Jab to the neck treats PTSD?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Dr. Jay Adlersberg
Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) -- All it takes is one loud noise to trigger a flood of awful memories. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) haunts one in every six soldiers coming back from Iraq, and nearly eight million Americans in all. Standard treatment means therapy and medications that don't always work and have side effects. Now, one doctor is treating PTSD with an injection that he says can block the painful memories.
"I was firing a rocket propelled grenade (RPG). When I pulled the trigger, it malfunctioned, and it blew up in the tube. Injured seven marines and killed three, all good friends of mine," said John Sullivan, an Iraq Veteran.
Thirteen surgeries, several skin grafts, and two years of therapy later, Sullivan is in a much more peaceful place, but that doesn't mean he's safe from the effects of war."The way I look at PTSD, it's a biological problem. It's no different than a broken arm," said Dr. Eugene Lipov, the Medical Director of the Advanced Pain Center.
Dr. Lipov is the first to use a local anesthetic to treat PTSD. It's called stellate ganglion block (SGB). It's been used since the 1920s to treat pain.read more here
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Stellate ganglion block offers hope for PTSD treatments
There is no "one size fits all" for treating PTSD. If something doesn't work, keep looking until you and your doctor find the right treatment. Medication helps some but what may work for a friend, may not work for you. Therapy works but again, what kind of therapy that works for someone you know may not be right for you. Keep trying and you'll find what you need to heal.
VA accounting system deserves an F
Lawmakers: VA accounting system deserves an F
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 28, 2010 14:05:32 EDT
Incredulous lawmakers sat steaming as government auditors gave the Veterans Affairs Department a “B” grade on efforts to correct an accounting system that has almost twice as many unexplained charges today as it did two years ago.
“I would not underestimate the anger my colleagues on both sides feel. I would not underestimate the sense we are really mad,” said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, who said he would have given VA an “F.”
The problem involves something called “miscellaneous obligations” —purchases made outside of the normal contracting system, usually for items that are needed quickly, such as medical supplies, but sometimes also for bigger items such as vehicles and furniture.
In 2008, the Government Accountability Office, the auditing and investigative arm of Congress, found $6.9 billion in these miscellaneous charges, many with inadequate or nonexistent documentation to explain the bill.
A new review found $12 billion in miscellaneous charges, and many of the same problems with a lack of justification.
read more here
VA accounting system deserves an F
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 28, 2010 14:05:32 EDT
Incredulous lawmakers sat steaming as government auditors gave the Veterans Affairs Department a “B” grade on efforts to correct an accounting system that has almost twice as many unexplained charges today as it did two years ago.
“I would not underestimate the anger my colleagues on both sides feel. I would not underestimate the sense we are really mad,” said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, who said he would have given VA an “F.”
The problem involves something called “miscellaneous obligations” —purchases made outside of the normal contracting system, usually for items that are needed quickly, such as medical supplies, but sometimes also for bigger items such as vehicles and furniture.
In 2008, the Government Accountability Office, the auditing and investigative arm of Congress, found $6.9 billion in these miscellaneous charges, many with inadequate or nonexistent documentation to explain the bill.
A new review found $12 billion in miscellaneous charges, and many of the same problems with a lack of justification.
read more here
VA accounting system deserves an F
Therapy helps wounded emerge from comas
Therapy helps wounded emerge from comas
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Jul 29, 2010 10:38:38 EDT
TAMPA, Fla. — Army Ranger Cory Remsburg was thrown like a rag doll into an Afghanistan canal Oct. 1 by the blast from a 500-pound roadside bomb, the right side of his head caved in by shrapnel.
After a medical evacuation and six surgeries at military hospitals in Afghanistan, Germany and Bethesda, Md., Remsburg arrived at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital here in November in a vegetative state.
Doctors, therapists, family and friends rallied to help with Remsburg’s therapy. They massaged joints, stretched limbs and exercised muscles. They stimulated him with drugs, aromas and episodes of the TV comedy Scrubs. They questioned, commanded and cajoled — anything to jump-start his brain.
Progress came by inches, his family rejoicing over every success: “Those baby blues are looking very good,” they wrote in an online journal about his open and alert eyes.
