What now??

DogTired

Silver Member
Background:
Go see your doctor says the media and ask for help. I did and ARGH!
Officially it's CPTSD, and I'm having my first uncontrollable relapse in 34 years.
The "Treatment" started in October, after 10 months on a waiting list.
Which I suppose is pretty good for the UK's NHS.

Treatment
Since then I've had two meetings on Zoom (Two and a half hours worth over 3 months).
I had to fight for that too as otherwise everything they did would have been over my ex "not very smart at all" mobile phone. These calls were to 'stabilize me' and give me methods to cope with my Anxiety, Hyper awareness, F-backs and nightmares. and sometimes really extreme reactions to everyday problems until I got to see one of their psychiatrists. Stabilization has so far given me two sheets of A4 with little diagrams to help me. Impressed?

The Phone call:
Today I get told the therapist is still off sick with an unknown return date, by her Psych Nurse.
Did I mention "unknown return date?"
So I asked who would be replacing her in the interim. The reply?
"There are no other therapists available as we have a funding issue".
A funding issue? I'm hearing alarm bells!

Then the nurse asked how I felt. After that list, I added "and Abandoned" and ended the call.
He was going to phone me next week to check on me. I'll need a new phone by then as the other one just took up swimming. The number I will send by email. Why mention email? Read on.

Meanwhile, my PTSD (also a vet) buddy of old and me have been talking.
He saying, "I told you they would stop treating you for no reason and stop answering emails."
I haven't tried the email bit yet, I'll wait till next week to see what happens before I totally flip.

So I asked him, "What did you do about that"?
"The usual, got drunk and smashed up the flat sort of thing."
He is now talking to a private therapist which is being paid for by a veterans charity.
Every fortnight, face to face. I should be so lucky!
Still he is a nice guy (until triggered) so I'm pleased for him.

Finally, it's taken the best bit of 7 hours to calm down.
Thanks to my lovely wife. She is so important to me, and my registered carer.
I'm used to BS from doctors, but on a scale of 1 to 10, my anger index for shrinks is in triple figures.
So I suppose it's lucky the voice on the phone is 103 miles away.
Somehow I thought things would get better once in the hands of professionals.
Only what makes a professional organization nowadays? Apart from money!
 
I was a United States Marine. Enlisted at 17. Raised a military brat, I had higher expectations than some. Shrug.

The US VA system? Makes the NHS look like god’s golden standard of best treatment. US Vets get an appointment with an oncologist 2 years after their initial cancer dx. And then it’s rescheduled for 18mo later. Rule of thumb? The VA just wants you to die, before they have to spend money on you. Maybe, sometimes, occasionally one will get an interested person to push their case forward. But it’s an endemic thing, over here, to pass the buck. Every so often it makes the news. Like a retired admiral gets rejected from the ER because he drove himself, with a broken leg, and has to drive himself to another -civilian- hospital to get transferred over. (Because the insurance owned civilian hospital will not treat him, as he’s a vet, & the VA will only accept BIBA -brought in by ambulance, & will not take anyone by wheelchair). And his broken leg meant he could not walk. Drive? Yes. Ish. Badly. Over a dozen hit&run crahses charged to him, as he careened off of cars & buildings, attempting to drive with a broken leg. Walk? No. So he called 911 from the VA parking lot outside of emergency to be transferred to a civil hospital, to be transferred to the VA.)

I was a mercenary. After the USMC. Before it got pop-cultured-pretty-named… like “contractor”, when it still lost me my citizenship to have been so. If I got caught having been so. I happen to love and adore the Dutch/Swiss/etc. who have systems in place, who employ mercenaries almost exclusively, but the baseline is? You’re responsible for yourself.

And having grown up in the military? Served in the USMC? I avoid the VA like. the. plague. Active duty & dependent healthcare is outstanding. Once you’re out? You’re slag. And treated as such.

I pay for my own therapy. Out of pocket. 4 hours, twice a week, when I need it. That’s the mercenary speaking. Because that’s. what. I. NEED. What the VA provides? In a few years, maaaaaybe once a week for an hour. f*ck that noise. Me. My life. Best available. Full stop. (Anything else is extra). And I HAVE had that extra. VetCenters in the US are outside of the VA, and I saw one of their directors for a few years. But it was? Extra. Bonus. His badass self, gratis. Not what I needed, and paid for, out of pocket. But? Incredibly useful. Because he was good. That good.

ETA… Point being? Just because it’s what’s available, standard, etc.? Does. Not. Mean. That. It’s. What. You. Need. f*cking Forget about rate/deserve. Their broke dick systems? Reflect on them.
 
