And how many will end up suffering from that damage?
Pipe bombs found at New Ulm college
Published April 20, 2007 06:23 pm - A veteran of the war in Iraq attending Martin Luther College has been detained in a psychiatric ward in New Ulm after police found two pipe bombs in a campus parking lot Friday morning.
*************
Family Says Iraq Changed Texas Soldier Charged in Explosives Case
SAN ANTONIO -- Sgt. Paul Miles' family knew something was different about him when he came back from Iraq. The Eagle Scout and former church missionary was jumpy. Behind the wheel, he would suddenly drive as if under attack. Later they would learn he built a bomb and used it to damage a statue of the Virgin Mary. Then, he killed a cat.
************
Soldier Says He Was Deployed With Head Injury
Army Specialist Paul Thurman stepped forward Friday as one of the 18 soldiers whose cases were cited by six senators in a letter to the Government Accountability Office requesting a review of alleged improper handling of traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and ungrounded personality disorder discharges.
A night of G.I. Resistance on National Television
CHECK IT OUT AND PASS IT ON!!!
IT TAKES ALL OF US TO GET THE WORD OUT!!!
On Monday May 7th 2007...there will be an historic night of GI resistance on national television as the Sundance Channel presents the U.S. broadcast premiere of both
Sir! No Sir! and The Ground Truth:
******************
Sir! No Sir!
Monday, May 7
The Sundance Channel
9 pm Eastern
8 pm Central
7 pm Mountain
6 pm Pacific
The Ground Truth
Monday, May 7
The Sundance Channel
10:30 pm Eastern
9:30 pm Central
8:30 pm Mountain
7:30 pm Pacific
*******************
This is a wonderful chance for millions of people to see these films that, together, link the tremendous movement of American soldiers against the Vietnam war with the growing opposition
among soldiers to the Iraq war today.
MAKE MAY 7TH A DAY THAT SPARKS A SURGE IN OPPOSITION AMONG SOLDIERS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS TO THIS HIDEOUS WAR .
After all, one good surge deserves another
WE URGE YOU TO GRAB THIS OPPORTUNITY.
1. Not Everyone has the Sundance Channel...
2. So if you do, PLEASE organize a house party to watch the films
and spread their influence among soldiers and civilians alike.
3. If you don't, find someone who does and offer to bring the chips.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ALREADY EXTRAORDINARY EFFECTS SIR! NO SIR! HAS HAD ON ACTIVE DUTY SOLDIERS AND VETS!!!
Sir! No Sir! - The Suppressed Story of the GI Movement to End the War in Vietnam
And Or:
The Ground Truth
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT HOW VETERANS FOR PEACE HAS USED SIR! NO SIR! FOR RESISTANCE
And throw your ‘Surge’ Support behind Iraq Veterans Against the War
As they grow in numbers and actions while Fighting to End This Present Day Debacle and Bring their Brothers and Sisters Home!
Also ‘Surge’ behind Iraq and Afganistan Veterans of America
As they, like us their brothers and sisters of past conflicts, Fight to climb that Mountain to get what was Promised to them by the Country They Served, for it’s a Constant Battle!
And throw your ‘Surge’ behind Vote Vets
As Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans have come back to the United States ready to take their sense of duty to the political arena, and continue their public service.
And don’t forget, Ilona Meaghers book:
Gets it’s release on May 1st and starts shipping! Pre-Order your copy today, if you haven’t, and start your journey of understanding and action of PTSD.
Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops
So you can help those returning from these present War Theaters by realizing what they have gone through and what those experiances have caused many to suffer from the Nightmares of Hell on Earth!
By learning more about Combat PTSD this Nation will be able to Understand and Better Treat those of the Military, and in Civilian Life, who experiance Traumatic Events that Haught them for the rest of their lives!
Please do ALL you can to make use of this National Broadcast.
Pass This Information On,
Make Sure Your Orginasations Post
And Send This Information Out as Well...
ENCOURAGE THE RESISTANCE!
BUSH DEMANDS MORE MONEY TO KILL MORE U.S. TROOPS
FIGHT HIM HERE, SO YOU WON’T HAVE TO FIGHT FOR HIM OVER THERE!
