Posted on Jul 11, 2018
Army combat Veteran fights the war on opioid addiction - VAntage Point
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Imagine going into the VA with a nasty head cold only to find out Hoot is your pharmacist?
Army combat Veteran fights the war on opioid addiction - VAntage Point
Posted from blogs.va.gov
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Drugs
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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Stories like this always talk about the number of veterans who lose their lives because of their addiction. But they rarely
talk about how many vets we lose when the VA arbitrarily takes away a veterans pain meds. Because the dirty little secret is the number of veterans we lose to suicide has as much to do about them being in pain as it does about mental illness. Yes - vets kill themselves not just because of PTSD; they often do it because of a daily losing battle against pain. Imagine being in pain every single day of your life and being unable to get any relief at all because somebody has instituted a system whereby you can no longer receive the opioid medication you need to live a halfway decent life. Yes the opioid epidemic is real, and yes something needs to be done about it. But the answer is not to arbitrarily take away a veterans meds just because someone is enforcing it a policy.
talk about how many vets we lose when the VA arbitrarily takes away a veterans pain meds. Because the dirty little secret is the number of veterans we lose to suicide has as much to do about them being in pain as it does about mental illness. Yes - vets kill themselves not just because of PTSD; they often do it because of a daily losing battle against pain. Imagine being in pain every single day of your life and being unable to get any relief at all because somebody has instituted a system whereby you can no longer receive the opioid medication you need to live a halfway decent life. Yes the opioid epidemic is real, and yes something needs to be done about it. But the answer is not to arbitrarily take away a veterans meds just because someone is enforcing it a policy.
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MSG (Join to see)
Agreed. I think not allowing me to manage my pain after surgery is a direct cause to my shoulder freezing up. I never missed physical therapy, but the pain was so bad I favored my shoulder the rest of the time instead of making it hurt worse. I ate so many NSAIDS, (motrin/mobic/naproxen) my gastro says I now have microscopic colitis because they ate three holes in my colon! Thanks! And I am now being med boarded. What a crock!!!!
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SFC Dr. Fred Lockard
Sorry to hear about the issues you’re having. It is funny how the Army pushed Motrin on me for all those years and now we find out like you, that taking a lot of Motrin did damage to my system. May as well have just taken the opioid meds anyway!
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