By Kelly Von Lunen
VFW Magazine
More than 2 million service men and women have served overseas in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 15 percent of those have deployed three or more times since 2001. The Department of Veterans Affairs notes significantly increased incidence of psychological and physical problems in these multiple-tour vets.
Medical personnel outlined key issues facing the nation's newest veterans during a "Mounting physical and mental health needs of returning vets" panel at the annual Association of Health Care Journalists conference in Chicago.
While soldiers, Marines and airmen usually survive improvised explosive device blasts, many suffer from polytrauma – injuries involving two or more organs – as a result. In addition, as many as 30 percent of service members may show signs of "war-related illness." As we've seen with illnesses linked to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, war-related illness is not yet well understood.
"Many veterans are coming back from OEF-OIF [Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom ] with similar symptoms: fatigue, pain, problems concentrating, memory problems balance problems," said Patrick J. Barrett, assistant chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation service at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago.
"A whole host of disorders can cause these symptoms, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The department tracks these symptoms at local facilities and in a national database, Barrett said.
Research facilities including the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago are studying new treatments for veterans with TBI, with the hope of improving the day-to-day life of affected veterans.
"In recovery after TBI, the rehabilitation process is life-long," RIC's Elliot Roth, M.D., of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, said. "It literally never ends."
VA continues its focus on PTSD diagnosis and treatment. John Mundt, a licensed clinical psychologist at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, said that a common perception that most returning veterans suffer from PTSD is unfounded.
"The majority of people who go through traumatic events settle naturally after a couple days," he said. "Thousands more veterans won't meet the criteria for PTSD but may suffer from insomnia, nightmares and hypervigilience. I'm hoping that we move away from rigid definitions of PTSD, start to recognize people with mild reactions to trauma, and have a system that's prepared to take care all of that. That's the stance of VA now."
Although PTSD and TBI are the "signature wounds" of the current wars, traditional health issues such as chronic pain and amputated limbs are still prevalent. Barrett said VA struggles to recruit veterans of current conflicts because "many of them perceive the VA as a health care system for the elderly,"
Meanwhile, VA and the Department of Defense are testing a pilot program to merge the two departments' disability systems to streamline disability ratings for veterans. In response to the Army's rise in reported sexual assaults, every VA medical center staffs a military sexual trauma coordinator.
