NavyVietNamVet

C & P doctors are not the cutting edge of their profession. If there's a local chapter of the Disabled American Veterans, any vet can get a case officer to handle/help with things like this. There's also the Patient Advocate's Office, which is only slightly more effective than scolding the doc yourself...but it shows you covered the bases. Now, for the Big Guns: email, write and fax your senator, representative and do it again until you get a response. The majority of VA doctors either can't practice anywhere else or they're working off student loans before heading back to their home of origin. If they were in a civilian hospital, they'd be interns, not seeing patients unsupervised. For a doctor who's less than up on his profession...or downright inept...C & P is the place to be. It's assembly line/no brainer "medicine". I'm currently fighting an evaluation where it said: "This veteran could work, he's just lazy...."

Hey!! I finally made it!! Thanks to all the mods and thanks to all my fellow vets for continuing this vital resource for us all.

I'm a 56 year old Navy Viet Nam vet. I've been in the VA system and on benefits for close to 20 years. I've got PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder in addition to a bad lower right back/hip and severe dental issues tangled up with the severe stress. I'm posting AGAIN, seeing if this one shows up or goes off the fantail like all my other posts.

I've got this PA, I've never seen the actual doctor, my primary care provider, but they're treating hypertention and NOT the root cause. I was taking hydrocodone (vicodin) they prescribed for a screwed up lower back/right hip but when two of my tests came back "clean" they quit. Nothing untoward is going on with these scrips or meds and these "medical professionals" are about to send me over the edge. I've talked, provided documented evidence and argued. My only true option here is asking for another doctor, but, all we have here is foreigners working off student debt from medical school so they can return home. I'm really tired of being some new resident's crash test dummy. Oh, and btw, I introduced myself twice in a week and hadn't got "moderated". I'm Randy, proud member of the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club.

Hiya, fellas. I'm a Viet Nam vet, Navy and I've been in the VA health care system for about 20 years. Recently, my primary health care provider AND my shrink are saying my routine urine tests aren't showing my meds. One has me on vicodin for my lower back and the shrink has me on clonazepam. What kind of tests are they using and why aren't they picking them up in my system??