This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Veteran Health Care

  • The trip home

    It’s been 3 years since I made the selfish choice to end my life. Through self medicating with alcohol and other ego driven behaviors I destroyed my life and burned bridges with people who loved me. I had a plan and was actively pursuing it. The best woman I’ve ever met came home from work to find me bawling uncontrollably and I told her I just couldn’t do it anymore and I left.

    I called a friend and he told me to come over. I instead went out drinking trying to have a good time. It didn’t work of course and I found myself intoxicated and driving to his house a few hours later.

    I called Z and WT roommates and close friends of mine. Both were asleep. Not wanting to wake them up (they would have but I felt guilty imposing on them, foolishness) and I left to carry out my plan. I was driving to my father in laws farm where my guns were kept out of the house and away from my daughter and I was pulled over after making an illegal “U” turn.

    The police officers did their jobs, exceptionally well and it’s because of them and their actions that I’m alive to write this today. They were both vets and I opened up and was honest with them. They took me to the VA and I was hospitalized for 8 days. I got out and kept self medicating. I tried therapy but I never quit the booze until one day that amazing woman came home and said it was best if I moved in with Z and WT.

    I couldn’t argue, I had no legs to stand on and she was trying to save my life and protect my child. A lot has happened in the last 3 years and some change since I stopped writing here. I will tell the story of my recovery and hopefully inspire someone else through their own road and on their own path.

    We don’t talk about this enough and we’re losing friends and brothers and sisters every day to these struggles. The three pronged approach to treating PTSD is sleep, diet (meaning everything you put in your body not just food), and exercise. I’ll try to keep my posts brief and organize my thoughts but dyslexia and severe ADD hamper these efforts.

    I’m not seeking attention or a cry for help and I will do my best to protect the anonymity of those close to me while telling my story. I have more motivation now than I ever have and have no intention of taking my life or risking it unnecessarily any longer. The children of suicide victims are three times as likely to carry out suicide themselves. This is a cost I cannot afford. I wish you all wealth in spirit and love and good health. More to follow -Kilo

  • Trump and PTSD

    Yesterday, social media lost it’s mind again when Marine Staff Sgt. Chad Robichaux, president and founder of Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs, at a town hall style meeting with some veterans asked Donald Trump if he’d support using religion-based programs for helping veterans with PTS and TBI problems. Here is Trump’s complete response;

    When you talk about the mental health problems when people come back from war and combat and they see things that maybe a lot of folks in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it, and they see horror stories, they see events that you couldn’t see in a movie, nobody would believe it. Now we need a mental health help and medical and it’s one of the things that I think is least addressed and it’s one of the things I hear — like your question — one of the things I hear most about when I go around and talk to the veterans.

    So we’re going to have a very, very robust, very very robust level of performance having to do with mental health. We are losing so many great people that can be taken care of if they have proper care.

    You know when you hear the 22 suicides a day, it’s a big part of your question, but when you hear the 22 suicides a day, that should never be. That should never be, So we’re going to be addressing that very strongly.

    And the whole mental health issue is going to be a very important issue when I take over, and the VA is going to be fixed in so many ways, but that’s gonna be one of the ways we’re gonna help. And that’s in many respects going to be the number one thing we have to do because I think it’s really been left behind. Ok? Thank you very much.

    Of course, most media outlets edited that response to appear as if Trump didn’t understand the problem and that he was calling veterans who suffer from PTS as “weak”. CNN even told it’s readers what to think about Trump in their opening paragraph of the report before presenting his response to the question;

    Donald Trump suggested Monday that American soldiers and veterans who commit suicide do so because they can’t handle the post-traumatic stress of war.

    CNN went on to ask the opinion of highly partisan Democrat operatives like Jon Soltz, of MoveOn.org’s VoteVets;

    Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran and Chairman of the progressive VoteVets.org, called Trump’s comments “horrible” but “not shocking.”
    “We’re talking about a person, in Trump, who believes that POWs aren’t real heroes, and that he’s made sacrifices akin to Gold Star Families who lost their loved ones in war,” Soltz said in a statement. “The constant disrespect Donald Trump shows towards our veterans and servicemembers is sickening, and completely and totally disqualifying.”

    Paul Rieckhoff, of course, chimed in;

    The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America sent BuzzFeed News a statement about the importance of language when talking about PTSD.

