The Peace Drug
Post-traumatic stress disorder had destroyed Donna Kilgore's life. Then experimental therapy with MDMA, a psychedelic drug better known as ecstasy, showed her a way out. Was it a fluke -- or the future?
By Tom Shroder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 25, 2007; Page W12
THE BED IS TILTING!
Or the couch, or whatever. A futon. Slanted.
She hadn't noticed it before, but now she can't stop noticing. Like the princess and the pea.
By objective measure, the tilt is negligible, a fraction of an inch, but she can't be fooled by appearances, not with the sleep mask on. In her inner darkness, the slight tilt magnifies, and suddenly she feels as if she might slide off, and that idea makes her giggle.
"I feel really, really weird," she says. "Crooked!"
Donna Kilgore laughs, a high-pitched sound that contains both thrill and anxiety. That she feels anything at all, anything other than the weighty, oppressive numbness that has filled her for 11 years, is enough in itself to make her giddy.
But there is something more at work inside her, something growing from the little white capsule she swallowed just minutes ago. She's subject No. 1 in a historic experiment, the first U.S. government-sanctioned research in two decades into the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat psychiatric disorders. This 2004 session in the office of a Charleston, S.C., psychiatrist is being recorded on audiocassettes, which Donna will later hand to a journalist.
The tape reveals her reaction as she listens to the gentle piano music playing in her headphones. Behind her eyelids, movies begin to unreel. She tries to say what she sees: Cars careening down the wrong side of the road. Vivid images of her oldest daughter, then all three of her children. She's overcome with an all-consuming love, a love she thought she'd lost forever.
"Now I feel all warm and fuzzy," she announces. "I'm not nervous anymore."
"What level of distress do you feel right now?" a deeply mellow voice beside her asks.
Donna answers with a giggle. "I don't think I got the placebo," she says.
click post title for the rest
Sunday, November 25, 2007
GUARD POLICY KEEPS MEMBERS SEPARATED AFTER DUTY
GUARD POLICY KEEPS MEMBERS SEPARATED AFTER DUTY
Iraq vets help each other
Notes on message board support Ahoskie man suffering from PTSD
BARBARA BARRETT
(Raleigh) News & Observer
The letter landed in Army Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stephens' mailbox in the Williamston armory last week. It ran three pages. It was from a Marine who had served in Beirut.
The Marine described his nightmares and experiences and referred to Stephens' 11-year-old son.
"He said I need to make sure that little guy grows up," Stephens said. "I thought it was a good letter. He gave me good advice."
The News & Observer ran a series called The Promise two weeks ago that detailed Stephens' struggles since an N.C. National Guard battle in Baqouba, Iraq, in June 2004. One of Stephens' gunners, Spc. Daniel Desens Jr., was killed in the fight. Stephens, a platoon sergeant, was awarded a Silver Star after trying to save Desens.
Several of Stephens' soldiers left messages on the News & Observer's Web site, share.triangle.com, last week discussing their own problems.
"I was there with Chad in Baqubah Iraq and I do suffer from PTSD," wrote one sergeant. "It is real and I too call on Chad from time to time for help."
go here for the rest
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/377252.html
One of the biggest problems with this practice is that while half of the National Guardsmen have been diagnosed with PTSD, they are not getting the help or the support they all need.
As much as I know about PTSD, what causes it and what they go through with it, I was not there. Although I have seen more pictures of what they see than the average person, I did not see it all in real life. Although I have nightmares and have trouble sleeping because of Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam, I have never felt my life on the line, lost a comrade or experienced anything they go through. They need support from others who have. They need to know that what they are dealing with after, is not out of the ordinary for these men and women who are anything but ordinary.
There is nothing ordinary about combat and there is nothing ordinary about them. They are rare to us. This practice of leaving them to just go back to their families, their jobs and the lives they had as "weekend warriors" is damaging them in a time when they can be helped instead. The sooner they begin treatment to heal, the better the result. This cannot be stressed enough. What kind of help are they getting in a system with a claims backlog of 600,000, months of waiting and endless paperwork? As bad as we think the numbers of PTSD are, we cannot ignore the fact there are many trapped in that 600,000 figure, not counted, and even more still to come.
