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Brain Scans Reveals Invisible Damage Of PTSD

2009-11-13T17:35:24Z

WASHINGTON — Powerful scans are letting doctors watch just how the brain changes in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion-like brain injuries – signature damage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

It's work that one day may allow far easier diagnosis for patients – civilian or military – who today struggle to get help for these largely invisible disorders. For now it brings a powerful message: Problems too often shrugged off as "just in your head" in fact do have physical signs, now that scientists are learning where and how to look for them.

"There's something different in your brain," explains Dr. Jasmeet Pannu Hayes of Boston University, who is helping to lead that research at the Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD. "Just putting a real physical marker there, saying that this is a real thing," encourages more people to seek care.

Up to one in five U.S. veterans from the long-running combat in Iraq and Afghanistan is thought to have symptoms of PTSD. An equal number are believed to have suffered traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs – most that don't involve open wounds but hidden damage caused by explosion's pressure wave.

Many of those TBIs are considered similar to a concussion, but because symptoms may not be apparent immediately, many soldiers are exposed multiple times, despite evidence from the sports world that damage can add up, especially if there's little time between assaults.

"My brain has been rattled," is how a recently retired Marine whom Hayes identifies only as Sgt. N described the 50 to 60 explosions he estimates he felt while part of an ordnance disposal unit.

Hayes studied the man in a new way, tracking how water flows through tiny, celery stalk-like nerve fibers in his brain – and found otherwise undetectable evidence that those fibers were damaged in a brain region that explained his memory problems and confusion.

It's a noninvasive technique called "diffusion tensor imaging" that merely adds a little time to a standard MRI scan. Water molecules constantly move, bumping into each other and then bouncing away. Measuring the direction and speed of that diffusion in nerve fibers can tell if the fibers are intact or damaged. Those fibers are sort of a highway along which the brain's cells communicate. The bigger the gaps, the more interrupted the brain's work becomes.

"Sgt. N's brain is very different," Hayes told a military medical meeting last week. "His connective tissue has been largely compromised."

There's a remarkable overlap of symptoms between those brain injuries and PTSD, says Dr. James Kelly, a University of Colorado neurologist tapped to lead the military's new National Intrepid Center of Excellence. It will open next year in Bethesda, Md., to treat both conditions.

Yes, headaches are a hallmark of TBI while the classic PTSD symptoms are flashbacks and nightmares. But both tend to cause memory and attention problems, anxiety, irritability, depression and insomnia. That means the two disorders share brain regions.

And Hayes can measure how some of those regions go awry in the vicious cycle that is PTSD, where patients feel like they're reliving a trauma instead of understanding that it's just a memory.

What happens? A brain processing system that includes the amygdala – the fear hot spot – becomes overactive. Other regions important for attention and memory, regions that usually moderate our response to fear, are tamped down.

"The good news is this neural signal is not permanent. It can change with treatment," Hayes says.

Her lab performed MRI scans while patients either tried to suppress their negative memories, or followed PTSD therapy and changed how they thought about their trauma. That fear-processing region quickly cooled down when people followed the PTSD therapy.

It's work that has implications far beyond the military: About a quarter of a million Americans will develop PTSD at some point in their lives. Anyone can develop it after a terrifying experience, from a car accident or hurricane to rape or child abuse.

More research is needed for the scans to be used in diagnosing either PTSD or a TBI. But some are getting close – like another MRI-based test that can spot lingering traces of iron left over from bleeding, thus signaling a healed TBI. If the brain was hit hard enough to bleed, then more delicate nerve pathways surely were damaged, too, Kelly notes.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE – Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

Surviving Cancer: Today Is My Cancerversary

2009-11-13T17:18:10Z

I may never be cured, but eight years later, I am still here. And I am a wife, a mother, a pregnant lady and (pretty much) cancer free. I could never have imagined all of that when I first heard the words, "You have cancer" eight years ago.

Marigold Soothes Skin

2009-11-13T16:43:55Z

Herbal advocates have long promoted extracts from the plant Calendula officinalis, also known as the marigold, as a substitute.

PTSD: Fort Hood Shooting Shines Spotlight

2009-11-13T16:38:17Z

Rates of PTSD, which may or may not have played a role in Hasan's case, along with traumatic brain injuries, are soaring, and are a leading cause of suicide among veterans and active duty troops, officials say.

