Soldiers With Migraines Often Misdiagnosed
If there’s any profession guarenteed to give you migraines, it’s being a soldier. That, and being a professional boxer. However, a lot of America’s Army personnel do not seem to be getting an accurate diagnosis for dealing with their pain. This is the finding of not one, but two studies.
And you can’t get proper help unless you get a proper diagnosis. There have been many reports of soldiers getting the medical shaft when they return from duty, and this seems to be even more proof.
Study Details
Both studies came out in Headache, the appropriately named journal for the American Headache Society. (I guss it could also work as a title for a journal about jackhammers, too). Although the studies concentrated on soldiers who returned from Iraq, they also looked at other Army personnel.
Some of their findings include:
- Although 19% had been diagnosed with migraines, the study showed that 17% of soldiers who did have migraines but weren’t diagnosed with it did indeed have it.
- 76% of miliatry cadets surveyed had migraines but were not diagnosed by Army doctors as having migraines.
- 18% of Army officer trainees had migraines for over a year
- Migraines usually knocked a soldier out an average of 5.3 days a month. Ouch. Even I average only four migraine attacks a month.
When Attacks Begin
Although the studies did include Army recruits and those in training, the studies did come up with something interesting. Their findings showed that the migraines often began after coming back home and not during combat. This is probably due to what’s sometimes called “Friday night migraines.”
The body is working so hard and has to stay in the best possible physical shape it can in order to survive Iraq. It’s not until a tour of duty is over until the soldier begins to feel the migraines. It’s yet another reminder that life sucks.
Personally, I think the best way to treat our soldiers for migraine is to get them out of Iraq and back home, but then again, I’m not a doctor.
August 31st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I’m in the Navy Reserve and I have migrianes. My migraines came from a head injury on the civilian side. They are chronic daily migrianes, and I will not be “cured”. These started 4.5 years ago, and I will have them until I die. The Navy Reserve finally found out that I had migrianes, although I gave them my medicine list and stated that I had migraines on my file. I am now being Temporaily Not Qualified to Perform (TNPQ), waiting on the results of a Medical Records Review to see if I will stay or be discharged. I am on 7 medications, including Morphine or Oxycontin, so it looks like I will be discharged. This will be my fourth job lost due to my migrianes.
JMD
September 1st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Wow. You have my sympathy. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I wish I knew what to tell you to comfort you, but I don’t. If you get discharged from the Navy, will you still get benefits?