Posted on Jul 15, 2015
Is this the treatment you expected when you raised your right hand?
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VA doctors freely handed out pain medications to veterans for years.
Then they stopped. The results have sometimes turned tragic.
Zach Williams came home to Minnesota with two Purple Hearts for his military service in Iraq. He also carried other lasting war wounds.
Back pain made it hard for him to stand. A brain injury from the explosions he endured made his moods erratic.
Williams eased the chronic pain with the help of narcotics prescribed for years by the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center. Then the VA made a stark and sudden shift: Instead of doling out pills to thousands of veterans like him — a policy facing mounting criticism — they began cutting dosages or canceling prescriptions, and, instead, began referring many vets to alternative therapies such as acupuncture and yoga.
At first, the change seemed to work: Worrisome signs of prescription drug addiction among a generation of vets appeared to ebb. But the well-intentioned change in prescription policy has come with a heavy cost. Vets cut off from their meds say they feel abandoned, left to endure crippling pain on their own, or to seek other sources of relief.
Or worse.
On Sept. 20, 2013, police were called to Williams’ Apple Valley home, donated to him by a veterans group grateful for his sacrifice. Williams, 35, lay dead in an upstairs bedroom. He had overdosed on a cocktail of pills obtained from a variety of doctors.
Authorities ruled his death an accident, officially “mixed drug toxicity.” Advocates for veterans and some treatment counselors angrily call it something else: the tragic result of the VA’s failure to provide support and services for vets in the wake of the national move away from prescription pain pills.
At the VA’s Medical Center in Minneapolis, for instance, there is one chiropractor on staff for the more than 90,000 patients it sees a year.
“The VA has been doing an awful job on this issue,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer for Phoenix House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization that runs more than 130 treatment programs in nine states, including programs for veterans.
Before alternative therapies can work, Kolodny said, the VA needs to better tend to the addicts it has created.
more
http://www.startribune.com/cut-off-veterans-struggle-to-live-with-va-s-new-painkiller-policy/311225761/
Then they stopped. The results have sometimes turned tragic.
Zach Williams came home to Minnesota with two Purple Hearts for his military service in Iraq. He also carried other lasting war wounds.
Back pain made it hard for him to stand. A brain injury from the explosions he endured made his moods erratic.
Williams eased the chronic pain with the help of narcotics prescribed for years by the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center. Then the VA made a stark and sudden shift: Instead of doling out pills to thousands of veterans like him — a policy facing mounting criticism — they began cutting dosages or canceling prescriptions, and, instead, began referring many vets to alternative therapies such as acupuncture and yoga.
At first, the change seemed to work: Worrisome signs of prescription drug addiction among a generation of vets appeared to ebb. But the well-intentioned change in prescription policy has come with a heavy cost. Vets cut off from their meds say they feel abandoned, left to endure crippling pain on their own, or to seek other sources of relief.
Or worse.
On Sept. 20, 2013, police were called to Williams’ Apple Valley home, donated to him by a veterans group grateful for his sacrifice. Williams, 35, lay dead in an upstairs bedroom. He had overdosed on a cocktail of pills obtained from a variety of doctors.
Authorities ruled his death an accident, officially “mixed drug toxicity.” Advocates for veterans and some treatment counselors angrily call it something else: the tragic result of the VA’s failure to provide support and services for vets in the wake of the national move away from prescription pain pills.
At the VA’s Medical Center in Minneapolis, for instance, there is one chiropractor on staff for the more than 90,000 patients it sees a year.
“The VA has been doing an awful job on this issue,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer for Phoenix House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization that runs more than 130 treatment programs in nine states, including programs for veterans.
Before alternative therapies can work, Kolodny said, the VA needs to better tend to the addicts it has created.
more
http://www.startribune.com/cut-off-veterans-struggle-to-live-with-va-s-new-painkiller-policy/311225761/
Posted in these groups: 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 8
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I knew this Sergeant through acquaintances and know more of the story. Let's just say it is not all the VA's fault.
My personal opinion is that there was a time when medication was the preferred treatment over psychiatric care, as it was much less costly, there were not enough Psychiatrists to go around, and medications had proven effective to help veterans cope with physical and mental pain. Then someone changed policy away from medication as the preferred option. Again I am guessing here, but the changes seem to indicate a central decision-maker driving this. The result was more veterans turning to alternative or self-medication plans and an uptick in suicides.
I hate that we have this problem. But I think the solutions lie among us, and not with the government.
My personal opinion is that there was a time when medication was the preferred treatment over psychiatric care, as it was much less costly, there were not enough Psychiatrists to go around, and medications had proven effective to help veterans cope with physical and mental pain. Then someone changed policy away from medication as the preferred option. Again I am guessing here, but the changes seem to indicate a central decision-maker driving this. The result was more veterans turning to alternative or self-medication plans and an uptick in suicides.
I hate that we have this problem. But I think the solutions lie among us, and not with the government.
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It's a problem across the whole country. I was in pain meds for 4 years before I "qualified" for a spinal stimulator. I still live with intense pain but I've pretty much given up on doctors. They're afraid to prescribe dosages that work or look at me and say you've got this stumulator so you aren't in pain.
I'm sure many other vets have had the same thing happen.
No, I didn't expect this when I joined but the unwritten promise to care for vets has been broken many times. We are a drain on the budget and therefore simply a liability that the bean counters wish would just go away b
I'm sure many other vets have had the same thing happen.
No, I didn't expect this when I joined but the unwritten promise to care for vets has been broken many times. We are a drain on the budget and therefore simply a liability that the bean counters wish would just go away b
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The VA is not responsible for this shift in pain management. You can thank the DEA and medical professional organizations that have demonized the use of narcotics. In fact in the last several years, many medications have be added as controlled substances and many more have been further restricted. No by the VA but by the DEA. The strong arm of the government has taken DEA licenses from many docs for freely prescribing these medicines resulting in other providers fearful of repercussions from the DEA. Additionally the DEA has increased the licensure to around $800 per state for providers. This means less people can or will prescribe these meds and all pain management clinics want to do is procedures that they can get paid more money to complete.
So, its a real problem, but its a nationwide issue not just a VA issue
So, its a real problem, but its a nationwide issue not just a VA issue
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