Medical Examinations And Prescription Drugs

[mutt]

I just wanted to throw this thought grenade out there:

When undergoing a medical examination for VA benefits, how can the doctor get an accurate picture of potential disability conditions when the Soldier is pumped full of drugs that would mask the very conditions the doctor is looking for?

i.e. I've got arthritis from neck to toe, fibromyalgia, migraines, and sleep apnea...to name a few. I'm on six different medications that make life managable. My general health is better with the help of these drugs as is my range of motion and pain tolerance.

I've heard other veterans say to tell the doctor about how you feel on your worst days, not what you're feeling now with the aid of drugs/therapy.

I don't want the doctor to think I feel OK.

Without the aid of medicine/therapy I would be miserable...and God only knows how I'll feel in ten years.

Can anybody give me some advice?

Thanks and God bless,

Mitch

[sixthscents]

No no... I wasn't saying anyone was flaming... sorry I wasn't clearer. I was asking a possibly inflammatory question so I was asking that it not turn into a flame.... because of what I said? OK? I was not saying that ANYONE prior to my statement was flaming, I was just asking a question I knew could lead to some hightened tempers and widely differing opinions, so I was asking that people please respond but in a calm manner.

[sixthscents]

Please let me clarify to all... this is really a question for what I should advise people to do. I am already total and permanent, so it's not a question with my own claim... but for my advocacy.

I was NOT, in any way attacking you luvHIM... I was asking a question for myself. I was in no way attempting to judge you ok?

[Flatbroke]

I have my C&P for lower back pain on wed nov 28th and I am not planning on wearing my tens unit because then the examiner will be getting a false reading.

If I do the exam as natural as possible with out pain meds or a tens unit then I am not lying or deciving the examiner as I plan to telling and showing them the tens unit and meds.

The last time I had a C&P for my back the examiner was suppose to ask me when the pain started ( according the the c&p exam samples), to bend over as far as possible without pain, not can you bend to a 90 degree angle. I could with a lot of pain and could not raise back up without pushing up on a chair arm. Neither was noted by the Nurse Practioner. I was not on Had it then and did not relize than I was not getting a proper exam.

My wife will be with this time and after seeing what a C&P for lower back is suppose to be done mayabe I will get a better answer.

I do believe that telling the truth and acting as such is in a vets favor.

[evandc]

Flatbroke,

Does the TENS help you? I've had 5 TENS & they help for a week or so & I take them off when I'm no longer getting relief. Then later (weeks or months) I use again.

Good luck on C & P. If your have never had lower back problems, it's not possible to describe the pain.

Don

[luvHIM]

Please let me clarify to all... this is really a question for what I should advise people to do. I am already total and permanent, so it's not a question with my own claim... but for my advocacy.

I was NOT, in any way attacking you luvHIM... I was asking a question for myself. I was in no way attempting to judge you ok?

Oh, I know. I didn't take your post or anyone else's as a personal attack. I know this is a touchy subject, which is how I initially responded to mutt. We know things don't seem fair in the VA system. The whole "take your drugs issue" shouldn't even have to be a vet's concern.

Anyway, I didn't feel you were "attacking" me. If you knew me personally, you would know it takes more than the a post on a board among people I can't even see to take me there. It's not that kind of party for me. I just know that with a condition like arthritis, its hard to win with the VA, even with the lab and x-ray evidence dating back to service. But then again, we just witnessed "blatant" denials of legitimate claims on CNN. I guess mine, after 20 years (recently four years on reopen), is no different.