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Jul 29, 2010 10:38:38 EDT
TAMPA, Fla. — Army Ranger Cory Remsburg was thrown like a rag doll into an Afghanistan canal Oct. 1 by the blast from a 500-pound roadside bomb, the right side of his head caved in by shrapnel.
After a medical evacuation and six surgeries at military hospitals in Afghanistan, Germany and Bethesda, Md., Remsburg arrived at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital here in November in a vegetative state.
Doctors, therapists, family and friends rallied to help with Remsburg’s therapy. They massaged joints, stretched limbs and exercised muscles. They stimulated him with drugs, aromas and episodes of the TV comedy Scrubs. They questioned, commanded and cajoled — anything to jump-start his brain.
Progress came by inches, his family rejoicing over every success: “Those baby blues are looking very good,” they wrote in an online journal about his open and alert eyes.
Of 97 troops or veterans admitted to these centers between January 2007, when the Emerging Consciousness program became fully operational, and the end of 2009, 67 have awakened, says David Cifu, VA national director, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Two of those were soldiers brought in from overseas battlefields — Remsburg and Sgt. Tony Senecal.
read more here
Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash
Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash
C-17 Cargo Plane on Training Run Crashed Wednesday, Sending Fireball into the 750 Feet into the Sky
A military cargo plane carrying four people on a training run has crashed at an Air Force base near downtown Anchorage, killing all four men aboard.
Col. John McMullen says three of the men were in the Alaska Air National Guard and the fourth was on active duty at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Their names have not been released pending notification of relatives.
Witnesses say the crash sent a fireball rising hundreds of feet over the base near downtown Anchorage.
go here for more
Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash
C-17 Cargo Plane on Training Run Crashed Wednesday, Sending Fireball into the 750 Feet into the Sky
A military cargo plane carrying four people on a training run has crashed at an Air Force base near downtown Anchorage, killing all four men aboard.
Col. John McMullen says three of the men were in the Alaska Air National Guard and the fourth was on active duty at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Their names have not been released pending notification of relatives.
Witnesses say the crash sent a fireball rising hundreds of feet over the base near downtown Anchorage.
go here for more
Four Dead in Alaska Air Force Base Crash
Body of second sailor recovered in Afghanistan
Body of 2nd sailor recovered in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 29, 2010 9:08:59 EDT
KABUL, Afghanistan — A second Navy sailor who went missing in a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan was found dead and his body recovered, a senior U.S. military official and Afghan officials said Thursday.
The family of Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year-old from the Seattle area, had been notified of his death, the U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to disclose the information.
Newlove and Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Justin McNeley went missing Friday in Logar province. NATO recovered the body of McNeley — a 30-year-old father of two from Wheatridge, Colo. — in the area Sunday.
read more here
Body of second sailor found/
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 29, 2010 9:08:59 EDT
KABUL, Afghanistan — A second Navy sailor who went missing in a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan was found dead and his body recovered, a senior U.S. military official and Afghan officials said Thursday.
The family of Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year-old from the Seattle area, had been notified of his death, the U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to disclose the information.
Newlove and Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Justin McNeley went missing Friday in Logar province. NATO recovered the body of McNeley — a 30-year-old father of two from Wheatridge, Colo. — in the area Sunday.
read more here
Body of second sailor found/
VA supporters take to the streets
VA supporters take to the streets
By Dan Bain
KPIC News
Story Published: Jul 28, 2010 at 8:15 AM PDT
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Veterans and supporters lined the entrances to the Roseburg Veterans Administration Medical Center Tuesday morning, and they plan to keep doing it to call attention to the possible cuts in services at the hospital.
The veterans held signs demanding that VA officials stop the downsizing and keep the Roseburg facility as a full service hospital.
Veterans say the want to keep people aware of what's going on and encourage them to make their opinions known.
Jim Little of the Douglas County Veterans Forum, says they need to keep the pressure on, and that's what they intend to do. "We want our VA Roseburg hospital returned to a full service hospital," said Little.
read more here
VA supporters take to the streets
By Dan Bain
KPIC News
Story Published: Jul 28, 2010 at 8:15 AM PDT
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Veterans and supporters lined the entrances to the Roseburg Veterans Administration Medical Center Tuesday morning, and they plan to keep doing it to call attention to the possible cuts in services at the hospital.
