What is the TreatNow Coalition?
We are part of a Coalition working pro bonoto get help to our brain injured troops and others suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We are in the midst of a suicide-epidemic: 22+ service members a day, 8,000 a year. Another 45 a day try and fail, another16,000+ a year. What we are proposingwill make a significant contribution to ending those suicides and reducing health care costs for the country, our wounded warriors and others with brain injuries. And what we are doing is already restoring lives, hope and productivity to a small slice of deserving veterans. We would like to brief you on our work in hopes of getting your support for the hundreds of thousands who haven't even been told there is treatment and hope.
Background:
There is an effective, ethical, medically safe treatment available for TBI/PTSD-wounded personnel and Veterans, but it is not being researched or developed aggressively nor is it being made available to our injured troops or civilians. We are accumulating scientific and clinical evidence of the efficacy of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (See). It is the only currently available, demonstrably promising treatment for TBI/PTSD and concussions. The treatment is showing promise for anyone with brain injury, no matter how the injury is acquired.
Our U. S. Military Volunteers who are injured on the battlefield in the line of duty deserve the best treatment our nation can offer. Right now our soldiers suffering TBI and PTSDare prescribed symptom-reducing drugs; in essence, they warehoused and then discharged, dependant on costly anti-depressants and other anti-psychotic medicines that promote dangerous dependencies and may even result in lethal interactions. Certainly the rising incident of suicidesamong our veterans is a disturbing indicator that such treatments are not sufficient.
At the same time, TBI is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the U.S., accounting for approximately 2 million emergency room visits, 230,000 to 500,000 hospital admissions, and 52,000 deaths annually in the United States. Every year, there are approximately 80,000 additional casualties who will be forced to live with significant, and usually permanent disabilities as a result of their TBI, yielding a total estimation of 5.8 million survivors--a number that continues to grow. While such disabilities can be physical, they are often psychological as well. Evidence consistently indicates that survivors of TBI are at increased risk for the development of severe, long-term psychiatric disorders, particularly depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Further, the presence of any one of these psychiatric disorders frequently complicates the affected individual’s rehabilitation and recovery from TBI as these disorders may significantly disrupt the individual’s independence, interpersonal relationships and ability to work. Lack of independence and an inability to work takes a toll not only on the suffering individual, but on their family and society as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the direct (e.g., medical) and indirect costs (e.g., loss of productivity) of TBI in the United States totaled an estimated $60 billion annually in 2003,independent of the wounded warriors. Complicating and prolonging the problems associated with TBI are treatments for TBI that offer little more than palliative care, essentially masking the symptoms without treating the underlying injury. Thus, following the current record in treating TBI, there is little hope that the costs paid by the suffering individuals in the loss of their quality of life and costs paid by society will ever improve.
This does not mean, however, that there is no hope. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)and improving diagnostics have emerged as a promising and effective treatment in healing injured brains and subsequently reducing, and in some cases completely alleviating, the symptoms associated with the TBI.
Issues:
• TBI/PTSD is a blast- or shock-induced physical injury to the brain; these physical injuries can be diagnosed through interviews, brain-scanning technologies and psychometric testing. Disabling symptoms include loss or impairment of short-term memory, depression, sleep impairment (only 3-4 hours per night, if any), pain, rapid mood shifts, loss of impulse control, cognitive shortcomings (loss ofexecutive abilities) and photophobia. This is as true for football, hockey and soccer players of all ages as it is for the troops.
• Untreated TBI/ PTS symptoms in active duty personnel and veterans seem to be the root cause of an alarming upward trend in cases of drug and alcohol addiction and domestic violence within military families, along with veteran homelessness, criminal behavior, and suicide. [Recent suicides by NFL and NHL players have an eerie resemblance to the suicide epidemic in the military.]
• In 2009 the Rand Corporation and DOD (Department of Defense) estimated that as many as 360,000 combatants from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts might have incurred TBI/PTSD. The estimates have increased every year.
