Friday, June 17, 2011

PTSD Associated with Double to Triple Heart Disease, June 20011 Study

Full article at : New research shows how PTSD affects the body
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Cheryl Jennings

"Neylan, the head of PTSD research at the San Francisco Veteran's Administration, showed one area of the brain, that's affected by PTSD. It's called the hippocampus. It looks like a little jelly roll and is responsible for memory."

"High resolution brain scans show that people with PTSD have a smaller hippocampus, by 11 percent on average."

"Some other key findings to be released at the conference, suggest that older PTSD veterans were almost twice as likely to develop dementia, they have two to three times higher risk of heart disease, and have a higher risk of death after surgery."

VA New RUles for Service Dogs, PTSD Veterans Left Out?

VA mending Service Dog rules, Federal Register Volume 76, Number 116 (Thursday, June 16, 2011)] 38 CFR Part 17, Service Dogs


"In 2001, Congress amended section 1714 to provide that VA may also
provide service dogs for veterans with other disabilities. See
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of
2001, Public Law 107-135 (2001)."

"The proposed rule would also clarify that VA interprets section 1714 as authorizing the provision of veterinary-care benefits and would establish a clear procedure for awarding such benefits."

"Proposed paragraph (b) would establish the clinical requirements to
obtain service-dog benefits. First, we would authorize benefits only if
the veteran is diagnosed as having a visual, hearing, or substantial
mobility impairment.
These requirements incorporate the eligibility
criteria in section 1714. Second, we would require a clinical
determination by a VA clinician, which would be based upon the
clinician's medical judgment that ``it is optimal for the veteran to
manage such impairment and live independently through the assistance of
a trained service dog.''

"In 2009, Congress authorized VA to provide service dogs for the aid
of persons with mental illnesses by amending section 1714. Although VA
welcomes the possibility that trained dogs may provide valuable
services to veterans diagnosed with certain mental illness, at this
time we do not have any scientific data to determine, from a purely
clinical standpoint, whether or when service dogs are most
appropriately provided to veterans with mental illness, including post-
traumatic stress disorder.
"