Comments on: Traumatic brain injury on the front line

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:46:04 +0000

Is this a published article, or a random research paper? I need to know bc i would love to cite it. thanks

By: Kate Baldwin

Kate Baldwin — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 05:19:38 +0000

I response to Wayne Wood’s posting. I am 2 years out from a head injury and am having to buy new pants each season. Prior to my injury I was one of those that had to work to keep the weight on & now….it’s quite different. I have just recently thought that it has got to be connected to my head injury. So, thank you for your posting. I will investigate the hypothalamus theory. Seems possible, in that my brain stem was also injured & I think they may be located quite close. Thank you!

By: secondchancetolive

secondchancetolive — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:34:42 +0000

Hello Friend,
I am interested in providing encouragement to our veterans and the soldiers who have been wounded while protecting our great country. Additionally, I am interested in providing practical information and insight to assist their families. My name is Craig J. Phillips. I am an alumnus of Oral Robert’s University Class of 1985, an alumnus of the University of Kentucky, graduate program in Rehabilitation Counseling Class of 1990, and a traumatic brain injury survivor. I sustained an open skull fracture with right frontal lobe damage and remained in a coma for 3 weeks at the age of 10 in August of 1967. I underwent brain and skull surgery after waking from the coma. Follow-up cognitive and psyche / social testing revealed that I would not be able to succeed academically beyond high school. In 1967 Neurological Rehabilitation was not available to me, so I had to teach myself how to walk, talk, read, write and speak in complete sentences. I completed high school on time and went on to obtain both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. For an in depth view of my process please read my post, http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/my-journey-thus-far/
Through out my lifetime I developed strategies to overcome many obstacles and in so doing I have achieved far beyond all reasonable expectations. On February 6, 2007 at the encouragement of a friend I created Second Chance to Live. Second Chance to Live, which is located at http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com presents topics in such a way to encourage, motivate and empower the reader to live life on life’s terms. I believe our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but to build us up. As a traumatic brain injury survivor, I speak from my experience, strength and hope. As a professional, I provide information to encourage, motivate and empower both disabled and non-disabled individuals to not give up on their process. Please read my post, http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/the-power-of-identification/ My interest is to provide encouragement, hope, motivation and empowerment to survivors and their families. Please encourage your readers to visit Second Chance to Live at http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com and consider adding Second Chance to Live to your web site as a useful resource and placing a notice in your newsletter.
Thank you for your time and kindness.
Have a simply phenomenal day!
Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA
Second Chance to Live
Our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but to build us up!
Note: I recently found out that Second Chance to Live has been published by the European Brain Injury Society E.B.I.S. with in their Autumn 2007 Newsletter http://www.ebissociety.org/automn/newsletter-angl.htm in both French and English. Specifically, My Journey thus Far has been printed. I am encouraged by the growing global interest of the material presented in Second Chance to Live and wanted to share the good news with you.
My article, Traumatic Brain Injury and Displaced Energy has been published by the Brain Injury Association of Niagara, Newsletter January 2008 http://www.niagara.com/bian/
Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Neuropsychology http://www.tbi.pmr.vcu.edu/ My Journey thus Far, TBI Today Volume 6 Issue I — winter 2008 issue News, Ideas and Resources from the Virginia TBI Model System
As of Thursday, February 21, Second Chance to Live started receiving ongoing visits from the Department of Veteran’s Administration via their offices located throughout the United States.
I am available for speaking engagements, conferences and seminars. My message is to encourage the faint hearted, to hold up the arms of the weary and to empower people to dream again. In the event that you know of groups, churches or organizations that could benefit from my experience, strength and hope please let them know about Second Chance to Live. Thank you!

By: EasyDiagnosis Second Opinions » Blog Archive » The Undercounted:Head Injuries in Iraq

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:07:56 +0000

[...] in diagnosis is further compounded by the fact that many of the symptoms of closed head injuries overlap with, or sound similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder [...]

