THE PAIN CONTINUES: Some soldiers returning from duty in Iraq or Afghanistan complain of recurring headaches that can afflict them as frequently as 15 days a month.
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There are currently 184,000 troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 15 percent of whom have suffered brain injuries from concussions, physical injury or blast exposure. A new survey of about 1,000 soldiers with these injuries suggests that the effects can be lasting: Nearly all of them suffered from headaches, according to research released this week by the American Academy of Neurology.
The study, led by Capt. Brett Theeler, chief resident of the Madigan Army Medical Center Neurology Clinic at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Wash., found that 30 percent of the surveyed soldiers suffered headaches at least 15 days out of the month, and at least 15 percent reported that the pain was bad enough to hamper their daily activities.
The cause of these headaches is complex, and not yet well understood, says Karen Tucker, a neuropsychologist at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center in North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. Civilians might experience these sorts of headaches after a car accident or a concussion. But in the line of duty, soldiers can be exposed to more frequent physical injury as well as explosions—which range from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to mortar fire—that can leave them with mild traumatic brain injury.
Fred Flynn, director of Madigan's Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) program, describes such injury as "either a loss of consciousness or a transient alteration of consciousness," which leaves people "feeling dazed, like [they've] had their bell rung." But this doesn't include soldiers who have lost consciousness for more than 30 minutes or have an injury that can be detected on an MRI or CT scan.
Most of the headaches are "not that debilitating," says Tucker, who works with veterans suffering from persistent neurological problems. She calls the majority post-traumatic headaches "more of a significant annoyance" that should taper off and disappear within a year. Theeler notes that most of the soldiers seem to be treating their headaches on their own with ibuprofen (such as Advil and Motrin) and acetaminophen (such as Tylenol).
"These findings should alert health care providers," Theeler said in a statement, "to the need to identify and properly treat headache[s] among soldiers."
Although headaches are the most common complaint following a mild brain injury, Theeler and Flynn are also looking into the other symptoms, which can be physical (nausea, light sensitivity, balance problems); cognitive (difficulty concentrating, memory problems); and behavioral (irritability, impulsiveness, anxiousness, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder).
The research was based on a survey of 978 U.S. Army soldiers in the TBI program at Fort Lewis last year. Results will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting that runs April 25 to May 2 in Seattle.
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4 Comments
Add CommentWell, yeah. As soldiers, we are hired killers. We go in to destroy homes and lives and kill those our handsomest politicians tell us are our enemies, whether we agree or not, and whether they're correct or not. Are people so deeply living in fantasy-land that they think we're like rain-gutter salesmen or computer repairmen, and we can come home to a warm fire and a paycheck at the end of a day on the job and everything is going to be just fine? it's just not that sanitary of a job, & pretty much understood that we're gonna come out of the job damaged goods. Humans or any animal put in such a prolonged and violent fight for survival doesn't just come out rosy on the other side.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswww.TheEasyEssay.com , a free site, can be used for educational rehabilitation purposes for stroke and TBI patients. Its logical, color coded, repetitive functions have been accepted as a method for retraining and helping to reopen neural pathways.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRE: TBI
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
DCOEoutreach@us.imshealth.com
Thank You, Barry. I looked at the site and even did a trial run. I will email this information to our Health Resource Consultants and put it in our knowledge base for future inquiries.
Respectfully,
Erin
if somebody kills 5000 people and the other starts killing and keeps killing even after killing 100,000 human beings then pain do come, not in this life only but in the Hereafter aswell.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisQuranEnglish the best source to introduce humanity and peace.
I'm very disappointed in Scientific American and its lack of academic rigor in screening and explaining the data associated with this article. Every single one of the 1000 Soldiers cited in this article, who are being seen in the Neurology Clinic, are there because they have a NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEM! Otherwise, they would not have been referred to the neurologist. By definition, there problems are too severe for their primary care provider to manage, or they would not have been referred to see a neurologist.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn summary -- very disappointing that Scientific American wouldn't at least explain this sample bias.