My Mental State

I am diagnosed and treated for PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with the associated hippocampus limitations and with TBI Traumatic Brain Injury resulting in a misfiring of the temporal and frontal lobes called simple partial epilepsy.

My current mental state would best be described as forgetfulness, especially short term memory, as associated with the hippocampus, executive dysfunction, with inability to plan, organize or make decisions, as associated with the frontal lobe, cognitive and emotional dysfunction associated with the temporal lobe and I have a problem caring that much about anything.

I returned from Vietnam without memory of the experience, without reading and writing ability, and totally opposite in every decent way. At that time PTSD was not acknowledged and psycho mental was an extreme consideration. I like the 58 thousand that were killed in country; the 58 thousand that committed suicide thereafter, the 58 thousand that returned addicted to drugs, and the 58 thousand that remained homeless was and remain an expendable cost of doing business.

At age 45 with a complete breakdown realized that the world hadn’t changed, it was I that had a problem, and I sought help from the VA. I was for 10 years in and out of the VA hospital mistreated as a psycho mental and sedated. During that time I was not scanned or diagnosed with PTSD or TBI.

I enlisted in a secret service with a top secret clearance and still unable to obtain records of my Vietnam activates. The VA still denies any responsibility for my demise and I paid for my hospital mistreatment. Also my earned income credit and tax returns were confiscated to that end.

At age 55 I was correctly diagnosed by doctor Mueller at Princeton Hospital with the use of brain scans and properly treated for my TBI and PTSD. I have been in his care and rehabilitation ever since then. The rehabilitation includes medical understanding of the disability, limitations, and expected treatment. At that time I was rated as disabled and began collecting 9 hundred dollars a month in SSD Social Security Disability. I receive 14 dollars a month in food stamps and 30 dollars a month returned from the VA. My current Doctor and Dentist provide me with free medical care. I am very grateful to Peter S Mueller MD 609 924 xxxx and William Moskowitz DDS 732 583 xxxx for my health.

In short I can still fix appliances but repeatedly get shocked and have left the premises without tightening the gas lines. I spend more time looking for than doing. I limit myself to doing odd jobs with rather than for my family and friends as in supervised.

I can talk to my computer and it reads to me, that along with spell check and synonyms I get the job done. The properly treatment, rehabilitation, and this communication ability has given me new life.

I can now read and comprehend a few paragraphs even a page or two. I don’t expect to read any books but I like to write. I’m not shocked by the thoughts I write. This took over 5 hours to write but I could not sleep and this is safe to do and keeps me out of harms way.
Thanks for asking, Jim Raab
http://jimraab.blogspot.com/