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Another Reminder: War Sucks
Author: velveeta jones
Date: 04/29/2012 14:38:56
I was alerted to this article by Ncholas D. Kristof in the uber liberal New York Times. The Times, it should be noted, has historically been known for printing factual information, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.
That being said, this piece did appear in the "opinion" section of the NYT:
This degenerative brain condition can also be found in the brain of deceased football players and boxers and it sheds light on yet another problem that our troops must deal with once they return home.
Since this Marine was autopsied, there have been autopsies of a dozen or more other veterans’ brains at their death and they have repeatedly found C.T.E
This condition is similar to PTSD but is not a physiological condition like PSTD, rather a physical disease. So, in theory a soldier could have both conditions, or, be diagnosed with PTSD but actually have C.T.E.
PTSD can be treated with medicine and therapy, while C.T.E is a degenerative physical ailment, currently incurable disease that will worsen over the years. And we have no way to know who and how many soldiers are affected with it since it has only been discovered by autopsy.
Another reminder that war continues to suck.
That being said, this piece did appear in the "opinion" section of the NYT:
He was a 27-year-old former Marine, struggling to adjust to civilian life after two tours in Iraq. Once an A student, he now found himself unable to remember conversations, dates and routine bits of daily life. He became irritable, snapped at his children and withdrew from his family. He and his wife began divorce proceedings.
This young man took to alcohol, and a drunken car crash cost him his driver’s license. The Department of Veterans Affairs diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder, or P.T.S.D. When his parents hadn’t heard from him in two days, they asked the police to check on him. The officers found his body; he had hanged himself with a belt.
That story is devastatingly common, but the autopsy of this young man’s brain may have been historic. It revealed something startling that may shed light on the epidemic of suicides and other troubles experienced by veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His brain had been physically changed by a disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E.
This degenerative brain condition can also be found in the brain of deceased football players and boxers and it sheds light on yet another problem that our troops must deal with once they return home.
Since this Marine was autopsied, there have been autopsies of a dozen or more other veterans’ brains at their death and they have repeatedly found C.T.E
This condition is similar to PTSD but is not a physiological condition like PSTD, rather a physical disease. So, in theory a soldier could have both conditions, or, be diagnosed with PTSD but actually have C.T.E.
PTSD can be treated with medicine and therapy, while C.T.E is a degenerative physical ailment, currently incurable disease that will worsen over the years. And we have no way to know who and how many soldiers are affected with it since it has only been discovered by autopsy.
The discovery of C.T.E. in veterans could be stunningly important. Sadly, it could also suggest that the worst is yet to come, for C.T.E. typically develops in midlife, decades after exposure. If we are seeing C.T.E. now in war veterans, we may see much more in the coming years.
Dr. Stern emphasized that the study of C.T.E. is still in its infancy. But he said that his hunch is that C.T.E. accounts for a share — he has no idea how large — of veteran suicides. C.T.E. leads to a degenerative loss of memory and thinking ability and, eventually, to dementia. There is also often a pattern of depression, impulsiveness and, all too often, suicide. There is now no treatment, or even a way of diagnosing C.T.E. other than examining the brain after death.
So far, just this one case of a veteran with C.T.E. has been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. But at least three groups of scientists are now conducting brain autopsies on veterans, and they have found C.T.E. again and again, experts tell me. Publication of this research is in the works.
Another reminder that war continues to suck.
