Poll Does the VA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) help you in your fight against PTSD?

[Simon Marc]

Do you think the VA actually helps Veterans or not? Please explain your answer briefly. Veterans only, please.

 

[somerandomguy]

I'm not a veteran but I work with veterans and this is a really complicated issue.

Most of the people I encounter would probably check both yes and no.

 

[Kubash16]

Agreed with @somerandomguy, there are some things they do amazingly well and some things that can kill the patient. (Daughter of a Vet who spent a good portion of his later life in the VA and I also work for the VA).

 

[The Albatross]

Generally I ticked yes just for the sake of this poor young man's paper. It's better than it used to be from what I understand though I elected not to use VA services even though eligible and private payed. Mostly cuz emphasis was combat vets returning and I had the ability and didn't want to waste program funds for them.

 

[The Albatross]

Let's just give this poor kid some data.

 

[Simon Marc]

Let's just give this poor kid some data.

?I really appreciate your support?

 

[Kubash16]

I don’t want to seem like I don’t support you. I do, just wouldn’t be appropriate for me to choose since I’m not a vet. But I also wanted to show that there is another perspective, the VA in particular can get really complicated.

 

[Simon Marc]

Most of the people I encounter would probably check both yes and no

Could you cite an example? I would like to get a better understanding.

there are some things they do amazingly well and some things that can kill the patient.

I talked to a vet who said this:

"The VA is quick to throw medication at every problem, including PTSD. I believe that the VA is way behind when it comes to therapy. My VA doesn’t even offer EMDR as an option which means I pay out of pocket for my EMDR therapy."

As an employee of the VA, can you agree to those statements?

 

[Kubash16]

Could you cite an example? I would like to get a better understanding.

I talked to a vet who said this:

"The VA is quick to throw medication at every problem, including PTSD. I believe that the VA is way behind when it comes to therapy. My VA doesn’t even offer EMDR as an option which means I pay out of pocket for my EMDR therapy."

As an employee of the VA, can you agree to those statements?

I can’t speak to the EMDR portion since I am in the pharmacy. What I can speak to though is my father took several meds morning, noon, and night every single day. There are about 15 facilities throughout the country similar to mine (mail order prescriptions), we are the lowest capacity and still pump out 60,000 plus orders (not pills, not individual prescriptions, full orders) daily. You can do the math ? it’s a lot. And we are only mail order, we do supply some individuals pharmacies within the VA system, but once you consider all the hospitals, the other mail orders, clinics, and individual pharmacies- we are talking big business. I’d be willing to bet every single vet takes multiple meds a day whether they need it or not.

Adding- to give you a scale of how little we are compared to the others. We operate only one shift, M-F during the day. All of the other locations operate 2-3 shifts. We are the only one with a single. So there’s some extra multiplying of the 60k. Today’s numbers-we were down yesterday for a bit so got behind which meant we had 106,000+ orders to fill, we currently have 39,000 to go and only a couple hours left, it’s a busy day lol.

 

[The Albatross]

@Simon Marc I can agree with the VA being quick to throw medication at things. I had 3 Air Force bases, a couple Army, and a Naval Training center within 75 miles of my former home. A lot of vets.

 

[Friday]

@Simon Marc
I don’t use the VA, for anything, so I ticked “No.”
The first time I dealt with PTSD I did it on my own.
The second time I sought out private therapists.

@Kubash16
LOL... This is the second time in as many days I’ve referenced this article! Totally different reasons :p

Medication is a factor. By one account, the average number of prescription drugs used by America’s veterans is 17. Young vets: Trouble in the bedroom

 

[Simon Marc]

I can’t speak to the EMDR portion since I am in the pharmacy. What I can speak to though is my father took several meds morning, noon, and night every single day. There are about 15 facilities throughout the country similar to mine (mail order prescriptions), we are the lowest capacity and still pump out 60,000 plus orders (not pills, not individual prescriptions, full orders) daily. You can do the math ? it’s a lot. And we are only mail order, we do supply some individuals pharmacies within the VA system, but once you consider all the hospitals, the other mail orders, clinics, and individual pharmacies- we are talking big business. I’d be willing to bet every single vet takes multiple meds a day whether they need it or not.

Adding- to give you a scale of how little we are compared to the others. We operate only one shift, M-F during the day. All of the other locations operate 2-3 shifts. We are the only one with a single. So there’s some extra multiplying of the 60k. Today’s numbers-we were down yesterday for a bit so got behind which meant we had 106,000+ orders to fill, we currently have 39,000 to go and only a couple hours left, it’s a busy day lol.

Wow, that's a lot. By whom do you receive these orders? I guess it's the military doctors or psychologists. And why do they prescribe that much medication? Do you have any idea?