TBI..Traumatic Brain Injury..Soldiers often don;t know they have it

This episode of Califonia Connected can be watched via the link below..
http://www.caconnected.org/tv/archives/417


Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has become the signature injury of the Iraq war, where urban battlefields are marked by explosions from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and vehicle accidents. Modern body armor and advances in battlefield medicine have succeeded in saving lives and protecting bodies, but they can’t always protect soldiers’ delicate brains from the impact of explosions.

At the Polytrauma Unit of the VA medical center in Palo Alto, we meet four TBI patients who are working to put their lives back together. Only some of them bear obvious wounds, such as a lost eye or a missing part of a skull, but all share in common serious injuries to their brains.

These veterans must relearn everyday things that we take for granted. Some struggle with simple motor skills, like picking up a pencil or walking normally; others grapple with memory loss and emotional difficulties, like one Army veteran who can’t remember giving birth to her own daughter.

Doctors at the VA Polytrauma Unit help patients cope using the latest medical knowledge and therapeutic techniques. Palo Alto is one of the VA’s four lead Polytrauma Centers set up specifically to treat TBI patients. The center offers some of the most advanced treatment available for veterans with brain injury. Remarkably, one of the biggest challenges doctors face may be an early and accurate diagnosis. Experts worry that many of the wounded in Iraq may be suffering from TBI without knowing it, putting themselves and their fellow troops at risk.



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Lots of soldiers have this and are not "outwardly injured".. they are sent back to duty, but cannot do their work as before.. Some are even demoted ...

One young woman profiled does not even remember being pregnant..she has a 2 yr old daughter who she only "knows" through daily phone calls and looking at her pics :cry:



This episode of Califonia Connected can be watched via the link below..
http://www.caconnected.org/tv/archives/417