Soldier health scare back in news
Lori Brim cradled her son in her arms for three months before he died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Here is another Travesty going under the radar of what is, once again, happening to our Military Personal, Extremely Little Mention of DU and Denial by the Military and the Civilian Leadership if it is mentioned!
Where have I heard that before, oh ya Defoliants in 'Nam, and my brothers who Suffered and Died before it was admitted to, sheepishly, and still not being taken care as it should be!
Lori Brim poses for a portrait holding up a button to promote a campaign to raise awareness of the depleted uranium at her office at Riverside Bank in Holly Hill. The Ormond Beach resident believes her son Dustin died from exposure to depleted uranium when he was serving in Iraq.
Truthout has a Video Presentation On Depleted Uranium along with the Report!
Dustin Brim, a 22-year-old Army specialist had collapsed three years ago in Iraq from a very aggressive cancer that attacked his kidney, caused a mass to grow over his esophagus and collapsed a lung.
The problems she saw during her time at Walter Reed, including her son screaming in pain while doctors argued over medications, had nothing to do with mold and shabby conditions documented in recent news reports. What this mother saw was an unexplainable illness consuming her son.
And what she has learned since her son’s death is that his was not an isolated case.
OPPOSITION
The new study, which began in March, follows several that have been completed by the military into depleted uranium, a byproduct left when enriched uranium is separated out for use in nuclear power and atomic weapons. The Department of Energy gives it to arms makers, where its extreme density is valuable in the manufacture of armor and casings.
Despite a 1996 U.N. resolution opposing its use because of discovery of health problems after the first Gulf War, the military studies have concluded there was no evidence that exposure to the metal caused illnesses.
When was the last time you heard or listened to a report about 'Gulf War Syndrom' or even heard those three words mentioned?
The only ones talking about them are those suffering and dying, their families, and concerned Veterans and Civilians who's words are hushed up by this Apathedic Society!
Deja Vu All Over Again, and Again, and Again.................................................!
LAWS AND LAWSUITS
But Brim and others think there will not be enough known until soldiers are tested for exposure. They compare the debate over depleted uranium to the controversy surrounding Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide used to defoliate the jungles of Vietnam. Speculation over its effects continued for more than two decades before the Defense Department agreed to compensate veterans who suffered from ailments linked to its use.
We send them into War than We Refuse To Take Care Of Them When They Return!
This is at the bottom of the above report:
DEPLETED URANIUM NEWS UPDATES
Oct. 2006: President George W. Bush signed the Department of Defense Authorization legislation. The House amendment was authored and introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wa.) ordering a comprehensive study — with a report due in one year — on possible adverse health effects on U.S. soldiers from the U.S. military’s use of DU — Depleted Uranium. The Senate companion bill was backed by Joe Lieberman of Conn., a democrat at the time.
( McDermott’s Web site )
Feb. 6, 2007: The New York newspaper, The Post Chronicle, reported that U.S. government scientists at the Ames Laboratory in Iowa say they are close to developing nanostructured material of tungsten and metallic glass to eliminate the use of depleted uranium in ammunition. In a recent phone call by The News-Journal to senior scientist Dan Sordelet, reported to be leading the research team, he said he is "no longer working on that" and declined to give any further information.
March 23, 2007: The Tico Times of San Jose, Costa Rica, reported that the U.S. and Costa Rican activists are lobbying to enlist Costa Rica’s Nobel Peace Prize winner and disarmament defender to lead their uphill battle against the military use of a popular radioactive weapon.
April 3, 2007: ABC News Online, Australia, reports that the Australian Veterans Affairs Minister Bruce Billson says he is concerned the group "Depleted Uranium Silent Killer," which is opposed to the use of depleted uranium weapons, is using Gulf War veterans to run an anti-uranium scare campaign. The group says overseas tests confirm two Sunshine Coast veterans from the first Gulf War — one in the Army and the other in the Navy — were exposed to the heavy metal during their service 15 years ago.