Humans Still Evolving As Brain Shrinks

2009-11-13T16:25:07Z

Evolution in humans is commonly thought to have essentially stopped in recent times. But there are plenty of examples that the human race is still evolving, including our brains, and there are even signs that our evolution may be accelerating.

Yoga Helps Kids Channel Energy, Emotions

2009-11-13T16:12:14Z

Once an oddity reserved for only the crunchiest communities, downward dog for the grade-school set is now being taught in studios from Minnetonka, Minnesota, to Moscow, Russia.

Few Americans Make End-Of-Life Wishes Known

2009-11-12T17:27:59Z

Unlike most Americans, Lillian Landry made her end-of-life decisions years ago: no heroic measures to save her and even instructions on the bar where mourners should gather.

Weight Gain Linked To Bacteria In Intestines

2009-11-12T14:51:03Z

A high-fat, high-sugar diet does more than pump calories into your body. It also alters the composition of bacteria in your intestines, making it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it

Atlantic: Did Christianity Cause The Housing Crash?

2009-11-12T13:13:37Z

America's churches always reflect shifts in the broader culture, and Casa del Padre is no exception. The message that Jesus blesses believers with riches first showed up in the postwar years, at a time when Americans began to believe that greater comfort could be accessible to everyone, not just the landed class. But it really took off during the boom years of the 1990s, and has continued to spread ever since. This stitched-together, homegrown theology, known as the prosperity gospel, is not a clearly defined denomination, but a strain of belief that runs through the Pentecostal Church and a surprising number of mainstream evangelical churches, with varying degrees of intensity. In Garay's church, God is the "Owner of All the Silver and Gold," and with enough faith, any believer can access the inheritance. Money is not the dull stuff of hourly wages and bank-account statements, but a magical substance that comes as a gift from above. Even in these hard times, it is discouraged, in such churches, to fall into despair about the things you cannot afford. "Instead of saying 'I'm poor,' say 'I'm rich,'" Garay's wife, Hazael, told me one day. "The word of God will manifest itself in reality."

"Happiness Is" Film Says Giving Is The Way To Contentment

2009-11-12T03:37:31Z

In 2006, documentary filmmaker Andrew Shapter was on a tour promoting his first film, "Before the Music Dies" when someone asked him what he planned to do next.

Shapter laughed. He had quit his 20-year fashion photography career to look for more meaning in his life, and this film and subsequent tour had taken over all of his time.

"The next subject I do for a movie, I'll have to live with it the rest of my life, so it better make me happy," Shapter had joked.

But then Shapter got to thinking. Had anyone really done a documentary on what makes people happy? He knew there were movies that showed people overcoming obstacles or instructional videos on how to change your life to be happier. But had anyone investigated how Americans choose to find happiness in their own lives?

The Declaration of Independence has endowed us with "certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

But Shapter wanted to know what that last bit, "the pursuit of Happiness" really means in America today. How are people pursuing happiness in their own lives? Is happiness really something, as humans, we can actively pursue? So he and a small crew piled into an RV, and over the course of the next three years, drove across America to find out.

"I asked people, 'what is it that makes you happy, what is your pursuit of happiness and how do you achieve it?' I looked for people that are really satisfied with what they are doing in their lives," Shapter said.

"The more I went around and had these soul-searching conversations, I realized the people who were happiest were those who tried to make their community better. Those were the happiest people around."

Shapter's new movie "Happiness Is" documents his journey and the people he found along the way who believe they have found a way to pursue happiness. Shapter also interviews celebrities and leaders -- the Dalai Lama and Willie Nelson both make brief appearances in the movie.

But most of the documentary is dedicated to happenstance; recorded moments where the filmmaker and his crew stumble upon scenes where people are celebrating the act of giving back.

Shapter provided us an exclusive clip of one motorcycle gang's pursuit of happiness he discovered while stopping for gas:

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Making this movie, Shapter said, has affected his life in significant ways. "I don't have an agenda, there are no political issues. It's about a common bond to help people out -- there's no call to government action, just a call to stop what you're doing, get off your butt and help somebody. You'll have a better day. My life is a lot happier now that we're touring this film and motivating people to get up and help in their own neighborhood."

