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So there‘s been a big increase in vets who are developing seizures, even long after they’ve
had these penetrating head traumas; it can occur even up to ten to fifteen years after
their wounds. You know, the concussions that veterans, vets, can get from a bomb going
off where it shakes your brain, can actually scar the brain and cause lesions that can
cause seizures, and that’s what worries us so much. Shaking the brain is not a good
thing and these scars can create permanent neurological problems, cognitive problems
as well as epilepsy. The issue too is that it may, not often occur until so many years
later that you think you’re free and things are going well and then all of a sudden you
start to have seizures. They’re more often, in this case, partial seizures, either complex
partial, or simple partial seizures that occur after the head trauma. Our veterans need to
be watched very closely, especially after they’ve been exposed to war, getting repetitive
concussions, or having a penetrating head wound as we discussed before that really can
cause repetitive seizures. I think we tend to think, even with the blunt trauma, that
if there’s no bleeding or there’s nothing on the imaging that they’re not at risk
and yet, they still are for a long time. So the veterans need to be aware that if they’ve
had any kind of head trauma, they’re at increased risk for seizures. Their family
members need to be aware that if they start having problems that they may chalk up to
too being psychiatric issues, is that they may actually be seizures and they need to
get them in to see their neurology pretty quickly