April 10, 2007: Star Tribune (Minn., Mn.) reports a state Senate committee OK’d a bill providing for testing veteran national guardsmen returning from Iraq to see if dust from spent-uranium munitions has harmed them. Link
Also at the very bottom of the report, you'll also find this link:
SPECIAL REPORT - In their own words
Dustin Brim went into the Army a healthy man. A year later, he returned home. His body was riddled with incurable cancer. Could his own weapons and armor — made with a byproduct of enriched uranium — have been the cause?
There are report links from those suffering as well as a brief discription, for the laymen, on what 'Depleted Uranium' is.
It is regularly called the signature wound of the war in Iraq. It can happen when a Humvee rolls over, when a soldier finds himself the victim of a sniper's bullet, or when an improvised explosive device detonates nearby.
It is Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, and it can cause sleep disorders, memory problems and depression. Any troop within the vicinity of a blast is at risk, meaning tens and perhaps hundred of thousands of veterans will be affected. For many, the symptoms may be relatively mild, and the condition often goes undiagnosed. Gary Watts, a soldier who suffered TBI when his truck rolled down an embankment in Iraq, said that he initially had only 'a sore neck and a bad, bad headache.'1 Later, his TBI caused memory lapses and emotional outbursts.
In our 2007 Legislative Agenda, IAVA continued to lead the fight on TBI issues, calling for mandatory TBI screenings for all combat troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Then in April, an independent review group, appointed by Defense Secretary Gates to respond to the problems at Walter Reed, recommended troops be screened before and after their deployments. IAVA also worked with ABC on 'Bob Woodruff: To Iraq and Back', a powerful segment that follows Woodruff's long recovery from TBI, and looks at the care veterans with TBI are getting when they come home. This historic program shifted the debate and made TBI treatment a central issue for the nation. If you missed it the first time, you can watch it online.
Now, the VA has taken notice. This week, they issued a directive announcing that beginning in the spring, all troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who seek VA care will be screened for TBI. This is a major step in the right direction, and it's a major victory for IAVA and supporters like you. By reading these emails, keeping up on the issues, calling or writing Congress, and spreading the word to your friends, you really are making a difference. But there's more work to do.
This new policy will only affect the 1/3 of discharged Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans who have voluntarily sought medical care with the VA. The other 2/3 of discharged troops, approximately 400,000 young men and women, will not be screened. That's why we're calling for mandatory screenings for all troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Every single one of them.
Detecting and treating the invisible wounds of war is essential to ensuring the health of our newest veterans and the strength of our future fighting force.
In the coming months, we'll be fighting to ensure that this policy is broadened, and we'll need your help. Your commitment and support have made IAVA the most powerful new veterans group in the nation. Thank you for standing with us.
Rob Timmins
Iraq Veteran
Field Director
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Sources:
"Hidden Wounds Plague GIs", The Denver Post, April 16, 2007***************Today, as a result of Veterans for America's work at Fort Carson, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators called on the Government Accountability Office to launch an investigation into the treatment of servicemembers suffering from PTSD and other mental health conditions as a result of their service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I'm writing to let you know about this important milestone in our work. Please see the letter from the Senators, as well as this article in Army Times.
We also ask for your continued support for our work. You can help us continue this work by making a donation today at:
Veterans for America - Donate
As always, thank you for your continued support of Veterans for America.
Sincerely,
Bobby Muller
President
We have created a situation of dire future destructive action no matter what we do, but the longer we stay there the more Dangerous this World will become for future generations! This is Not a Vietnam all over, it's Much Worse!
Everyone is talking about whether the United States should withdraw from Iraq. But is anyone actually planning for that day?
No Exit: Authorized personnel and civilians rush to board a Marine helicopter during the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam in April 1975. Bush says chaos will ensue in Iraq if Americans similarly flee.
Yet there's a growing sense among both America's allies and its enemies that U.S. combat troops, at least, will be out of Iraq by the end of next year. The House bill calls for withdrawal by August 2008; the Senate sets a nonbinding goal of March 31. But the bottom line is the same: goodbye to Baghdad. "The implosion of domestic support for the war will compel the disengagement of U.S. forces," writes Steven N. Simon of the Council on Foreign Relations. "It is now just a matter of time." West Point's Gen. Barry McCaffrey, after an intense week of briefings in Iraq last month, warns that the American military cannot sustain this level of commitment for much more than another year. The U.S. Army "is going to start to unravel" because it is stretched so thin by the war, he says.
