NightWare raises $1M to further develop technology to help PTSD sufferers startribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from startribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The son of an Iraq War veteran designed an app to stop his dad s PTSD nightmares
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
Tyler Skluzacek, right, created a smartwatch app to stop his father Patrick s nightmares. (CNN)When US Army veteran Patrick Skluzacek returned from Iraq in the mid-2000s, life was good every day was another welcome home party, he had a paid month off work, and he was finally back with family.
But then the nightmares started. I was scared of closing my eyes, Skluzacek told CNN. They were just horrible, so vivid, I d wake up thrashing and sweating. And Veterans Affairs didn t have a cure for it. They just had people with nightmares, people killing themselves, and they didn t understand why.
This smartwatch app helps stop PTSD nightmares The Week Staff
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Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry s top tech writers. This week s pick is a watch to help combat PTSD nightmares.
The Food and Drug Administration approved a smartwatch app developed by a college student to help stop his dad s nightmares, said Martha Ann Overland at
NPR. Tyler Skluzacek was a senior at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, when he entered a hackathon focused on developing apps to help people with PTSD.
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Courtesy image)
When Tyler Skluzacek was in sixth grade, his father was deployed to Iraq for a year.
Sgt. First Class Patrick Skluzacek was a convoy commander for the U.S. Army. He returned from his tour in Fallujah with post-traumatic stress disorder and began having night terrors.
“At three in the morning all of a sudden, BAM, I’m startled awake,” Patrick said.
In his dreams, he was back in combat. He thrashed in his bed, calling out to invisible adversaries in sheer terror. Desperate, he started self-medicating with sleeping pills and alcohol in order to get some rest, leading to problems in his personal life.
The son of an Iraq War veteran designed an app to stop his dad s PTSD nightmares komu.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from komu.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.