The veterans held signs demanding that VA officials stop the downsizing and keep the Roseburg facility as a full service hospital.
Veterans say the want to keep people aware of what's going on and encourage them to make their opinions known.
Jim Little of the Douglas County Veterans Forum, says they need to keep the pressure on, and that's what they intend to do. "We want our VA Roseburg hospital returned to a full service hospital," said Little.
read more here
VA supporters take to the streets
John Boehner wanted to cut VA bill that just passed House
For veterans bill, Republicans put budget ax aside
By ANDREW TAYLOR (AP)
WASHINGTON — House Republicans who have spent months demanding spending cuts blanched Wednesday at their first opportunity to actually make them, instead joining Democrats in treating a bill to pay for veterans programs in 2011 as politically sacrosanct in an election year.
The veterans measure is the first of a dozen spending bills for the upcoming 2011 budget year to come up for a vote. Democrats, meanwhile, were doing some ducking and weaving of their own to avoid time-consuming floor debates and politically difficult votes on other measures.
It's of little surprise that Democrats picked the Veterans Affairs bill as the first in the appropriations pile to bring to a vote. It passed by a 411-6 vote.
Only a handful of others are likely to get as far before the November election, even though all 12 are supposed to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by the president before Oct. 1. Last year at this time, the House had passed all 12 bills.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered the only amendments to cut the veterans bill but withdrew them as soon as Democrats started making political hay out of them.
Boehner wanted to cut the Veterans Affairs Department's rapidly growing policy office as well as its congressional lobbying operation and skim $45 million from the VA's $3.3 billion request for computer systems, which the agency itself admits was too high.
read more here
For veterans bill
By ANDREW TAYLOR (AP)
WASHINGTON — House Republicans who have spent months demanding spending cuts blanched Wednesday at their first opportunity to actually make them, instead joining Democrats in treating a bill to pay for veterans programs in 2011 as politically sacrosanct in an election year.
The veterans measure is the first of a dozen spending bills for the upcoming 2011 budget year to come up for a vote. Democrats, meanwhile, were doing some ducking and weaving of their own to avoid time-consuming floor debates and politically difficult votes on other measures.
It's of little surprise that Democrats picked the Veterans Affairs bill as the first in the appropriations pile to bring to a vote. It passed by a 411-6 vote.
Only a handful of others are likely to get as far before the November election, even though all 12 are supposed to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by the president before Oct. 1. Last year at this time, the House had passed all 12 bills.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered the only amendments to cut the veterans bill but withdrew them as soon as Democrats started making political hay out of them.
Boehner wanted to cut the Veterans Affairs Department's rapidly growing policy office as well as its congressional lobbying operation and skim $45 million from the VA's $3.3 billion request for computer systems, which the agency itself admits was too high.
read more here
For veterans bill
Returning veterans deserve better
There are a lot of articles I read over the course of the day. Sometimes they get me angry and sometimes they offer hope. Most of the time, they remind me of what we went through when no one was talking about PTSD and reporters considered any reports about the fate of our veterans to be nothing more than "sour grapes" as they proceeded to hang up the phone.
When I married my husband in 1984, I knew Vietnam had taken hold of him but at the time no one was warning PTSD would get worse without treatment. We just assumed it was as bad as it would ever be. Now we know a lot more. You have to understand that it was not until the late 70's the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was being used by the mental health community and not until the 80's the VA used it. There really wasn't much known back then.
Nine years later, I felt as if I had entered into a world I had not known existed. A world where veterans are denied the medical care they needed to heal from combat. My Dad was 100% disabled Korean War vet. He was well taken care of so I assumed all veterans needing care got it. I realized how wrong I was when my husband's PTSD got worse. I was finally able to convince him to go to the VA for help but it was a six year battle to have his claim approved and his care covered by the VA. It was six years of hell trying to keep him alive, going for help at the same time I had to fight the VA because he had given up.