Violence like that at Virginia Tech is commonplace in Iraq's universities
April 17, 2007.
Joshua Holland: Tragedy brings perspective.
Just take a step back for a moment and think about how frightening those shootings at VA Tech were yesterday, and then consider -- painful though it may be to do so -- that Iraqis face that kind of massacre every day, and they have done so for several years. As Larry Johnson points out, below, 32 people died in Virginia on Monday and 65 perished in separate attacks in Iraq the day before. The latter hardly made the news.
Consider, also, a small piece of the nightmare that our government unleashed: the violence that's plagued Iraqi universities during the occupation.
**********Guns are for killing
April 17, 2007.
Jane Smiley: What I think about guns.
Some years ago, I was talking to a man about guns. At the time, I didn't really know anyone with guns (still don't), but he did. He had had guns himself. He said, "I gave my gun away, because when I had it, every time something happened that made me mad, my mind would start circling around that gun, and I would be thinking about using it.
But first an Alert that could be very Important:
Alert: Who is threatening our elected officials?
The following was in one of my In-Boxes when I returned from work. anyone who visits group boards or gets the postings in their E-Boxes, or any of the many political boards, and reads something that might click the contact information is enclosed in the message: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 3:49 PM
We need your help to ensure that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation catches the person who threatened a Colorado elected official.
On Saturday, April 7, 2007, Colorado State Senator Nancy Spence received a threatening e-mail that said her grandchildren "will pay" for her stance on an education issue. (Rocky Mountain News, April 10, 2007)
Since then, Sen. Spence said police are providing security at her grandchildren's homes and at their schools while the Colorado Bureau of Investigation investigates the source of this e-mail.
Spence stated that "the person who wrote it will be prosecuted." (RMN)
Threatening any elected official or their family cannot be tolerated. Click below to support the call that the person or persons who wrote this threatening email be prosecuted to the full extent of the law:
Progress Now Action - Stop Threats
The e-mail came from an "Ed Barger" at cea98barger@yahoo.com. Here are a few facts:
1. The Colorado Education Association has never heard of an "Ed Barger," and the group uses "NEA" for National Education Association instead of "CEA" in its email.
2. The email was cc'd to political reporter Lynn Bartels at the Rocky Mountain News, and may have been bcc'd to even more members of the media. "Lynn Bartels" appears as "Bartels, Lynn," so it appears this person is a regular sender who had her email in his/her address book.
3. The email referred to specific legislation that Senator Spence was carrying and also referred to a little-known right-wing blog.
4. While the email spells out a number of insider terms correctly, it was signed "the edcation panthers", and there is no such group with or without the obvious misspelling.
Click the link below to confidentially submit any tips or clues that might be helpful to the CBI in this investigation:
Progress Now Action - Tipline
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Michael Huttner
Executive Director
Progress Now Action
***************CIVIC {Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict} and others are asking for your Help that would Help tens of thousands of Innocents Around The World:
Farah Arkan Abdulah Majid lost her mother, an unborn sibling, her father, two uncles and a grandmother to US bombing during the Iraq war. Through the work of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) and its founder Marla Ruzicka, the family obtained a $5000 sympathy payment from the US government.Baghdad, Iraq. 27/04/2004Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the death of Marla Ruzicka. On April 16, 2005, she was killed along with her Iraqi colleague, Faiz Ali Salim, by a suicide car bombing in Baghdad.
A passionate advocate for civilian victims of war, Marla was a trusted colleague and valued friend. In 2003, she founded the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) to advocate recognition and assistance for the innocent victims of armed conflict.
To honor the life and work of Marla Ruzicka, EPIC is partnering with her organization, CIVIC, to build public support for the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S.594). Introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), S.594 seeks to limit one of the world's most indiscriminate and deadly weapons: cluster bombs.
We need your help. Ask your Senators to co-sponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S.594) limiting the use, sale and transfer of cluster bombs to protect civilian lives.