    “Every national leader has a responsibility to use accurate and appropriate language when talking about mental health and suicide especially,” IAVA CEO Paul Rieckhoff wrote wrote. “Terms like ‘killing yourself’ or ‘mental problems’ or any suggestion that suicide only impacts the weak, can promote contagion and may discourage people from getting help.”

    He added that “getting help for a mental health injury is not a sign of weakness, it’s a demonstration of strength.”

    Marine Staff Sgt. Chad Robichaux, the man who asked Trump the question, though, called the criticism of Trump “sickening” according to the Washington Times.

    I think it’s sickening that anyone would twist Mr. Trump’s comments to me in order to pursue a political agenda. I took his comments to be thoughtful and understanding of the struggles many veterans have, and I believe he is committed to helping them. The nature of my question focused on a broken system that’s failing so many of our veterans and, as president, would Mr. Trump take a more holistic approach to health care for veterans.

    I interpreted his answer to affirm that the system is broken and he would take the necessary steps to address it. After eight combat tours in Afghanistan I came home and was diagnosed with PTSD, and I struggled with it. Since my own recovery I’ve been privileged to help 1100 veterans who have graduated from our program; none of whom have committed suicide since graduating. It’s a very important issue to me, which is why I was thankful for the opportunity to ask Mr. Trump about it directly.

    If the media is trying to make me vote for Trump out of spite, they’re doing a marvelous job.

  • Zika virus found in members of military

    CNN reports that 41 members of the US military have been discovered to be infected with the Zika virus. One is a pregnant woman.

    n addition, a senior State Department official told CNN there have been two confirmed Zika cases among US diplomats serving overseas. The diplomats were serving in countries where Zika has already been contracted.

    The military tracks the number of cases reported among the ranks each week. Earlier Wednesday, the number stood at 33, but a new update has now been provided.

    In addition, seven military dependents have been diagnosed with Zika, an increase of one case since the previous week.

    The CDC says that contracting Zika is a minor event, only rarely resulting in death – that mostly unborn children are at the greatest risk for permanent injury.

  • “Source”: Baton Rouge murderer caught the PTSD

    “Source”: Baton Rouge murderer caught the PTSD

    BR officers

    Bobo sends us a link to CNN in which they credit some anonymous “source” for the information that the fellow who murdered three police officers in Baton Rouge caught the PTSD in the Marine Corps;

    [T]he man who shot six law enforcement officers Sunday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana — killing three — suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, a source involved in the investigation told CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
    Long joined the Marine Corps in 2005 and worked as a data network specialist, according to the U.S. military.

    He was discharged at the rank of sergeant in 2010, after serving in Iraq.

    The source also told CNN that [XXXX] had filled a prescription for Ativan, an anti-anxiety drug, as recently as June. He also had prescriptions for Valium and Lunesta.

    Their “source” neglects to mention who prescribed the drugs for the murderer. Or how a data network specialist would have an experience that would cause PTSD. Or why they think that the murderer would kill someone as a result of PTSD, since most people who suffer from PTSD injure themselves rather than other people they don’t know.

    I’m thinking that it’s easy for most former data network specialists to convince a civilian doctor that they have PTSD than a military or VA doctor.

    But, see, if CNN just waves the PTSD flag, that makes it easier for them, the people who don’t understand PTSD, to explain the whole thing to themselves and not blame the murderer for his actions.

    Also, they can blame Bush.

  • The VA wants to hack off your junk

    The VA wants to hack off your junk

    One of our ninjas send us the story from Stars & Stripes that the Veterans’ Affairs Department wants to get into the business of transgender surgeries, you know, because they’ve conquered all of the other dragons that veterans’ healthcare has presented them;

    The VA says the surgical procedures were not deemed to be “medically necessary” in the past and there were questions over their safety and effectiveness.

    “However, increased understanding of gender dysphoria and surgical techniques in this area have improved significantly, and surgical procedures are now widely accepted in the medical community as medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria,” the VA wrote in the notice.

    The department called it a serious medical condition with severe consequences for patients if treatment is not provided.

    Until recently, gender dysphoria was considered a mental disorder – it was called gender identity disorder (GID) until 3 years ago – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), just edited in 2013, changes the name, because political correctness has permeated the medical community.

    Me, personally, I have no complaints about the medical treatment that I get at the VA, but there are enough horror stories out there that preclude me having the VA get anywhere near my genitals.

