Traumatic Brain Injury in Military Service Members.
A study reported in JAMA Neurology analyzed the early predictors of 5-year outcome after concussive blast traumatic brain injury. It identified "TBI diagnosis, preinjury intelligence, motor strength, verbal fluency, and neurobehavioral symptom severity at 1 year as risk factors for 5-year poor outcomes…Among these, neurobehavioral symptoms may be a particularly important modifiable target for early intervention in service members with concussion.” Although cognitive performance was not significantly different between patients with concussive blast TBI and combat-deployed controls, considerable disparities in psychiatric symptom severity were observed. Symptoms such as PTSD, depression and anxiety were significantly elevated in the participants with TBI and a substantial amount of individuals were found to have worsening impairment compared with their 1-year assessment. Chronic sleep impairment was also found to be significantly worse in patients with concussive blast TBI. Service members with concussive blast TBI experience evolution rather than resolution of symptoms from the 1- to 5-year outcomes. Even a small percentage of combat-deployed controls appeared to experience worsening over time. In both groups, this finding appears to be driven more by psychiatric symptoms than by cognitive deficits. "The rate of disability observed in concussive blast TBI is much higher than in otherwise comparable civilian studies, even in mild TBI with polytrauma, and speaks to a higher percentage of persistent post injury symptoms in service personnel,” according to findings cited in JAMA Neurology. 89% of veterans diagnosed with TBI also has a psychiatric diagnosis. The cost of health care in these cases being 4 times that of the veterans without TBI.
Many vets suffer with PTSD, physical disabilities and invisible disabilities. My understanding has grown considerably after reading Captain Luis C. Montalvan's books Until Tuesday and Tuesday's Promise by Hachette Books. Buried Alive is a new film that chronicles three people with PTSD over a six year period. It features Captain Montalvan and Tuesday. PTSD is broken trust. And treatment needs to be individualized for veterans who have PTSD. Besides service dogs, other effective treatments are cognitive therapy, group therapy, oxytocin hormonal treatment, I.V. ozone with German biologics for traumatic brain injuries and Good Gut products that change the intestinal microbiome bacterium and neurotransmitter production.
Natural Treatments to Support Healing
Time, Xymogen's Brain Sustain, Cerebrum Compositum I.V. and oral Nat. Sulph are some of the concussion recovery items I recommend. I have special RX homeopathic complex formulas that assist the brain in repairing connections.
We support all of our service members for their courage and sacrifice to defend our democracy with discounts for ozone therapy. Please call for details.
1. According to study findings, military service members with concussive blast traumatic brain injury (TBI) have worsened __________, compared to combat-deployed controls.
2. True or False. Many service members with concussive blast TBI were found to have evolution of symptoms rather than resolution of symptoms from the 1- to 5- year outcomes, which was driven more by psychiatric symptoms than by cognitive deficits
3. Compared with the civilian population, the rate of disability is higher among service members with __________.
4. Among risk factors for poor 5-year outcomes in service members with concussive blast TBI, which of the following is an especially important modifiable target for early intervention in service member patients with concussion?
5. Among veterans with both TBI and psychiatric diagnosis, studies found that the median cost of health care is approximately __________ that of veterans with only psychiatric diagnosis.
Answer Key:
1. D. A and C
2. A. True
3. A. Concussive Blast TBI
4. B.
5. C. 4 Times
For complete information, see:
Mac Donald CL, Barber J, Jordan M, et al. Early clinical predictors of 5-year outcome after concussive blast traumatic brain injury. [Published online ahead of print May 1, 2017]. JAMA Neurol. Accessed May 18, 2017.