Despite the seriousness of this problem, the United States currently has no rules prohibiting the use of these deadly weapons in civilian areas once they are sold to nations outside our borders. Although intended for the battlefield, these weapons frequently contaminate areas where civilians live, causing death and injury to innocent men, women, and far too many children. Even when conflicts end, unexploded cluster bomblets are often left behind, posing a constant threat for years to come.
Join us in remembering Marla in the way that she would want, by acting to help protect and assist civilians in Iraq and other conflict zones. Ask your Senators to cosponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act by sending a letter via CIVIC’s Action Center. Your letters can help protect the lives of innocent civilians from the indiscriminate use of cluster bombs.
Sincerely,
Erik Gustafson
Education for Peace in Iraq Center
P.S. Our thoughts are with Marla's family and friends. To learn more about the inspiring work and life of Marla Ruzicka, visit EPIC's Ground Truth blog.
When Memories Are Scars
By Matt Bean, Men's Health
The report, in a section about mens health, should have been written to cover all human beings. For Tramatic Experiances that bring about PTSD is not unique to Man but also to Women and, in my oppinion, Women can and do have a greater veriaty of tramatic experiances that can alter the brain brought on them by who else but Men.
The lead in to this report is just below.
Harrowing experiences damage the brain. New drugs promise to heal it. Could the end of posttraumatic stress be near?
Could there be a wonder drug that erases Trauma from someones brain activity giving them a better life because they no longer have the memories, I'm Skeptical, though I'm a skeptical person not only about drugs, of which this society takes far too many of, but of most all products brought out, I watch for Long Term Results and if they do as advertised, not creating more problems down the road.
I'm not the only one and this report does touch on that at the end.
The Brain is still a myterious organ in all living creatures, but especially in the Human Animal.
We now know so much about it, but there is still much more to learn.
Roger Pitman, M.D., hunts nightmares for a living. Not the vivid phantasmagoria populated by zombies or disembodied skulls, or even the nude-at-the-podium orations that leave us blushing in our sleep. He's after the nonfiction variety, the indelible, enduring flashbacks that stick in our heads after reality goes awry: a saw blade meeting flesh {happened to me-js}, say, or an improvised explosive device overturning a Humvee.
I give cuts of each section of the report below. For a better understanding visit the site When Memories Are Scars and read the full 5 page report to draw your own conclusions.
Fade Away
Carney is one of dozens of accident victims that Dr. Pitman and his team have culled from Boston emergency rooms to study a drug called propranolol. The study is double-blind—no one, least of all Carney, knows whether the pill he took was a placebo or propranolol. But the contractor hopes he'll get lucky and will be able to stop the spiral of substance abuse, irritability, and insomnia that started with the stabbing at the construction site.
PTSD is not new, nor only a phenomenon that happens to Military personal in War Theaters, of which we as a World Population seem to leave out mention and concern of the Citizens of those theaters. PTSD can happen to anyone that has experianced a Tramatic Event in their lives, from little children to adults, at anytime and anyplace. No one can determine who might have the results leading to PTSD and who might not, the report touches on this also.
Surviving Trauma
We all have things we'd like to forget. And some of us have things we can't bear to remember. According to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 61 percent of American men will be exposed to a traumatic event in their lifetimes. And, according to the National Comorbidity Survey, 5 percent of men nationwide will develop PTSD at some point in their lives. These men include 9/11 survivors, Hurricane Katrina victims, and, increasingly, military veterans: According to a 2005 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 17 percent of Iraq war veterans suffer from PTSD, anxiety, or depression.
See what I say about being just about men.
But the disorder also hits closer to home. Domestic disputes, burglaries, accidents, and even surgeries can engrave malignant memories on the brain. One recent study suggests that more than 15 percent of heart-attack victims suffer from PTSD, slowing recovery and increasing chances of a second attack.
Just as cancer researchers have made countless discoveries about how normal cells live and die, so have PTSD researchers used their unique niche to shine a broader spotlight on the delicate interaction between the brain and the body. And what they've learned has implications far beyond PTSD. It could change how we think about stress altogether.
I admire and respect the many researchers that have taken on the study of PTSD and other Brain disorders that come about as to life experiances. There has been tremendous learning and work accomplished especially since it was Finally recognized as we returned from the Vietnam Fiasco, some of it resulting in advances that can Help those that develope these disorders/changes of the brain.
