XPost: alt.society.mental-health, alt.psychology.personality   
   From: pjbrass@uswest.net   
      
   Charleston Gazette   
   Vets taking PTSD drugs die in sleep   
   Hurricane man's death the 4th in West Virginia   
   By Julie Robinson   
   May 24, 2008   
      
   A Putnam County veteran who was taking medication prescribed for   
   post-traumatic stress disorder died in his sleep earlier this month,   
   in circumstances similar to the deaths of three other area veterans   
   earlier this year.   
      
   Derek Johnson, 22, of Hurricane, served in the infantry in the Middle   
   East in 2005, where he was wounded in combat and diagnosed with   
   post-traumatic stress disorder while hospitalized.   
      
   Military doctors prescribed Paxil, Klonopin and Seroquel for Johnson,   
   the same combination taken by veterans Andrew White, 23, of Cross   
   Lanes; Eric Layne, 29, of Kanawha City; and Nicholas Endicott of Logan   
   County. All were in apparently good physical health when they died in   
   their sleep.   
      
   Johnson was taking Klonopin and Seroquel, as prescribed, at the time   
   of his death, said his grandmother, Georgeann Underwood of Hurricane.   
   Both drugs are frequently used in combination to treat post-traumatic   
   stress disorder. Klonopin causes excessive drowsiness in some   
   patients.   
      
   He also was taking a painkiller for a back injury he sustained in a   
   car accident about a week before his death, but was no longer taking   
   Paxil.   
      
   On May 1, the night before he died, Johnson called his grandfather,   
   Duck Underwood, and asked if he could pick up his 5-year-old son and   
   take him to school the next day. Johnson and his wife, Stacie, have   
   three children, all under 6 years old. Their car had been totaled in   
   the accident the previous week.   
      
   When Underwood arrived to pick up the boy the next morning, his knocks   
   were not answered at first. He heard Stacie Johnson screaming. She   
   opened the door and told him she couldn't wake her husband. They   
   called paramedics, who could not revive him. Doctors did not declare   
   an immediate cause of death.   
      
   Toxicology and autopsy results could take as long as 60 days,   
   authorities told the family.   
      
   "I want to know the cause of death," said Ray Johnson, Derek's father.   
   "Stacie said he was fine that night. Everything was normal. He kissed   
   her goodnight and went to sleep."   
      
   Stan White, father of soldier Andrew White, has become an advocate for   
   families of returning veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.   
   During his son's struggle with the disorder and since his death, White   
   has tracked similar cases. He knows of about eight in the tri-state   
   area of Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.   
      
   He and his wife, Shirley, introduced themselves to the Johnsons and   
   Underwoods at Derek's funeral and offered their help. He is in contact   
   with the office of Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who is a member of   
   the Veterans' Affairs Committee. Rockefeller requested an   
   investigation into these deaths, which is ongoing, said Steven   
   Broderick, the senator's press secretary.   
      
   "When I talked to his family about Derek, I realized it was the same   
   old story," said White. "It was all too familiar. He was taking those   
   same drugs as the others, and, yes, I believe they are still   
   prescribing that combination."   
      
   After speaking with family members, White wonders if the patients are   
   taking the medicine as prescribed. He said PTSD patients suffer   
   short-term memory loss and shouldn't be relied upon to track their   
   medications.   
      
   Georgeann Underwood agrees.   
      
   "You shouldn't put vulnerable, mentally unstable people on drugs like   
   that," she said.   
      
   An outgoing, personable young man who worked at several jobs to   
   support his young family, Johnson frequently was offered other jobs by   
   customers in the stores where he worked, Underwood said.   
      
   In 2006, he returned from the Middle East depressed and   
   short-tempered. Johnson had operated an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon,   
   or rapid-fire machine gun, and rarely spoke about his experiences   
   there.   
      
   After his military prescriptions ran out, Johnson's medications were   
   prescribed by private physicians because he refused to go the VA   
   hospitals where he said he was required to wait long periods of time   
   for appointments. His grandparents paid for his medications.   
      
   "He had a very short fuse," Ray Johnson said. "That was the biggest   
   difference in his personality after he came back."   
      
   Until his death, he worked 12 or 16 hours a day. He was an electrical   
   apprentice at the John Amos Power Plant until he was let go when his   
   work hours approached the union limit for apprentices. He was on his   
   way to apply for another job when the car he drove was rear-ended on   
   April 24.   
      
   Johnson died May 2.   
      
   Link to story: http://wvgazette.com/News/200805230640   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)