Iraq vets help each other
Notes on message board support Ahoskie man suffering from PTSD
BARBARA BARRETT
(Raleigh) News & Observer
The letter landed in Army Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stephens' mailbox in the Williamston armory last week. It ran three pages. It was from a Marine who had served in Beirut.
The Marine described his nightmares and experiences and referred to Stephens' 11-year-old son.
"He said I need to make sure that little guy grows up," Stephens said. "I thought it was a good letter. He gave me good advice."
The News & Observer ran a series called The Promise two weeks ago that detailed Stephens' struggles since an N.C. National Guard battle in Baqouba, Iraq, in June 2004. One of Stephens' gunners, Spc. Daniel Desens Jr., was killed in the fight. Stephens, a platoon sergeant, was awarded a Silver Star after trying to save Desens.
Several of Stephens' soldiers left messages on the News & Observer's Web site, share.triangle.com, last week discussing their own problems.
"I was there with Chad in Baqubah Iraq and I do suffer from PTSD," wrote one sergeant. "It is real and I too call on Chad from time to time for help."
go here for the rest
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/377252.html
One of the biggest problems with this practice is that while half of the National Guardsmen have been diagnosed with PTSD, they are not getting the help or the support they all need.
As much as I know about PTSD, what causes it and what they go through with it, I was not there. Although I have seen more pictures of what they see than the average person, I did not see it all in real life. Although I have nightmares and have trouble sleeping because of Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam, I have never felt my life on the line, lost a comrade or experienced anything they go through. They need support from others who have. They need to know that what they are dealing with after, is not out of the ordinary for these men and women who are anything but ordinary.
There is nothing ordinary about combat and there is nothing ordinary about them. They are rare to us. This practice of leaving them to just go back to their families, their jobs and the lives they had as "weekend warriors" is damaging them in a time when they can be helped instead. The sooner they begin treatment to heal, the better the result. This cannot be stressed enough. What kind of help are they getting in a system with a claims backlog of 600,000, months of waiting and endless paperwork? As bad as we think the numbers of PTSD are, we cannot ignore the fact there are many trapped in that 600,000 figure, not counted, and even more still to come.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Iraq vets' troubles appear long after return
"Sometimes the person with the mental issue is the last to know," said Dr. Milliken. "They might not come looking for help, but if we can catch the symptoms before they become a problem, they'll be better off."Iraq vets' troubles appear long after return
Sunday, November 25, 2007
By Wade Malcolm, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It started about a month after he came home, innocently enough. Staff Sgt. Frederick Johnson missed his fellow soldiers.
During a year stationed at Anaconda base in Iraq -- nicknamed "Mortaritaville" -- he says he looked after them like a father, eyes always focused on the horizon, scanning for danger.
And at night, he clutched a half-gallon bottle of any liquor he could find, emptying two or three a week.
After he returned home in December 2005, his dangerous coping methods progressed to crack cocaine. Already depressed by separating from the Ohio-based 373rd Medical Company -- the only people, he said, who could understand his war experience -- he grappled with his emerging fear of crowds, his aversion to loud noises and the horror of his nightmares. They often ended with him leaping out of bed into a low crawl position.
After a year battling addiction and the lingering effects of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which the Army initially failed to diagnose, Sgt. Johnson, 38, is starting his life over at the VA Pittsburgh's Highland Drive Division.
He is among thousands of soldiers overlooked by previous mental health screening methods that, according to a new Army study released earlier this month, "substantially underestimate the mental health burden" of Iraq War veterans.
With increased congressional funding, the Army is trying to stop soldiers in Sgt. Johnson's situation from slipping through the cracks. The study compared results from soldiers who received only an initial mental health screening and those who received initial screening and then were reassessed after several months.
go here for the rest
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07329/836618-85.stm
Update on Sonny Iovino's last hours
Homeless veteran refused help before death
Copyright 2007 The Gazette
By Jennifer Hemmingsen
The Gazette
jennifer.hemmingsen@gazettecommunications.com
Sonny Iovino
IOWA CITY - Two days before Sonny Iovino died of exposure, he was released by a Veterans Affairs Medical Center doctor and turned away from the Johnson County Jail after police repeatedly found him behaving erratically and shedding his clothes.
