Head injury survivors are not warned about common and potentially very serious after effects which can occur at any time after injury even many years later

If you are depressed or impotent it could be because you suffered more than you realised from a head injury

In August 2008 our son committed suicide at the age of 31.

We discovered after his death that his depression was likely to have been an effect of a head injury he had when he was seven. Head injury survivors are three to four times more likely to commit suicide than other people. Recent research shows that many people who have had a head injury have hormone deficiencies afterwards, caused by damage to the pituitary gland. We discovered that our son suffered not just depression but also erectile dysfunction, both of which can be caused by hormone deficiencies.

Not enough GPs and hospital doctors are aware of this complication, even though around a quarter of head injuries lead to it, even including mild head injury. Patients are not given hormone check-ups after their injury. They are not even warned of the risk in their letter of discharge, though it is so important to know about something that may not appear until years later, which can be treated. The national guideline on head injury published by NICE does not mention it either.* Yet the military hospital Headley Court has been screening patients routinely since 2009.

If you have had a head injury and you are troubled by impotence or any of the other symptoms listed on the Symptoms page please go and see your GP and ask him or her to refer you to an endocrinologist.

*Please go to the Ombudsman Complaint page to see a full account of our correspondence with NICE on this topic. Ombudsman complaint

APPEAL

If you have had any personal experience of this condition we would love to hear your story.  Please contact joannalane@blueyonder.co.uk We would be particularly pleased to hear from you if this website has helped you to get diagnosed.

[Home] [Symptoms] [Diagnosis] [Treatment] [Personal Stories] [Case Studies] [Research] [Ombudsman complaint] [NICE correspondence] [NICE Appendices] [Blog]