PTSD/TBI: Invisible Wounds and the Trillion Dollar Medical Blunder

PTSD has been known for centuries.

Sixty Minutes program from May 5 2013

(PORTLAND, OR) - CBS Sixty Minutes on May 5 2013, offered absolutely the best portrayal of the devastation caused by PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). I don't know if anyone can really separate these two entities because they both scramble the brain.

Both conditions have been known for a long time but because fighting soldiers have also been known as the bastions of machoism, any soldier who showed signs or complained about "battle fatigue" which is really "terror fatigue"- an old name for PTSD or "shellshock/concussion" for which the modern name is TBI would be considered a "sissy" and during WWI, they were routinely shot for being cowards. We have made little progress since.

In the US Army and Marines, the combat troops are given high doses of a wide variety of the so-called antidepressant drugs or their relatives, which in the words of the victims, cause zombification. Even when they get home from combat, they get the same melange of these highly dangerous and generally ineffective drugs. The worst part is that many veterans commit suicide with these same drugs.

I very highly recommend that everybody search for the CBS story online. The entire story is there.

I was hoping that there would be a typed script of the article, hopefully it will show up in print somewhere. CBS did provide comments from viewers of the program. There were 25 comments, most of which were praising the TV program, but there were some "bitches".

I will critique them.

One stated, "You don't want to 'overdiagnose' based on an imaging study". Heavens, no, it might show that all TBI victims really have a severe problem!

The use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) was part of the story but edited out. If these victims had micro-arteriolar vascular problems, HBOT might help. As it is now, the most useful therapy is anandamide or its surrogate, cannabis. Fifty percent of medical marijuana permits in New Mexico are for veterans with PTSD (or TBI). HBOT makes anybody feel better.

CANNABIS IS STILL THE BEST THERAPY FOR PTSD

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