PTSD:Wounded Corpsman Trades Alcohol, Pills for Marathons

Wounded Corpsman Fights PTSD
Army.com - Huntsville,Al,USA

Wounded Corpsman Trades Alcohol, Pills for Marathons
Nov. 12, 2008
By Fred W. Baker III

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service) – Navy Corpsman Daniel “Doc” Jacobs didn’t know he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. But he knew he had a problem.

“I actually almost ended up killing myself because of it,” Jacobs said.

He woke up one morning in late 2006 in a pool of his own urine and sweat after mixing his prescription medications with alcohol. He had blacked out and remembered nothing after the first couple of beers, Jacobs said.

Jacobs turned 21 that year and was recovering from the blast of a roadside bomb in Iraq and still was using a wheelchair. After his left leg was amputated, Jacobs said he started having a lot of pain. He had problems sleeping for several months, and when he did sleep, it was fitful and he had nightmares.

“I fell into a stage of depression. I turned to alcohol,” he said. “I figured if the pain meds weren’t going to (make the pain go away), then alcohol would. So I self-medicated and one morning I woke up and I had no idea how I woke up out of that.”

While Jacobs hadn’t intentionally tried to kill himself, it served as a wake-up call, and marked the end of the pill-popping and boozing for him. He flushed his medication down the toilet.
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