The case of a service member diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder but found instead to have brain damage caused by a malaria drug raises questions about the origin of similar symptoms in other post-9/11 veterans.
According to the case study published online in Drug Safety Case Reports in June, a U.S. military member sought treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for uncontrolled anger, insomnia, nightmares and memory loss.
The once-active sailor, who ran marathons and deployed in 2009 to East Africa, reported stumbling frequently, arguing with his family and needing significant support from his staff while on the job due to cognitive issues.
It wasn’t until physicians took a hard look at his medical history, which included vertigo that began two months after his Africa deployment, that they suspected mefloquine poisoning: The medication once used widely by the U.S. armed forces to prevent and treat malaria has been linked to brain stem lesions and psychiatric symptoms."
Not really shocking to me. My fellow Service Members know we've always been used to experiment on or subjected to lower quality care. I got to also have the luck of getting some anthrax vaccinations that weren't approved by the FDA and then they pulled giving it to us. On the upside, this particular drug made me feel so crappy that I only took it about two times and decided I'd rather run the risk of getting actual malaria.
It could be worse, though. I didn't have to sit in a trench and be exposed to nuclear explosions like my brothers in the past did.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/...0ZmRec0ecIhgvbJb75gTsoiiVWfNepolBMY3jUt7ykX8o
Wonder if the government will ever thread those in the military ethically.
It could be worse, though. I didn't have to sit in a trench and be exposed to nuclear explosions like my brothers in the past did.
Hey, they gave them sunglasses to wear. Geesh.
I remember at the completion of boot camp in 1970 there was a person who went around to all the units looking for volunteers for the military medical research team. You would spend 6 months I believe with them and at the completion you could have your pick of military training and assignment. Not a single hand in my unit put their hand up.
This isn’t anything new sadly, Canadian news ran a story awhile ago about the side effects, I asked a veteran friend of mine who had been in the CF and deployed where they had to take it in the 90s.
Yeah he didn’t wanna talk about this drug very much but I could see in his reaction that it must have been every bit as bad as they say.
The damn government ****ing over those that give the most! I find it despicable. Remember the LSD experiments?
There's so many times I thought of serving, but the thought of giving the government absolute control of my life scared me off. It wasn't fear over the prospect of doing battle or making the grade, but fear over the government controlling me.
And these things like in the OP do nothing to quell that fear. In fact, the older I get the more I distrust. Which really sucks, because it makes me feel unpatriotic. And that's a bad feeling to have.
I remember in Afghanistan one of our guys got malaria and was demoted and given an article 15 because that meant he wasn't taking his mefloquine every day. It was literally forced upon us. Luckily I was terrible at reliably taking pills and missed a lot. The vivid nightmares and other side effects connected to it were well known by all of us at the time.
You don't have to feel unpatriotic, and your fears/concerns are valid. It's part of it that many of us just kinda learn to accept, even though it's actually kind of outrageous. But going back to patriotism and service, I understand that desire, it's the reason I originally joined.
There are many ways to serve in a related capacity. There are many who are part of a care package program where people send stuff from home to those deployed. I know I appreciated it when that happened. It's not needed though. I'm just glad that our service these days are separated from the politics of it all, for the most part, unlike in Vietnam where those who returned were subjected to abuse.
Also, (for me this is a big one) we need to be more sober in what we deem are conflicts that are worth sacrificing our lives for. Today I see two war parties and they want to use us for any conflict they can think of in the world. I see my brothers and sisters dying in areas and doing missions that have no discernable or accomplishable goal. Don't support the Forever Wars.
The military has long experimented with drugs on soldiers and sailors. The Tuskegee Airmen were deliberately given syphilis as an experiment.
We were supposed to take an anti-malarial drug in Vietnam, but I can't recall the name. I don't think it was this mefloquine.
It's deplorable that some aspects of the military no longer even have the caliber of equipment they used to have for doing their jobs properly. It's worse that we'll cut the military budget but then let the private sector profit off of experimenting on soldiers while possibly causing permanent damage to their bodies.
Soldiers should always be told if they're being given experimental or high risk drugs and having the results monitored. The problem is, if they decide to not ask for your consent then you can't disobey the order.
That's double bad luck in falling into two groups the government liked to experiment on, the military and black people. The various segregated black units that have existed in the past are, imo, among the most honorable and self-sacrificing that we've ever had. They did it for a country that oppressed them and still didn't accept them.
Not really shocking to me. My fellow Service Members know we've always been used to experiment on or subjected to lower quality care. I got to also have the luck of getting some anthrax vaccinations that weren't approved by the FDA and then they pulled giving it to us. On the upside, this particular drug made me feel so crappy that I only took it about two times and decided I'd rather run the risk of getting actual malaria.
It could be worse, though. I didn't have to sit in a trench and be exposed to nuclear explosions like my brothers in the past did.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/...mRec0ecIhgvbJb75gTsoiiVW fNepolBMY3jUt7ykX8o
Wonder if the government will ever thread those in the military ethically.
I was deployed in 2010-2011 and was given a malaria drug without prescription, not sure if it was the same but probably was. I myself only took it the first week then stopped, there were no mosquitos in camp marmal, it was very dry there and rain was extremely rare and when it did hit it flooded things, but never enough to have mosquitos around, now nearby fobs closer the marmal mountains got plenty of em, as the rain would hit on and near the mountains, leaving them a more favoreable evironment.
Well thanks much for the kind words here, FishKing! :thumbs:You don't have to feel unpatriotic, and your fears/concerns are valid. It's part of it that many of us just kinda learn to accept, even though it's actually kind of outrageous. But going back to patriotism and service, I understand that desire, it's the reason I originally joined.
There are many ways to serve in a related capacity. There are many who are part of a care package program where people send stuff from home to those deployed. I know I appreciated it when that happened. It's not needed though. I'm just glad that our service these days are separated from the politics of it all, for the most part, unlike in Vietnam where those who returned were subjected to abuse.
Also, (for me this is a big one) we need to be more sober in what we deem are conflicts that are worth sacrificing our lives for. Today I see two war parties and they want to use us for any conflict they can think of in the world. I see my brothers and sisters dying in areas and doing missions that have no discernable or accomplishable goal. Don't support the Forever Wars.
(Thanks for reading, if you got this far!)
Well thanks.I read it all...I'm not old enough to have experienced/seen that first hand (only 40) but I've seen vids and read about it. The poor always die for the rich, that's just how it's always been. I'm glad we've mostly moved past that, for the most part.
Took courage for you to step in and mediate during that time, it's always hard to do that. That means something too.
Lol...we had our system in a bunker that was half in the ground, half out. The cinder block walls weren't made very well and when the rainy season came we ended up bailing water out as fast as we could while also digging trenches around our bunker to direct the water away. Our system was only as high off the floor as a pallet, and the water got very close.
Good times...good times.
The military has long experimented with drugs on soldiers and sailors. The Tuskegee Airmen were deliberately given syphilis as an experiment.
We were supposed to take an anti-malarial drug in Vietnam, but I can't recall the name. I don't think it was this mefloquine.
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