Like the film, the screening tour is a bit unconventional: Shapter plans screenings across the country at venues provided by nonprofits in need. Then, he donates all the ticket proceeds to benefit the charity that hosts the screening. Production and tour costs are paid for through the purchase of DVDs and downloads, available at the screenings and on the film's online store.

At the very first screening, "Happiness Is" raised $10,000 for CapCityKids in Austin, Texas.

"I plan on touring this film as long as people need it, as long as benefits need to happen," Shapter said. "I don't see an end to this. I hope that nonprofits that are hurting will get a venue and bring people together to raise awareness and money. It's a long journey."

"Happiness Is" has screenings scheduled all around the country. You can find one near you on their interactive map.

You can also visit the site to learn more about hosting a screening and the nonprofits the tour already supports.

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Invention Washes Away Sins -- Without Flu Fears

2009-11-11T22:46:09Z

An Italian inventor has combined faith and ingenuity to come up with a way to keep church traditions alive without the fear of contracting swine flu -- an electronic holy water dispenser.

BPA Tied To Impotence In Men

2009-11-11T21:38:58Z

Exposure to high levels of BPA significantly raised the risk of sexual dysfunction, including impotence and low sex drive, among Chinese factory workers, a new study has found.

Messages To Fallen Soldiers: Myspace Memorials (SLIDESHOW)

2009-11-11T21:00:13Z

Thousands of American men and women have lost their lives in the Global War on Terror since it began in 2001. For the loved ones left behind, the MySpace and Facebook pages of those who died often serve an online memorial that can be pored over and added to indefinitely. Messages to the dead stream in on birthdays and holidays like Veterans Day or the Fourth of July, testifying that lives at home are irreparably changed by what happens in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Click through to see some of the most moving MySpace notes to service members who died in service.

Veteran's Day: Your Stories and Memories

2009-11-11T20:26:46Z

In honor of Veteran's Day, the HuffPost asked readers to send in stories and videos about those who served and how war has impacted your life. You can share your story here. We received an overwhelming response from veterans themselves, as well as their friends and family members. Here is what people wrote:

Charla A. from Killeen, Texas spoke movingly about the loss--in one sense--of her brother:

I lost my brother in Iraq. As is customary, two soldiers never knocked on the door to my family's home to bring us the news of his departure.

We never had to go through the painstaking task of planning a funeral. There was no obituary to submit, no memorial service to attend. No one called to offer their prayers, support, or condolences. It was not necessary to put his last affairs in order, no business was left unfinished.

He was not married, and leaves behind no children of his own. He does leave a grieving mother, a brother who used to be his right-hand man, two younger sisters, a nephew who adores him, and countless other friends and family members.

Our grief process did not start immediately after we lost him, but it lingers and persists to this day. We miss his once easy smiles, his presence, and his personality. Today, nothing is the same, and day after day we wonder when things will go back to normal; if things will go back to normal. All we know is that there is nothing we can do to ease our loss, to stop the pain.

We will hold on to the memories, and we all look back and remember the good times we shared with him.

When I say I lost my brother in Iraq, most people would assume he is dead. Contrary to that, he is alive; living and breathing. We didn't lose my brother to an IED, a roadside bomb, friendly fire, or intense enemy combat. We lost him to a battle he fights daily within his own mind; mental illness. When he returned, none of his injuries were visible, he seemed to come back and fit right back into things. It took months for us to realize that the young lively Army private that we dreadfully sent to Iraq, never returned. Instead, we got a person that none of us recognize.

It is hard to be around a person you love while they are mentally ill, because that person is no longer who you have always known them to be.

On this veteran's day, I just want people to realize that the effects of war are long-lasting, and that there are thousands of veterans and active duty soldiers who suffer silently. They are dying inside, fighting battles within themselves that many of us could never, will never, understand. Many families are in my family's shoes; they have sent soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan, only to have them return and be completely different people.

Pray until something happens, and never give up hope. God bless my family and yours, God bless America!

Dennis Sprague from Murphy, North Carolina asks us to remember the lessons of past wars and how they affected those who fought in them:

I was in the Marine Corp from '65 to '69; all of '66 in Vietnam. I just recently learned about being exposed to Agent Orange; Dioxin. Of the 30 or so symptoms listed for Dioxin, I have about 20. My hearing was bad enough to keep me from becoming a police officer after I got out, and the ringing in my ears hasn't stopped since qualifying in boot camp. I have also just learned that I probably can't get any medical help from the VA. All of this doesn't matter. What does matter is that the lesson of the futility of the War was lost; no one remembers or cares and it continues today for a new generation. Damn the "military industrial complex."

