At What Age Did Your Injuries And Illnesses Start?

[retiredat44]

at what age did your injuries and illnesses start? Also, did your injuries and or illnesses start on active duty?

MY injuries and illnesses started around the age of 22 (on active duty). By the time I reached 35 yrs old I lost the ability to hold a job and work full time... not long after I became housebound and bedridden...

I am just very curious how long people worked and had good health, until their health was bad and screwed up their lives..

[brokensoldier244th]

Thanks for sharing that, Bob. Weren't we all piss and vinegar, then?

Is that you, or a screen cap from a movie I haven't seen? :-)

[gdsnide]

Incident happened to me on the way back to the US from a Wes Pac Cruise in 1967

I was in a bar in Yokosuka,Japan (I was 20 years old) & had been there 2-3 hours when a couple of SP came in & I don't know if I talked to them or they to me or what was said for sure but the first thing that happened is I was knocked to the floor & feet were stomping on me & kicking me about the Ribs,Head & Body & them damn batons they carry were bouncing off me also

So, 3 years later I was diagnosed with Epilepsy & the VA has agreed the Military caused it ( Guess it was a TBI) but it took 9 years & a Lawyer to get them to do it

OK...I'm 64 now & still have the damn things

GARY

[Pete53]

I was drafted age 24 and had first panic attack age 25 standing next to mess hall in Budingen Germany June 9th 1969 six days before my son John was born on fathers day. It may have been my worse attack and I was positive that I was dying. They threw me in an ambulance and took me to base clinic.

It was 22 years later that I was diagnosed with panic disorder. In my SMR's I had 16 documented panic attacks with medical intervention however as I was given medications for anxiety and found beer in the EM Club I self medicated myself till I quit drinking 13 years later.

Panic Disorder is a strange thing and I did have periods of years with no attack. I later discovered my panic was proportionate to stress. The agoraphobia started in 1991.

Most panic's try to avoid situations that they have panic attacks in thus making their world smaller and smaller. Over the years I have been able to do some things I though would be impossible but it always involved having someone close with me at all times.

In my mind my first panic attack was triggered by separation anxiety and not being home with my wife for the birth of our first son. Once you have the panic attack your wires are crossed and the next one is inevitable. I just had a major one 10 days or so ago which put me in the Hospital overnight and an appointment with my PCP to check me out.

For many of my undiagnosed years I thought I was crazy like my Dad who had PTSD but today I think I was mistaken. I don't really know how I survived my ordeal but I have seen many here on Hadit do just that so when I say hang in there I believe that if you can you will win.

[john999]

My problems really started at age 20 while I was in Vietnam. I went through about 15 years of stops and starts and then worked until I was 51 at the post office when I was fired and hired a lawyer to get my retirement. I did assume I would work until I was 62 since I would have had 30 years with my military time. However fate had other plans for me. I drifted lost in space for years after I got out of the army. I did go to college and got a useless degree. They only thing I ever liked doing was going to college. During all this time I has severe depressions that would knock me out of the box. If you ever saw the movie "Jacobs Ladder" you will understand the reason I was able to work at the USPS. No thinking required and all I had to do was show up. This I could do until I got hurt on the job and got back on the shitlist. Then I found out how bad of an employee I had been sort of like the army.

[Papa]

Mine started the day I was born. Born with a rare disease that I suffered greatly with, and still do. I suffered with it as a child, and during my military time. Had a horrible childhood of neglect, abuse, and you name it. I was nuts prior to going into the military, but they made me totally insane. After, they I told them about this disease, and they told me to get my a## in the next line, I decided that I could not allow myself to be part of any combat force. I could not live with myself if I had an attack during battle and caused someone to get hurt or killed because of me. So, I joined the USAF. Saw some combat, sappers, in-coming rockets, stationed in a remote training camp, but try to forget those times, but my mind will not let me. People like Commander Bob are my Heroes. Sometimes I feel bad that I could not do more.

Papa

[Commander Bob]

Sometimes I feel bad that I could not do more.

Papa

Sometimes I feel bad that I could not do more too,'Papa'.

Thank you for your service.

Bob