MISDIAGNOSIS OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY WORRIES HEALTHCARE WORKERS AND VETERANS' ADVOCATES

[babylonsister]

http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJUN07/nf061107-1.htm

MISDIAGNOSIS OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY WORRIES HEALTHCARE WORKERS AND VETERANS' ADVOCATES --

TBI is being diagnosed as depression, PTSD and other mental health issues putting veterans' healthcare at risk.

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Concerns grow about war veterans' misdiagnoses

Brain injuries can defy easy detection

By Laura M. Colarusso, Globe Correspondent



As the medical community learns more about the brain impairments afflicting troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, concern is growing back home that these battle-weary soldiers may be facing yet another obstacle: misdiagnosis.

Traumatic brain injury has become a high-profile condition, thrust into the national spotlight now that thousands of troops who have left the war zone continue to struggle with the consequences of combat. Better known as TBI, the ailment is a physical wound caused by the head-rattling shockwaves associated with bomb explosions that tear brain cells apart.

But TBI shares many of the same symptoms with a common battlefield psychological condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Both are often marked by depression, mood swings, irritability, problems concentrating, and memory dysfunction. The similarities can cause healthcare professionals to overlook mild traumatic brain injuries, especially when a patient lacks visible wounds, according to doctors and veterans advocates familiar with the issue.

"Mild brain injuries are really difficult to evaluate because there are a lot of overlapping symptoms with post-traumatic stress disorders," said Jordan Grafman, a neuroscientist who studies the effects of TBI on Vietnam veterans at the National Institutes of Health. "Doctors are likely to default to psychological diagnoses especially when they see a lot of PTSD."

Officials at the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs say that misdiagnosing mild TBI as PTSD is especially problematic because the two conditions are treated differently. Stress disorders are usually treated with counseling and anti anxiety or anti depression medications, while brain injuries typically require some combination of occupational, physical, and cognitive therapy.

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[liberalnurse]

1. This is an issue that the Nursing Organizations

need to adopt.

[babylonsister]

2. So does this government, but I'm hearing a lot of talk, not much action:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2875833

[Rex]

3. That's fucked up.