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I honestly feel sad for those in the US and UK health system. Makes me super appreciative to be in Australia... our health system has flaws, but life threatening matters, everyone ends up in the same room with the same clinicians treating them, very quickly, and FREE.
 
private insurance through an employer aint bad. I complain, of course, but when i hear the stories coming out of tge VA and nationalized health programs i knock that shit off. So far i have been kept alive about a half dozen times and am probably millions ahead of what it should have cost me so yeah, the helping me get past PTSD or addiction to medication part is icing on a great big f’n cake.
So i have a different view for looking at my own care from the view i have looking at how other people are treated. My sympathy to those grasping at the straws their health care provides them, it is criminal and at some future date this time will be remembered with shame. Of course we will get this figured out as a society eventually, what else matters half as much as health and human life?
Hang in there
 
The NHS is in a state of collapse for all things physical and mental health. Years and years of underfunding. I moved GPs because my GP surgery was closing. Only to be told this new one is closing too as it's contracted out from the NHS to a private company and the contract isn't being renewed.
I also have an appointment, that I received in August 24 , for June 2025 for an investigation for a physical health issue! So, it's pretty bad.

Do you have the option to pay for your own therapy?
There are charities that offer free or sliding scale ones. And then also, you're more likely to have a choice in therapist and pick one that would work for you.
 
I was a United States Marine. Enlisted at 17. Raised a military brat, I had higher expectations than some. Shrug.

The US VA system? Makes the NHS look like god’s golden standard of best treatment. US Vets get an appointment with an oncologist 2 years after their initial cancer dx. And then it’s rescheduled for 18mo later. Rule of thumb? The VA just wants you to die, before they have to spend money on you. Maybe, sometimes, occasionally one will get an interested person to push their case forward. But it’s an endemic thing, over here, to pass the buck. Every so often it makes the news. Like a retired admiral gets rejected from the ER because he drove himself, with a broken leg, and has to drive himself to another -civilian- hospital to get transferred over. (Because the insurance owned civilian hospital will not treat him, as he’s a vet, & the VA will only accept BIBA -brought in by ambulance, & will not take anyone by wheelchair). And his broken leg meant he could not walk. Drive? Yes. Ish. Badly. Over a dozen hit&run crahses charged to him, as he careened off of cars & buildings, attempting to drive with a broken leg. Walk? No. So he called 911 from the VA parking lot outside of emergency to be transferred to a civil hospital, to be transferred to the VA.)

I was a mercenary. After the USMC. Before it got pop-cultured-pretty-named… like “contractor”, when it still lost me my citizenship to have been so. If I got caught having been so. I happen to love and adore the Dutch/Swiss/etc. who have systems in place, who employ mercenaries almost exclusively, but the baseline is? You’re responsible for yourself.

And having grown up in the military? Served in the USMC? I avoid the VA like. the. plague. Active duty & dependent healthcare is outstanding. Once you’re out? You’re slag. And treated as such.

I pay for my own therapy. Out of pocket. 4 hours, twice a week, when I need it. That’s the mercenary speaking. Because that’s. what. I. NEED. What the VA provides? In a few years, maaaaaybe once a week for an hour. f*ck that noise. Me. My life. Best available. Full stop. (Anything else is extra). And I HAVE had that extra. VetCenters in the US are outside of the VA, and I saw one of their directors for a few years. But it was? Extra. Bonus. His badass self, gratis. Not what I needed, and paid for, out of pocket. But? Incredibly useful. Because he was good. That good.

ETA… Point being? Just because it’s what’s available, standard, etc.? Does. Not. Mean. That. It’s. What. You. Need. f*cking Forget about rate/deserve. Their broke dick systems? Reflect on them.
Similar story. Service brat, RAF then Army. Got kicked out.
One of them UK Strategic Defense Review (aka cost cutting foul ups). I was well angry and, more truthfully, WELL HAPPY!
Happy as in what I was seeing (and living) was everything falling to rat 5h1t level.
Too many "not our business" deployments, bad "baby" officers, too little manpower, poorly equipped, for lousy pay.

What to do now homeless? New game, different day, so why not!
Via a friend of a friend, offered a short term contract as a 'security advisor'.
Ended up too ill to continue. Now needing help (sort of described above). Sigh.

Too many UK vets get the "bums rush" for quality help with only one vet buddy I knew personally getting "good treatment".
Quite funny really. Same frustrations, he snapped, and pulled off a 'spectacular' that was directly attributed to his PTSD.
Something to do with a close shave for a shrink with a combat knife.🤣
Still if that is what it takes . . . . .😉
 

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