On the advice of a social worker, police didn't try to take Iovino, 55, to a shelter, according to University of Iowa police incident reports The Gazette obtained.
Medical Center spokesman Kirt Sickels told the newspaper Monday hospital officials did all they could.
"If somebody doesn't want to be treated, you can't treat them," Sickels said. He could not disclose details about Iovino's medical history or immediately get information about Iovino's military service.
The nearly naked body of Iovino, a homeless Vietnam-era veteran who had frequented Iowa City for years, was found under the Benton Street bridge around 3:45 p.m. on Nov. 7. An autopsy confirmed he died of hypothermia.
click post title for the rest
Vets Helping Vets takes this issue on
Homeless Vets Help Their Own
By Josh Hinkle, Reporter
Story Updated: Nov 24, 2007
IOWA CITY - A homeless veteran's death two weeks ago in Iowa City has prompted several groups to fight back. Sonny Iovino died from hypothermia under a bridge near downtown. Now that incident is inspiring the community to fight back against the homeless problem.
About 1,300 people are homeless right now in Johnson County. Iowa City's Shelter House can only hold 29. 15% of those now staying there are veterans like Len McClellan.
go here for the rest
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/11783991.html
Copyright 2007 The Gazette
By Jennifer Hemmingsen
The Gazette
jennifer.hemmingsen@gazettecommunications.com
Sonny Iovino
IOWA CITY - Two days before Sonny Iovino died of exposure, he was released by a Veterans Affairs Medical Center doctor and turned away from the Johnson County Jail after police repeatedly found him behaving erratically and shedding his clothes.
On the advice of a social worker, police didn't try to take Iovino, 55, to a shelter, according to University of Iowa police incident reports The Gazette obtained.
Medical Center spokesman Kirt Sickels told the newspaper Monday hospital officials did all they could.
"If somebody doesn't want to be treated, you can't treat them," Sickels said. He could not disclose details about Iovino's medical history or immediately get information about Iovino's military service.
The nearly naked body of Iovino, a homeless Vietnam-era veteran who had frequented Iowa City for years, was found under the Benton Street bridge around 3:45 p.m. on Nov. 7. An autopsy confirmed he died of hypothermia.
click post title for the rest
Vets Helping Vets takes this issue on
Homeless Vets Help Their Own
By Josh Hinkle, Reporter
Story Updated: Nov 24, 2007
IOWA CITY - A homeless veteran's death two weeks ago in Iowa City has prompted several groups to fight back. Sonny Iovino died from hypothermia under a bridge near downtown. Now that incident is inspiring the community to fight back against the homeless problem.
About 1,300 people are homeless right now in Johnson County. Iowa City's Shelter House can only hold 29. 15% of those now staying there are veterans like Len McClellan.
go here for the rest
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/11783991.html
Once-homeless veterans get medals at Mount Vernon ceremony
"Neither of these guys even knew that they were highly decorated soldiers," Dubose said.
Once-homeless veterans get medals at Mount Vernon ceremony
By AMAN ALI
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: November 23, 2007)
MOUNT VERNON - The lupus that has eaten away at nerve endings in Larry Cammon's body caused him to quiver as he pointed to Vietnam War wounds on his arms and legs.
The veteran spent the past two years of his life homeless on the streets of Mount Vernon, trying to make ends meet with the $235 a month he receives for having served his country.
"I've been sick for a long time," Cammon, 61, said this week. "The (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) hasn't been giving me the best of care. It's hard, man. It's really, really hard."
Cammon and another formerly homeless Vietnam veteran, Teddy Sanders, 61, found themselves lifted up by their home city on Wednesday, however, when the men were honored by Mayor Ernest Davis at an awards ceremony, during which they were presented with the military medals they had earned for their service -including Cammon's Purple Heart.
The city first learned about Cammon and Sanders through its homeless outreach program. After learning last month that the men were veterans, caseworkers notified Will Dubose, director of the city's Veterans Service Agency.
Dubose looked into their service records and said he was "surprised" at what he found.
click post title for the rest
I hope this answers some questions on the kind of veterans who end up walking our streets, sleeping wherever they can and eating when they can.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)