Hello Everyone New To Your Site Looking For A Shoulder

[anthony]

This is the group you want to treat PTSD... they come under many names, but listed first is the active ingredient, that is what your looking for.

Benzodiazepines

• Alprazolam (Xanax)
• Clonazepam (Klonopin)
• Diazepam (Valium, Diastat)
• Lorazepam (Ativan)

Benzo's used to be used, then SSRI's became the big craze, except doctors stopped listening to patients, and only listened to their wallets based on pharmaceutical companies... now their growing a set again and starting to listen, because patients are simply refusing meds because they make them so much worse, not better...

If you want to read why it all came about, then read: https://www.myptsd.com/threads/chemical-imbalance.83611/

This is where the problem started, back in the 70's, and were big pharma gained its traction.

As for the issuing of medications, Australia doesn't have the drug problems America does, so valium will be issued, and our systems are all linked in to one another, so you can't pharmacy hop... you may get away with it once, if really quick, but you won't get away with it again.

The problem your talking about is above the doctors head... and cultural / political.

I have no doubt doctors here don't hand out valium or such easily.... but when you have a legitimate diagnosis that they have in their hands, then they will prescribe it if it works, but again, our systems are inter-linked here so you can't screw it over for long, as everything comes under the medicare computers.

 

[Fargo1]

Greetings Blake,

I have a slightly different experience as I really wanted help now and the VA...well they give you help later. That and merely entering the VA Building raised my anxiety level so high I thought my head would pop off. I went to several group sessions and had a similar reaction to what you describe from your husband. I also saw a couple of the VA guys. No joy.

What worked for me was finding a good Psych trained in PTSD and had a sit down with her. Amazingly, she didn't charge me for three hours of her time, then sent me to go see several other colleagues to see who would be the best fit for me. Every single one of them recommended that I stick with her. It has been working for me. But it is pretty expensive to do it this way. So maybe taking that tact might work for him.

Just trying to think outside of the VA box.

Fargo

 

[Sarg]

Fargo, and others,
You're better off if you can afford to go outside the VA. I've had a forty-year experience with the VA and only recently gave up and went outside. The difference is day and night. My counselor is incredible. She gives me hope (even if I act like an idiot, like I did today, sorry Teri!) and what to do that might help.

My VA shrink tries hard to help but there is so much political crap going on he's pretty much hamstrung by the system. My private shrink is the one that has actually had the audacity of trusting me with clonazepam albeit a small dosage.

The main thing is to get treatment of some sort, because this stuff doesn't go away by itself. It can hide for a little while, but it always comes back, many times stronger.

Hang tough,

Sarg

 

[Fargo1]

Thanks Sarg,

Yeah, I am lucky that at the moment I can afford it and don't HAVE to go to the VA. I am not sure what I would have done if that was my only option. But, what I can say is that now that I have been in therapy, there is no going back. No matter what the path, I will be going to therapy.

 

[blake1]

We have talked about private counselors, but there aren't many around our area that deal with PTSD...and when my husband went overseas for one of the combat tours our daughter was having difficulty dealing and our family physician suggested this counselor for her to talk with...It was a good thing our daughter is head strong and very opinionated ...this counselor told our daughter on her 2nd and last visit that her mother was "to controlling and she should cut loose and do something like get a tattoo Or piercing to rebel and claim her life back" …What 13yo needs to claim their life back from their mother...My daughter asked the counselor if she was one of those flaming liberals her grandfather always talked about..I giggled.
If I can find a private counselor I think my husband would go...1:1 treatment he has said he would do. I have a name & number for a therapist I got from a social worker I work with who claims she the best...I guess we’ll see. The cost worries me...our insurance covers some but I’m sure not all. How much do sessions usually run? How many times do you meet? The VA was all gun-ho at first wanting to meet with my husband weekly… on 3 separate days one for the psychiatrist, one for the psychologist, and one for the substance abuse counselor, and offering all sorts of therapeutic programs…now nothing. :rolleyes:

 

[Fargo1]

My psych runs $130 a session. Each session is supposed to last 1 hour, but we frequently run 1.5 two 2 hours for the same price. She has me at 3 sessions a week for the first month (she is giving me one of the three for free), two sessions a week for the second month and then we will look at where we are at to see how to go forward.

Not cheap. But my insurance covers half up to $2,000, so not quite as painful as all that.

 

[Sarg]

Perhaps I might step off into waters WAY over my head but I don't think having specialty training in PTSD is a definite requirement or even desireable. The two I go to, the shrink and the counselor are not (that I know of) trained in PTSD or at least Combat PTSD. But they zoned right in on the two things bothering me the most, depression and anxiety.

To put it into terms that even I can understand (notice I said I there) It's like a hammer. Sure, there's hammers that drive nails, or those that break rocks, ect. but they're still hammers. Fundamental psycology is just that.

Actually, it's refreshing not having a professional pinning one to this aspect of Combat PTSD or that. DEAL WITH THE DAMN DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY and I'LL sort out the small shit.

Am I drowning yet?

Sarg

 

[Fargo1]

Sarg, That is exactly what I was trying to convey. Each person is different, each has their own problems, each could have a different path to recovery. Many look at the VA, as they can't or won't look anywhere else. Some look at the VA for the financial assistance. Others don't have to.

If yours is working for you, man that is awesome! If you are drowning, there is at least one paw held out to pull you out. >>Extends paw.

 

[Sarg]

Guilty as charged!!! I just got in to this private thing just so many months ago. I was raised in the military. Dad was in the Army Air Corps when I was born and it turned into the Air Force the year I popped out. I got used to someone being assigned a job. And dammit, you expected them to do their job! Well, 1970 I show up at the VA's doorstep and said, "I'm screwed up and it's YOUR JOB to do something about it." Well, one doesn't tell the VA anything.

"We can't, we won't and we don't give a crap" what you think is the main song playing on their Victrola. Well, dumb ol' me tried to make them do their jobs. Ooops! That don't work. The harder you push, the harder they push back. I fought that stupid battle for forty years and it got down to the point where they were pulling some pretty serious shit on me.

They finally got the point across that they had no reluctance in making me another VA statistic and I finally said "No, man, this ain't worth dying for" and started looking around for private.

Now, I'm like some little kid a foreign land. I keep saying "you can do that!?!" or "you DID say yes, right???" Hell, it makes me feel better emotionally knowing I have an appointment coming up in a few days.

I really, really feel for the guys and girls that have no where else to go. But!!!!! There is hope! The VA is in the spotlight more and more. The 9th Circut Court just pronounced VA mental healthcare "so egregious, that it violates the Veteran's civil rights", congressmen are screaming about the horrendous suicide rates, so, hopefully, there will be something done.

I certainly hope so. I don't want ANY of our men and women now to go through what we Viet Nam Vets went through.

Sarg