    This will end up being a huge recruiting tool for the military – everyone who wants to go through the expensive treatment and life-altering practice can just join the military, get a discharge for being unfit for duty because of their mental faculties, and then get in that line at the VA ahead of service connected disabled veterans. The waiting rooms at most VA medical facilities are already chocked full of confused people, this won’t lend any relief to that situation.

  • Troops contract Zika virus

    According to USAToday, the Pentagon has disclosed that at least 11 troops have been infected with the mosquito-borne virus Zika this year so far, as well as four dependents and two retires. All have traveled to countries where the virus is prevalent. Luckily, none of the four women who are infected are pregnant.

    A fetus infected with the Zika virus during the first three months of pregnancy has about a 1% to 13% chance of developing microcephaly, an abnormally small head usually caused by incomplete brain development, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    […]

    Troops suffering from the Zika were four soldiers, three Airmen, a Marine and three members of the Coast Guard, according to Sanchez. The first confirmed case was diagnosed in late January, the report said.

    Fifteen of the 17 had traveled to South America or the Caribbean. They included four who visited Columbia, three who went to the Dominican Republic and three who visited Puerto Rico. One person had traveled to Brazil, which is dealing with a Zika epidemic.

    “It is a fair assumption that the military is at higher risk for mosquito-borne infections,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior associate the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “The military is stationed all over the world and often have prolonged outdoor exposure, enhancing the likelihood they will be bitten.”

    According to the article, there are about 600 cases of the disease in the continental United States and double that number in US territories, although some people don’t demonstrate symptoms. It’s especially dangerous to unborn children and the virus causes permanent birth defects.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

  • Stolen Trauma

    The Guardian reports that military psychiatrists claim that nearly half of the claims for PTS in Britain are not related to military service – that the claims are more related to “Walter Mitty” personalities, instead;

    Ian Palmer, a former senior military psychiatrist who ran the government’s medical assessment programme (MAP), a veteran’s mental health service, found that in 42% of cases there was no definite link to military service and at least 10% appeared to be making up or significantly exaggerating their service history.

    […]

    “Fabrications are intriguing because they range from outright fraud through to the fantastic and even delusional. I reckon about 10%, which may be an underestimate, of those coming for assessment may have either exaggerated or fabricated,” he said.

    Palmer said too many people, including health professionals, were quick to make a causal link between mental health and military service.

    Of course, the problems affects the availability of services for real veterans with real problems and it drains the finite resources available. Not to mention that many criminals blame their bad behavior on non-existent military PTS-related issues.

    Edgar Jones, a professor of the history of medicine and psychiatry at King’s College London, said the deception risked taking finite resources from deserving cases.

    “The pressing issue of ‘stolen trauma’, that is the elaboration or falsification of traumatic experiences and the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, is important because it has the potential to undermine the validity of genuine cases and dilute scarce resources.

    A number of our own Stolen Valor cases come to mind, many of whom are drawing a substantial monthly check for their obvious lies. The VA is either unwilling or unconcerned to fix these cases despite the fact that I’ve reported most of them to VAOIG.

  • “And the Hits Just Keep On Coming” . . . for the VA

    We all know that the VA has serious problems.  But this appears to be a new – and disgusting – issue that hasn’t previously surfaced.   Maybe you want to wait until well after lunch before reading the linked story from Fox.

    Whistleblower: Cockroaches served in food
    at Chicago-area VA hospital

    In this case, the “whistleblower” is one Ms. Germaine Clarno – president of the facility’s AFGE Local.

    If the name “Germaine Clarno” seems familiar, it should.  Jonn’s written about her before.

    In case you’re forgotten: Clarno is the same “whistleblower” that refused to discuss other issues involving patient care with Republican Members of Congress from Illinois after her preferred Democratic officials did squat when she brought those issues to their attention.  Clarno herself admits that the issues were serious enough that people died needlessly.

    Then again, when you’re willing to play politics when lives are literally at stake I guess you’re willing to do the same when the food is substandard or vermin-infested. And I’m guessing Clarno’s known about the food issue for a while, too – she says, “It’s been like this for years, ever since anyone can remember.”

    The linked Fox article’s worth reading; so is the article Fox in turn links from Conservative Review, which gives more details.  But as I said earlier:  maybe you should wait an hour or so after having lunch to read either.

    Sad.  As well as infuriating – and absolutely inexcusable.