General Question About The Va. Help, Please.

[ghost 2ghost]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this as this is only my second post.
Anyway... We recently moved and husband had anxiety to the point of delusions and paranoia in the first couple of weeks. He has finally adjusted to this and in the interim he did go to the VA to get help. Had been off his meds for at least a year with a history of not keeping appointments/getting refills.
When his meds are regulated, he's alot better. He just does not like to go there and get no help or have appts canceled and all the other crap associated with the Huntsville, AL VA. Has PTSD/Bipolar ... So we went to the VA and they gave him a ten day supply of meds with the regular stuff coming in the mail. Guess what? They're not here and he's out of meds. His view is this is normal and he's bitter and skeptical. My concern is he is taking these medications for ten days and then has nothing.
He has to work tomorrow, cannot call out. Would it do any good for me to go up there and ask for another temporary supply or see if they can track it?... The nurse for his doctor is a really good dude and he has gone above and beyond and out of the way to help him even as a walk-in. He wants me to go try to talk to him and see if there is anything that can be done to tide him over or expedite/correct the process. I'm not sure they will even let me talk to him. The biggest hang up here is that in Huntsville, we got a new VA building with a pharmacy and a lab and radiology, etc and it is super nice, but they don't even have a pharmacist who can fill scripts. I know this is not a unique situation. I just don't know what to do. It's compounding other problems and now that he has started taking all this medicine, he has no more. Sorry if I ramble. Any advice?

 

[Friday]

Yeah. It's a super common problem. Meds showing up weeks, even months, past when they're supposed to. Mailed to old addresses no matter how many time you update them, or not mailed at all because they were never filled, or, or, or. And then when they finally do come? Melted together, or capsules busted apart, or the wrong dose, or the wrong med...it's a clusterf*ck. Comes with a zillion phonecalls, often more than one appearance in person (where they refuse to issue more because yours are "in the mail"), and 10,000 excuses for incompetence where they blame you.

- Most Civvie ERs will fill on the spot for a short term / holdoverer supply of psychiatric meds... Because suddenly going off of many psychiatric meds can either kill you or send you into a psychotic episode. Bring in the last complete set of bottles with you if you have them.

- ^^^ Usually isn't enough to cover VA incompetence. You never really know if it's going to be days or months. Have a backup Rx with a civvie GP that you can fill yourself at any pharmacy in any grocery store.

 

[Sweetpea76]

Uggg f*cking VA. They do that a lot... They've even done it with my vets pain meds, and didn't give a flying rats ass that THEY pumped him full of these meds to the point that he'd withdraw without them.

Good luck trying to get an emergency supply... They treat you like a "drug seeker." Even if they can see they screwed up on the computer in front of their face. Even if your vet has never had a history of abusing his meds.

I'd still try... Just get zen and calm before you go in. This situation was one of the one times that *I* was more pissed off than my vet in the VA hospital and he had to shoo me out of there. It's usually the other way around.

 

[KathleenUSMC]

Yes. Get another 10 day supply.

Does your veteran have a disability rating? If so do you know about the caregiver program?