What was the problem? A wrong number typed in on a Bronze Star Award. The doctors tested him, diagnosed him with PTSD tied to Vietnam, just as a civilian doctor had done in 1990. None of that mattered because of the error on the award. We had all the documentation and since I knew first hand how veterans were treated, what they went through when claims were denied, I contacted a lot of local reporters but was told it was nothing more than "sour grapes" because his claim was denied. Had they bothered to even take a look at the documentation we had, they would know it was the truth and if it happened to my husband, it was happening to a lot of veterans, but they didn't bother. Long story short, I ended up talking to a General and he has his assistant track down the facts to have the award corrected. The VA soon after approved his claim.
Reading the following I can tell you that things have not changed that much when it comes to filling out claims and having the paperwork to back up the claim. What I find very hopeful in all of this is the fact so many reporters are willing to look at the facts and understand there is a problem in this country when disabled veterans are left to fend for themselves. After reading this I am very sad because of the memories it stirred up because I know when we read about claims denied, care delayed or another veteran falling thru the cracks, there are far too many more we will never hear about.
We can all agree they deserve the best care possible but no one can agree on how we get there from here. At least we're closer than ever before so take some comfort in that and keep fighting to make sure our veterans are all taken care of.
Editorial: Returning veterans deserve better
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jul 28, 2010 @ 12:56 PM
The story of Marine Staff Sgt. Curtis Long, who survived a bomb blast while serving in western Iraq in 2007, should remind us all of the toll the concurrent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking on our servicemen and women.
Long, 26, was riding in a mine-resistant truck when a 300-pound bomb went off, sending the truck flying 30 feet into the air. The blast knocked Long unconscious for five minutes.
After he returned from Iraq, Long was angry, emotionally distant from his family and numb, according to his wife, Ginny. He has since begun treatment for severe post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Long is far from alone in being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the Veterans Administration, more than 400,000 veterans are receiving benefits for the disorder, including 19,000 women. The Houston Chronicle reports that 20 percent of the 2 million soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 suffer from PTSD.
On July 13, the VA changes its rules and no longer required documented proof of events that might have caused the disorder and is encouraging veterans who had been denied benefits to apply again. Before that time, the VA made these men and women jump through hoops while seeking help. In one case, recounted in the Washington Post, the PTSD claim of an Air Force veteran was denied because of a spelling mistake on his forms.
click link for more
National Guardsman foreclosured on while in Iraq gets home back
Frisco soldier who lost home to foreclosure while in Iraq gets it back
07:21 AM CDT on Thursday, July 29, 2010
By VALERIE WIGGLESWORTH and ERINN CONNOR / The Dallas Morning News
The Frisco soldier and his family who lost their home to foreclosure while he was serving in Iraq will get the house back.
Army National Guard Capt. Michael Clauer and his wife, May, lost their $315,000 southwest Frisco home in May 2008 after falling behind on Heritage Lakes Homeowners Association dues.
The Clauers sued the association and subsequent buyers in federal court. A court-ordered settlement conference led to an agreement this week that gives the house back to the Clauers.
read more here
Frisco soldier who lost home to foreclosure
07:21 AM CDT on Thursday, July 29, 2010
By VALERIE WIGGLESWORTH and ERINN CONNOR / The Dallas Morning News
The Frisco soldier and his family who lost their home to foreclosure while he was serving in Iraq will get the house back.
Army National Guard Capt. Michael Clauer and his wife, May, lost their $315,000 southwest Frisco home in May 2008 after falling behind on Heritage Lakes Homeowners Association dues.
The Clauers sued the association and subsequent buyers in federal court. A court-ordered settlement conference led to an agreement this week that gives the house back to the Clauers.
read more here
Frisco soldier who lost home to foreclosure
Leaked military documents show search for soldier missing since 2009
Documents detail search for captive Idaho soldier
(AP)
BOISE, Idaho — Leaked military documents on the war in Afghanistan appear to provide details of the U.S. Army's search for an Idaho soldier captured last year by the Taliban.
Bowe Bergdahl, from Hailey, has been a captive since June 30, 2009.
read more here
Documents detail search for captive Idaho soldier
(AP)
BOISE, Idaho — Leaked military documents on the war in Afghanistan appear to provide details of the U.S. Army's search for an Idaho soldier captured last year by the Taliban.
Bowe Bergdahl, from Hailey, has been a captive since June 30, 2009.
read more here
Documents detail search for captive Idaho soldier
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