Unspoken veterans wounds

06:00 12/7/2020 - Πηγή: Armynow

Genital injuries are having lasting impacts on veterans and their families—and many are suffering in silence

The explosion underneath the Humvee ahead of Jeremy Yost was known as a “toe popper” to the Marines of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment—not powerful enough to cause significant injuries to anyone inside but strong enough to immobilize the vehicle.

Spared from potentially catastrophic results and needing to continue its security mission, Yost’s vehicle

attempted to drive around the incapacitated Humvee. That’s when the severely weakened soil gave way, sending Yost’s vehicle more than 30 feet down the side of a dry Afghan riverbed in 2010.

Yost was hit in the face by heavy communications gear and knocked unconscious during the treacherous rollover. He was also left with perhaps one of the least talked about wounds of war.

“I found out afterward that [the gear] also hit my groin and damaged my left testicle,” said Yost, supervisor at DAV’s national service office in Washington, D.C. “I had no clue until years later of the damage it caused.”

After the bruising subsided, Yost figured he was in the clear. That was, until the recurring pain began. Sometimes it was sporadic, but it was like clockwork after physical exertion such as running or sexual activity.

While Yost was transitioning to civilian life, the Department of Veterans Affairs diagnosed him with a varicocele—an enlargement of the veins within the scrotum—which can cause infertility.

Beyond the physical pain, the condition started taking a mental and emotional toll when Yost and his wife began trying to have children in 2014.

“I could really see the toll that [my infertility] took on [my wife] because she’s not the problem,” said Yost. “She has no issues, and it’s unfortunately [because of] me.”

Yost and his wife are not alone in their experience with a genital injury.

A 2017 report in The Journal of Urology found that he is among more than 1,300 men who suffered genitourinary injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan between 2001 and 2013. Beyond infertility, such injuries can impair the ability to urinate and have sex.

Of the injuries reported in the study, 73% involved the external genitals, and more than a third of the injuries were considered severe, including the loss of one or more testicles or complete loss of the penis. Additionally, 94% of the wounded men were 35 or younger, the peak age group for sexual development and reproduction.

Another study, conducted by the VA and published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, found that male veterans who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, like Yost, were four times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction.

To make matters worse, according to researchers, these men are at a high risk for suicide—an epidemic that is already too prevalent within the veteran community.

“We had to go through a lot of marriage counseling, because this was a huge thing that ultimately almost caused us to split,” said Yost. “But we were able to work through it.”

“These are serious issues that most young men and women aren’t very forthcoming about, so that in itself presents a unique challenge for medical professionals in getting these veterans the physical, mental and emotional health care they need,” said National Commander Butch Whitehead. “But the resilience, strength and courage these service members and veterans display in the aftermath of such life-altering injuries is inspiring.”

“That’s why I’m OK with telling my story,” said Yost. “Even though it’s embarrassing to an extent, it’ll still help other people.”

Source: dav.org

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