Iraq War Vets With No Signs Of Trauma Are Losing Their Vision

[Ichingcarpenter]

PALO ALTO, CA (NBC) -- Soldiers coming back from the war in Iraq are being treated for many combat-related injuries, but doctors at the Veterans Administration Hospital in California have found something they haven't seen before.


Soldiers, with no obvious signs of trauma are going blind. It's hard for Army Specialist Jason Kvasnak to remember every single explosion he survived in Iraq. "We were in several IED blasts throughout the tour," Kvasnak said.

But Kvasnak remember the one that left him with the injuries no one saw coming.

"It was just massive concussive force and it thrust you forward, or whatever. I just felt really dazed afterwards and ringing in the ears and I couldn't really see straight," Kvasnak said.

Kvasnak hasn't been able to see straight since that blast.

He sees double, has sensitivity to light and the headaches he gets from trying to read or watch TV are so bad that he sometimes passes out.

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto are seeing more and more troops returning from Iraq with vision problems from exposure to roadside bombs.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=83703

[dkf]

1. Makes you wonder what is happening to the people of Iraq too.

[Karenina]

10. Thank you for that acknowledgement.

[bdamomma]

13. they are suffering too.

[superkia]

21. I cant even imagine if a country occupied the U.S. the same way...

and was being destroyed like Iraq is. I take nothing away from our lives lost but the Iraqis have lost their country and way too many lives.

[mike_c]

24. exactly....

I hope the rest of the world hears a more balanced view of the costs of this war than we do in the U.S.

[Chimichurri]

2. heartbreaking.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. K&R!

[Clear Blue Sky]

4. Something like closed head injury, only to the eyes?

Scary if they don't know the cause or the treatment.

[w8liftinglady]

9. like shaken baby syndrome,kind of

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. depleted uranium?

[SidDithers]

15. more like massive concussive shock...nt

Sid

[babylonsister]

6. Rec'd. More collateral damage. nt

[ensho]

7. kicking

nt

[libodem]

8. What could be worse

What an awful injury. Blindness is such a huge handicap. Our poor boys. My own sons are 23, 26, and 28. When I look at these soldiers I feel and instant connection. It could be happening to them. My eldest had an honorable discharge in 2003 after serving 4 years in the Army. He did not have to go over. My nephew is serving in Iraq right now. He is coming home for a visit this Thursday, after two delays. I am always braced for the worst and praying for the best. These injured kids could be mine.

[Ganja Ninja]

11. "How romantic" said the shaved ape in the White House. n/t

[Mountainman]

17. "They volunteered" says Cheney, also he says "So?"

[bdamomma]

12. it just never stops huh? how can we as humans let this suffering go on.

[knitter4democracy]

14. When you think of the massive percussions they live through, it makes sense.

Our nerves in our bodies can only handle so much. That optic nerve is big and can handle a lot, but it's like a pro boxer who starts having trouble seeing. Their nerves can only handle getting rattled so many times before stuff stops working.

[peacetalksforall]

16. We are a grieving nation and we want to pretend that things are normal.

No man or woman or group of men and women should be in control of detroying another persons body.

[Kurovski]

18. K&R. (nt)

[marmar]

19. It's the gift that keeps on giving.....

When all is said and done, the entire cost of this mess - in human lives, in treasure, in image, in sanity, in everything - will wreck this nation.

[BeHereNow]

20. As many of us said years ago- the train has left the tracks.

We are now hurling into the abyss.
BHN

[uppityperson]

22. Traumatic brain injury doesn't need bone, skin, muscle trauma

Being close to explosions can very much traumatize a brain and having more than 1 (as many do) makes the chances of permanent damage be much much higher. It can affect vision, sometimes hearing, sleep, concentration, personality, not to mention what will happen as they age and experience typical aging issues.

[pepperbear]

23. and dick cheney says..."so?" n/t