Veterans and Traumatic Brain Injury Information Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is another issue faced by many of our veterans. Research revolving around Endocannabinoids produced in the human brain has been going on for years. Cannabinoids are believed to reduce levels of glutamate, a toxic molecule, released after injury. Not only does it decrease the amount of free radicals and TNF (a chemical that causes inflammation) after injury, it, also, increases the blood supply to the brain. All these mechanisms are essential for limiting the damage done after the primary injury. Cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant have been known to help, but more research is needed. The rescheduling and legalization of medical cannabis across the country would be enough cover to allow doctors and researchers to work with this plant. Semper Fi fellow jar heads, l served with 1/9 in Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom and had a hard time coming to terms with using medical cannabis, but after the side effects of the pharmaceuticals the VA had me on, and my shrinks advice, l tried some. I seem to be doing better on it than the VAs pills – Clyde TBI also can produce movement and sensory disorders that disturb balance, vision, perception, and hearing. Headaches, pain, sleep disturbances, and fatigue are other frequent symptoms following TBI. The association of TBI with later development of Alzheimer’s disease or chronic traumatic encephalopathy is the subject of continued study. On December 10, 2012, VA published a proposed rule to amend its adjudication regulations concerning service connection for secondary illnesses associated with TBI. The proposed amendment is in response to a report of the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM), Gulf War and Health, Volume 7: Long-Term Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury. The effect of this proposal would be to establish that if a veteran who has a service-connected TBI also has one of five diagnosable illnesses, then that illness will be considered service connected as secondary to the TBI, which may provide additional benefits to the veteran. Specifically, VA’s proposed regulation states: (d) Traumatic brain injury. (1) In a veteran who has a service-connected traumatic brain injury, the following shall be held to be the proximate result of the service-connected traumatic brain injury (TBI), in the absence of clear evidence to the contrary: (i) Parkinsonism following moderate or severe TBI; (ii) Unprovoked seizures following moderate or severe TBI; (iii) Dementias (presenile dementia of the Alzheimer type and post-traumatic dementia) if manifest within 15 years following moderate or severe TBI; (iv) Depression, if manifest within 3 years of moderate or severe TBI, or within 12 months of mild TBI; or (v) Diseases of hormone deficiency that result from hypothalamo-pituitary changes if manifest within 12 months of moderate or severe TBI. VA received over 200 public comments on the proposed rule and is now preparing the final rule for publication. June 2013 Report from the Center for Disease Control, Report to Congress on Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Understanding the Public Health Problem among Current and Former Military Personnel (opens in a new window) From the report, incidence indicates the number of new cases that occur over time. It is usually expressed as a percentage of persons who will be affected during a year, or as a rate calculated as the number of persons who develop the condition during a period divided by the number of person-years at risk. From 2000 through 2011, a total of 235,046 service members (SMs) (4.2%) of the total 5,603,720 who served in all components of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps were diagnosed with a TBI. Click on the image for a larger view in a new window. The overall rate of TBI among active duty service members more than doubled from 720.3 per 100,000 SMs to 1,811.4 per 100,000 SMs from 2000 to 2011 (Figure 2). Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:03:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015