Veterans
Opinion

Understanding Veteran TBI: Hormone Imbalances Following Traumatic Brain Injury

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Understanding Veteran TBI: Hormone Imbalances Following Traumatic Brain Injury
A self portrait of Jonathan David Chandler. One half of the image shows him in his military uniform and was taken while receiving treatment for TBI suffered while serving in Afghanistan. The second half is an MRI scan. DoD photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan David Chandler
Geoffrey P. Dardia
&
Battlefields Staff
|Updated:
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Commentary

It has been known for over 80 years that following a head injury there is dysfunction in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 80–85 percent of traumatic brain injury (TBI) sufferers are classified as mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI). Approximately 80–85 percent of MTBI patients recover from their injuries, while approximately 15–20 percent continue to experience persistent symptoms. Fifty percent of those TBI patients end up with some type of hormonal imbalance in the HPA axis. This brain injury-related condition is commonly referred to as neuroendocrine dysfunction (NED).

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Master Sergeant Geoffrey P. Dardia is a career Special Forces soldier currently serving as the Operations Sergeant for 3rd Special Forces Group’s Human Performance and Wellness Program. MSG Dardia is the founder and action officer for 3rd Special Forces Group’s META Retirement and Transition Program. He served in both the Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) areas of operation as a Special Forces advisor, and as a liaison at the U.S. Embassy in Burkina Faso. He is also a Veteran’s Affairs Certified Recovery Care Coordinator (RCC) and served as the Ft. Bragg Wounded Warrior Battalion Liaison for United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). MSG Dardia cowrote and published his first scientific paper in 2019 in the Alternate Therapies in Health and Medicine (ATHM) Journal titled “Neurotoxicity Associated with Traumatic Brain Injury, Blast, Chemical, Heavy Metal and Quinoline Drug Exposure.”
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