• HBOT is approved by the FDA for treating other non-healing wounds such as diabetic foot wounds in the civilian medical community, as well as for 13 other healing indications/injuries; three have been approved for injuries to the brain; these and other conditions of injury to humans are medically analogous to TBI/PTSD.
• HBOTcurrently is considered and used as an off-label treatment for TBI/PTSD by licensed practitioners in the civilian medical community at dozens of clinics nationwide, along with dozens of uses for sports injuries, pre- and post-surgical interventions (30% - 40% faster healing is common), and post-stroke interventions, all with very positive scientific results.
• In the last year, two unaffiliated, independent physicians have demonstrated dramatic clinical improvement in 100% of the 50-plus TBI/PTSD wounded combat veterans they have treated with a common protocol. More than 80% of those treated have been able to return to duty, work, or school. Our current Observational Study adds another 100+ successful treatments to the evidence of HBOT success. Both war causalities and civilian victims of car accidents, falls, sports concussions and other sources are equally benefiting from the research we are conducting.And a recent Israeli study of 56 subjects confirms the worldwide findings: HBOT is safe and effective.
• While the specter of high costs is often raised as a barrier to the use of HBOT, the ultimate savings in terms of long-term treatments and the prescribing of psycho-pharmaceuticals versus patients being able to return to jobs, families, and self-sufficiency after HBOT is enormous. Add to that the savings in recruiting, training, and integrating of replacement military personnel and the tax returns of people restored to a normal quality of life. Consider, too, the costs to the family member(s) impacted by the care of the patient, to say nothing of the degraded quality of lives and the long-term effects of so much psychological and economic depression.
• The current TBI/PTSD epidemic in the military and sports across America is as rampant and consequential as two other well-known signature war injuries that were not adequately addressed initially—Agent Orange effects during Vietnam and Gulf War Syndrome injuries of Desert Storm. Whether in the DOD or in the sports or medical communities, there is always resistance, first to the realities and then to the treatments.
What Can be Done?
Over a year ago, a Coalition of specialists came together to prepare a Clinical Trail to treat brain injuries in wounded warriors and others with similar afflictions; results are uniformly positive.The second, full-blown multi-center Randomized Controlled Trial, will serve as the basis of an appeal to the military, the VA and insurance companies to begin insuring treatments that lead TBI patients back to more normal existence.
The science behind HBOTcontinues to demonstrate that brain injuries do not have to mean a lifetime of crippling pain and severely diminished quality of life, whether for soldiers, athletes or civilians.
For less than two percent of the cost of lifetime care for the brain injured, from whatever source, based on our preliminary research, we might be able to return up to 85% of the wounded with mild to moderate brain injuries to more meaningful and healed lives. Pro bono, we have already returned over 250 patients to work, school and active duty.
We were fortunate to have had Secretary Martin R. Hoffmann (Secretary of Army, 1975 to 1977; General Counsel, DOD, 1974 - 1975) acting pro bono for the International Hyperbaric Medical Foundation, TreatNow Coalition until his death in 2014.
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Clinical trial particulars are available at:
The American Legion has also signed on for action:
A revealing video about our work, sponsored by the Navy League, is at:
A remarkable success story of our work -- and the 5-year saga of MAJ Richards to get effective help -- can be found at:
PassWord = HBOT
LT [now CAPT] Matt Smotherman of OK National Guard was about to be boarded out:
Equally compelling stories of veterans discarded - and saved:
Similarities between service member afflictions and NFL ballplayers:
Bill Romanowski
Sidelined: Concussions in Sports Visger
Marv Fleming, NFL, 4 Superbowl Championships
The most current science:
[a] Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Can Improve Post Concussion Syndrome Years after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury - Randomized Prospective Trial
[b] Hyperbaric Oxygen Induces Late Neuroplasticity in Post Stroke Patients - Randomized, Prospective Trial
[c] Reflections on the neurotherapeutic effects of hyperbaric oxygen
[d] A Phase I Study of Low-Pressure Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Blast-Induced Post-Concussion Syndrome and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Paul G. Harch, et al. Journal of Neurotrauma. January 1, 2012, 29(1): 168-185.
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