By: Wayne Wood

Wayne Wood — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:20:35 +0000

Contrary to what the article states, this is NOT a new problem, nor is it confined to the Bush Administration. I was nearly fatally injured in a military parachute training accident in 1982. I was scalped on the left side of my head and left for dead by medics as part of the triage process. I woke, was able to finally get help and had apparently recovered from my injuries enough so that eight months later I was put back on Jump Status as a fully fit paratrooper, rising rapidly through the ranks and seeing combat service in Grenada in 1983.

However, after my injuries I began experience weight gain which in the post-Vietnam Army is one of the unforgivable sins. Five years after being declared a “water walker” for coming back from my injuries I found myself facing discharge under the terms of AR 600-9, the Army weight control program. It was only an alert physician who noted my head injuries and subsequent weight gain and linked the two.

I was medically discharged with 10% disability for having post-traumatic hypothalamic obesity secondary to my head injuries. That was in 1987. It didn’t take long to realize my injuries and condition were much more severe than I had orginally been led to believe (or perhaps anyone knew) and I have been fighting the VA for years to get a proper rating for my condition - there is none, the VA only has a rating for hypothyroidism - which is a secondary condition to the damage to my hypothalamus. I had just about given up when I began reading articles such as this one.

I would hate to see another generation of soldiers go through the same hell as I. So I thank you for bringing attention to this situation. It goes much farther than even psychological damage. I, for all outward appearances have suffered no psychological damage (what I do have I handle), however, physically, the hypothalamus, which sits at the base of your brain, controls the entire endocrine system. Since my injuries I have not only experienced massive weight gain (from 170 to 300+ pounds), but severe allergies, asthma, hypopituitarism, hypogonadism, hypothyroidism, and other endocrine related maladies. This doesn’t take into account the stress my added weight has placed on my joints. What is the VA’s answer? 10% for hypothyroidism, 10% for each knee, 0% for my other maladies, and 50% for -get this- Sleep Apnea caused my obeisty.

So I thank you for articles such as these. Knowledge is power.

By: Cris Ericson

Cris Ericson — Mon, 21 May 2007 02:40:23 +0000

I worked as a non-union movie extra on a union made movie in 1990 and was assaulted and battered and blasted with
concealed military high explosives PETN (plastic explosive), Lead Azide and Lead Styphnate. Now, in 2007 I still have head pain. In 1994 the first federal judge ruled that I had no private right of action to charge the movie people with a crime and dismissed the case, 94-4630(RMT) U.S.D.C. Central California (Los Angeles). The next federal judge wrote an opinion full of error or fraud, and dismissed the case. He apparently regarded these concealed military high explosives as “special effects” and seemed to consider it normal workers comp. jurisdiction to assault and batter and blast unsuspecting non-union movie extras. 97Civ3081(TPG) U.S.D.C. Southern District of New York. I have never had a brain scan. The F.B.I. sent me a Freedom of Information Act Report in 1999 and apparently they expunged and destroyed material in my case. God Bless America! It’s not safe at home or abroad!

By: Neurophilosophy

Neurophilosophy — Fri, 18 May 2007 20:56:00 +0000

[...] to which troops are likely to have been exposed. It is also now known that the detonation of improvised explosive devices can lead to traumatic brain injury. It would therefore be extremely difficult to extricate the effects of sarin from those other [...]

By: R S

R S — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:50:46 +0000

In the late 1980’s I suffered a concussion. Upon seeing the company doctor, within hours after the injury, I felt intense anger. The doctor wrote it off as “my fellow employees seeing the cut on my head”. Within a year I had horrible panic attacks/depression and became housebound. For years I had doctors who misdiagnosed my illness as everything from Bipolar to depression and agoraphobia. I thank God that this is finally getting the attention it deserves. TBI and post-concussion syndrome are horrible illnesses that will destroy your life. And the lives of your family.

By: BGG

BGG — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:36:31 +0000

This is a great post highlighting a critical problem for the U.S. military that we will be dealing with for decades to come. Between TBI, PTSD, and injured or lost limbs, hardly any of our soldiers and marines are returning from deployment unscathed. Those who appear whole and healthy are likely still suffering an injury of some kind.