I'm skeptical of the now extremely large drug corporations and researchers that have sold out for wealth over health! As it has now developed into the 'Pop a Pill' to take care of everything we as individuals feel we have wrong with our bodies. Especially in this country. We have a rarely mentioned 'War on Drugs' {what a misnomer} going on while we push more and more drugs at the population that seem to take care of everything with many people jumping on that wagon concerning themselves little about what other damage might be happening in other areas of our bodies, to our other organs, as a result of these many prescribed and over the counter Drugs.
The counters in stores are Full of them. And the large part of the population taking huge amounts of illegal drugs, well that's another story that many of us see the results of daily.
All in a Day's Work
Kyle is the sort of solitary woodworker who'd rather fashion the occasional cabinet in his garage workshop than work behind the big-mill, big-money lumber machines that churn thousands of logs into millions of planks each day. But in the winter of 2005, his family short on cash, he went back to the mill, reluctant but resolute.
I found it really interesting that these first two, in the report, follow the profession I'm in. Only for me I'm a woodworker {and many other trades in the construction industry} that ply the trade in the field, both commercial and residential, and like lost professional woodworkers solitary ain't bad, we do our best work when mind and hands work without outside interferance from others. But team us up and if on the same page, from beginning to end, the results are faster and of the same prideful quality. The minds playing a big roll.
The Role of Adrenaline
Posttraumatic stress amounts to a spectacular breakdown of what is normally a very helpful mechanism. Bundling an emotional component with a memory dovetails with Darwin's theory of natural selection, says Dr. Pitman. "If you, as a Paleolithic man, happen to be taking a new route to the watering hole one day and encounter a crocodile, you'd better remember that crocodile," he says. "If you don't, you'll be eliminated from the gene pool. Adrenaline not only helps you escape, but strengthens that emotional component to make sure you won't forget."
Erasing Memories from the Hard Drive
Propranolol is part of a class of drugs called beta-blockers already being used to treat real-time anxiety disorders, such as performance anxiety in public speakers. Dr. Pitman's study hinges on administering the drug within 6 hours of a traumatic event. And other researchers have been stretching the window even further—uncovering new revelations about how memories are made and stored in the brain. "The old story was that once memories are stored, they're stored forever," says Karim Nader, Ph.D., a researcher at McGill University, in Montreal. Nader specializes in the relatively new field of memory "reconsolidation," the subsequent revision of a memory after it's already been transferred into long-term storage. "But what I found is that once you access a memory, you have to restore it. It's kind of like taking a file off the hard drive and putting it into RAM—you have to save it to the hard drive all over again, or parts of it can get lost."
Similar to the missing{?} White House E-Mails {just had to put that in}.
For with Age one finds that you have to dig much deeper in your experiances to bring up a memory you might need in the present, and it can be done. For with each passing day more memories are added to our 'harddrives' but the head and brain get no larger, just more cluttered, what a wonder.
"Nobody knows when they're going to be in a car accident, or be raped, or be kidnapped, so trying to give them a pill within 6 hours of the trauma is difficult," he says. "But we can control the memory now, bringing it back to the point of sensitivity no matter when it occurred. This could have implications for all kinds of problems: drug addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or anything where you need to change the wiring in the brain."
Stress Resistance
Aikins, a soft-spoken researcher charged with helping the Department of Veterans Affairs plan its approach to treating the waves of soldiers returning from Iraq, designed an experiment to compare how the soldiers would react to two different stimuli: an innocuous pulse of light, and a pulse of light paired with a slight electrical shock. He found that soldiers who overreacted to the innocuous stimulus were more likely to develop PTSD in Iraq if exposed to a traumatic event (95 percent of active-duty members are) than the cool-hand Lukes in the crowd. What could the key physiological difference be? A chemical called neuropeptide Y
.
Flight-or-Flight Response
The consequence of having a brain tuned to change with even minor stress, however, is that it's extra-sensitive to overload by extreme stress. Over the past decade, molecular biologists have begun to unravel how this happens at the cellular level.