Jim Pankey from Hemet, California is proud to be part of the veterans community:

I'm a Vietnam veteran and spent almost 3 years in the Armed Forces Retirement Home (formerly Naval Home) in Gulfport, Mississippi. I was privileged to get to know men and women of the various branches of services from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, lesser known military actions like Panama Lebanon, and Kosovo...when I left in 2005 it was a sad departure for me, leaving this Home of Heroes and seeing the beginning of its demise.

The spirit of the members of the armed services is alive and well, and I am proud to have served.

I lost friends and relatives in wars, and my family on both sides lost members in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. The enemies were human, too, and lost even more. I think war is terrible and should be a last resort, not the spearhead of diplomacy.

Here's to the souls of the lost. Rest In Peace.

Dave McGrath from Idaho Falls, Idaho laments how little care veterans receive when they return home:

When I left the service, there was no party, no transition service, no support. This wasn't so long ago. No education. No preparation for what's next.
I've made it - and made it well - but all without support of any "mechanism" to ease me back into the "system" or at least to civilian life. I had the Montgomery Bill - but who has time to use it when you are raising a family? The bills are NOW - and they aren't waiting for school.

And my transition was in the best of times - between wars, with a nation flush with cash.

I don't think past vets had it any better.

I don't think current vets have it any better.

America - you don't care for your warriors - unless they are dead. And then you just give them sterile monuments of steel, bronze or marble. That is cold comfort.

I have siblings who have served. And now I have children who serve. I am proud to have served - and proud of their service. But I warn them: your nation does not care for you, and will not care for you - whether come back broken or seemingly whole. You are doing this for you. You are doing this for your hope. You are doing this for what you think can be - what could be. You are doing this for what should be.

Tomorrow I will go to work. For a government institution. Tomorrow (if it is like every other Veteran's Day for the last 13 years since I left my beloved service) no one will say "Thank you." No one will recognize the service. No one will acknowledge that there is a warrior in their midst. Of course corporate will send their obligatory email. But my coworkers don't even know. The fact of service is an embarrassment to them - it means something is probably wrong with me.

But, its OK. I didn't do it for them. I did it for me. For what I hope for. For what can be. For what I hope should be. It is good they don't realize that they are dependent upon the sacrifices of others like me. For what they have. For their dull, dull lives.

Douglas Stevens from Lindstrom, Minnesota wonders why soldiers who fought in the cold war aren't considered veterans:

I am an unemployed veteran, without health insurance coverage, unqualified for VA benefits because I only spent 6 years in the Army during the Cold War. My comrades and I were guarding Pershing nuclear missiles 80 km from communist Germany. We helped bring down the Berlin Wall. People died in our unit.

Yet we are disregarded as veterans. We won our war, on the front lines, on alert most of the time. Yet, we do not qualify for VA benefits.

Maybe someday, we will ALL be counted as soldiers with equal rights.

Finally, David Trevino from Lavonia, Georgia, who hails from a family with a tradition of military service, gives us his perspective about the nature of war.

War is a motherfucker, man.
All that energized metal can really jack you up.
Seriously.
Put you in a gallon-sized body bag.
Put your mangled bits in wheel chair for life.
Put your head in a scary place.
It's a bad thing to get into.

I know.
I was a captain of Marines during Desert Dumb-Dumb.

It is a motherfucker.

And not just for the dudes dressed as shrubs.
Pretty rough on their kids, too.
Looking at someone else's daddy come home missing parts.
Looking at someone else's daddy come home in a box.
Looking on the evening news for your daddy.
It's some awful shit to lay on a child.

I know.
My father was a colonel of Marines during Vietnam.

War
is an absolute
motherfucker.

Unless,
of course,
you're selling GI socks to Uncle Sugar.

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Can Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

2009-11-11T20:02:19Z

In the year since a U.S. cancer researcher's warning drew wide attention, more evidence is emerging that long-term cell phone use is associated with cancer, but there's still not a definitive explanation or proof of cause and effect.