-informed Vets
that they did not have transport money to get to
DC or Orange,NJ

If you are still having problems getting care or
home or other beneifits please contact this Office.
This Committee is asking for written comments from Veterans
This Committee is allowing Vets to speak before them,
during Public Coment Sessions.
This Committee is allowing Vets to Teleconferece -
hearing sessions by telephone. Silence is not an Option ! http://www.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee
VA - Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans

Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Policy and Planning (008A1)810 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20420202-461-5758 Lelia P. Jackson, Policy Analyst ,lelia.jackson@va.gov

I and others suffer http://www.InvisbleDisabilities.org
Please speak up Now!

VA-RAC on Gulf War Illness let us down

This is my response to the meeting of Veterans Affairs Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses 14-15 Sept 2008 in Washington D.C.

Researchers -they can set out to prove a pet theory,
they can ignore data which contradicts a favored hypothesis,
and they can read into data facts which simply aren't there.
In addition, and perhaps more importantly, their employers can be biased.
DoD can put pressure on researchers or even research firms to
validate a preordained position or to produce a desired result.
Not that they really have to, since it is much easier to hire or retain
investigators who agree with them to begin with.
And even that is not necessary, since the DOD/VA employer gets to
write conclusions and recommendations. Scientists who dissent can
effectively be buried simply by not publishing what they have to say.

Research is never economically beneficial except for those in position
to profit from Research expenditures." What else am I to think when
monies are appropriated by southwest university and Dr. Haley
and three years or 36 months and no project started-
up to 45 million dollars not working for us veterans.
Promises 's broken.

It is sad Gulf War Scientists can find their research blocked,
or find themselves threatened with financial ruin. Corporations,
Veterans agents, think tanks, even government agencies have been
caught suppressing or distorting research on the safety of chemicals
on and around our battlefield.

This is why I feel Gulf War Research has been hijacked.
I feel the VA-RAC on GWI has been stonewalled.
I have seen the last few VA Secretaries make vague
promises of support, yet fail to implement any Recommendations
this committee has made over the years

It is the former RAC board member and Principal scientist
to southwestern university department, who accepted 15 million
for the last three years for the promise of neuro-imaging, veteran
survey and maybe a clinic.

Has not happened, will not happen. As I listen Dr. Haley give a
political doublespeak when trying to explain what he has
accomplished in the last three years.

I believe gulf war veterans will not see any Recommendations
actual carried on into completed and published research project
before this administration ends.

Only veterans who speak out, demand oversight !

Is it Gulf War Illness or Undiagnosted Sympthoms

This is a book VA and Military doctors are afraid
that you will read, said Jagmedic.

What's Wrong with Me?
The Frustrated Patient's Guide to Getting an Accurate Diagnosis (Paperback)
by Lynn M. Dannheisser (Author), Jerry M. Rosenbaum (Author)

BOOKS
Help your doctor give you right diagnosis
Fed up with not knowing what ailed them, a local doctor and lawyer
wrote a book to help others with the same problem.


Nine years ago, life became a blur for Jerry Rosenbaum.

Lights were too bright, borders too soft, and opening his eyelids --
which felt like they had turned into sandpaper -- for extended periods
of time was next to impossible. Rosenbaum, a doctor in Miami-Dade County
for 20 years, had no idea what was happening to him. And worse, neither
did his colleagues.

At 45, he had developed what he and a patient of his, former Sunny Isles
Beach City Attorney Lynn Dannheisser, called a ''mystery malady,'' a
term that birthed the idea for their coauthored book, What's Wrong With
Me? The Frustrated Patient's Guide to Getting an Accurate Diagnosis.
Dannheisser, who has suffered from three mystery maladies.

The problem for many patients, Dannheisser said, is that people expect
doctors to immediately provide all the answers -- even if the patients
aren't disclosing the right information.

''Patients can certainly help their doctors,'' said David Lubarsky,
chair of the anesthesiology department at the University of Miami, home

to the school's Center for Patient Safety. ``Obviously, the best patient
is an informed patient.''

That's why, Dannheisser said, it's imperative for patients to become
more proactive with their doctors. To help, Dannheisser and Rosenbaum
created an eight-step guide to help patients be more prepared for their
appointments.

''You don't have to be a doctor in order to help your doctor,''
Dannheisser said.

However, as Rosenbaum's case shows, being one doesn't guarantee success
either. Eventually, running a practice with hindered vision became too
much for Rosenbaum to handle -- his mystery malady had forced him into
an early retirement.

But just six weeks ago -- after nine years of pain -- Rosenbaum finally
made headway with his eye problem. After scouring the Internet, he found
a surgeon who specialized in helping people who suffered from the same
symptoms. Finally, Rosenbaum was able to put a name on his disease --
blepharospasm, or involuntary eyelid muscle contraction -- and have it
treated.

Now, Rosenbaum said, he's able to keep his eyes open -- without pain --
for extended periods of time. With continued healing, he hopes he may
one day be able to reopen his practice.

''I'm keeping my fingers crossed,'' he said.