"The brain is like a collection of mobile phone networks," says Hermona Soreq, Ph.D., a Jerusalem-based neurobiologist who has developed a drug to block PTSD at the DNA level. "They all communicate within themselves, but also within each other. We know that when there is a big disaster, like the recent missile attacks, the network crashes. That's posttraumatic stress for you. That's what we see in the shelters and streets every day."
Will these drugs be long term cures, if you will, for the brains of the sufferer or will they bring on more damage down the road just for a seemingly quick fix in the present?
Playing God with the Brain
"That's like playing god with the brain," says Barry Romo, a national coordinator with a Vietnam-veterans antiwar group. "One of the things that keeps us from remaking mistakes is looking back and having regret, as opposed to thinking, Well ..., that was a close shave, but at least I'm okay."
I agree with Barry, not because I'm also a Vietnam Vet and blong to Veterans Anti War Groups, but because I've been a long time activist for Veterans of War Theaters, some known many others just known about, who suffer the nightmares and tramatic events in their present lives from what they experianced in these Theaters of Man's Hell on earth! And as an activist, but not a professional in the fields of study, have read about, talked to those who suffer, and tried to keep updated on what the more intelligent and caring in the professions are finding out.
{"is looking back and having regret", whom comes to mind when reading those six words? I can picture Many and some are those we hire to lead, especially in the present}
Romo, one of a small but very vocal group of critics of Soreq's and Dr. Pitman's research, worries that the way we interpret memories, whether terrifyingly vivid or naive and nostalgic, is part of who we are as individuals. To tinker with that is to step onto unsteady ethical ground.
Whole Heartedly Agree!!
But still carry a Hope that many things can be accomplished with no lasting or lingering damages not known or studied, only to be worse in the future!
Avoiding Abuse
"I think people have a right to have medication, if they need it, but I have to wonder what these drugs will be used for in the hands of police or the military or someone who doesn't deserve them," he says. "We don't want to create a bunch of storm troopers who can do anything they want without having to worry about the repercussions."
In the directions I'm watching, especially this nation has been taking, this is another fear for the future generations that worry me! Each generation should be even more Skeptical of what they hear and see, and especially listening to what others are saying, others that should be trusted, for are they really trustworthy and honest, or do they have have other individual goals they can only reach through completely fooling the masses!
"Some people go through years and years of torture," he says. "Should we mess with their memories? Should we be able to take those thoughts away? Absolutely. We want to act as though nothing happened, but it's never that easy."
We Must Be Very Careful
These were links that are with the above report:
Read More on PTSD and Trauma:
Would You Take a Pill to Erase Traumatic Memories?
Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Treatment Options for PTSD
Read More on Depression:
Is It SAD?
Are You Depressed?
Reality Check: Depression
Now, not to just keep pushing Ilona Meagher's coming book, But:
Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops
May 1st 2007 starts the selling of it.
Hoping that her Dedication and Heartfelt feelings, having grown on the subject of PTSD and especially the present day returning troops, makes it a Best Seller and hits the Best Selling lists of many publications, something I would really like to see and not only myself but other Veterans of our many Theaters of Conflicts and the Innocents of same, I will Unabashedly Keep Pushing this fine referance work.
Her work, and that of her many Dedicated helpers over at ePluribus Media helped put together a Great Referance book, especially for those who grew up in the Denial Years after this countries Debacle of Vietnam and knew, or heard, little about PTSD.
It's a Great Starting Point of understanding with a whole host of other referances that should be tapped into to get a much better understanding of what can and does happen to many, and could happen to you or someone close to you!
Visit Ilona's Site - PTSD Combat, often, for with all she's got going on she keeps everyone up to date on her findings and thoughts. Like this one A Personal Call to Keep Pushing for Our Veterans which is dated yesterday and found when going in to get her url, full of recent information and links.
Visit ePluribus Timelines for a host of reports that could very well be signs of the PTSD invading others from the returning troops to those who experianced, and lived through, Hurricane Katrina.
Get Involved in understanding better PTSD and other brain disorders that develope because of Tramatic Experiances that many go through that change the minds forever! As I said in the beginning, these can happen to little ones to us adults, many do not escape the memories that Tramatic Events leave behind!
