ptsd Iu And Ptsd Clinic *urgent*

[cachanilla73]

My husband is scheduled to go for 2 weeks to a behavioral clinic for PTSD. He is 70% combined and has an IU Claim which is going into the last stage. We just learned that at the clinic he is going there is a "snake" who is giving vets very low GAF scores. My husband's anxiety is at its high. He is afraid to go to the clinic and get 'scrued'. He is not working, he resigned his job at a federal agency with the agreement of his VA center counselor and VA psychiatric.

He wants to postpone the Behavioral Clinic until He gets the IU answer.... Any similar experiences???

Thanks!

[Testvet]

cachinilla, if he needs the help to learn coping mechanisms for living with PTSD day to day then he should go a 2 week program is not going to "cure him" but it sure may help him to open his eyes and see that he is not alone that other veterans are dealing with very similar issues that he is and that their are ways to help show him how to deal with the ""stress" situations

I have seen vets that have gone to group and when they "saw" a new symptom they developed it so that they had it "worse" than anyone not all vets have every single symptom of PTSD not everyone has the same identical stressors where one vet will get disturbed smelling diesel fumes not all vets will if you were caught in a burning M113 or a truck or tank your fear of diesel fumes is understandable if you were beat half to death and left in a snowbank at 20 below zero you may not want to go skiing at Aspen ever again, visiting Alaska in the winter time may not be a great idea either

one GAF score is not going to ruin a claim by now I imagine your husband has months if not years of treatment records and that is what the RO is going to use to rate his TDIU claim not a recent 2 week hospital stay

many vets assume that a PTSD vet can not get a TDIU or 100% rating without going thru the in patient programs that the VA has, some insist that every vet has to do group sessions etc poppy cock each claim will either be approved or denied based on it's own merits I have never done a group meeting in my life I have never done an in patient program not because I didn't want to I asked for a slot in a 6 week program I think it was and I asked to be transferred from my psychiatrist at the VA to the PTSD team so I could go into the inpatient program and they were "setting it up" is was right at the time my SSD had been approved for heart disease problems back in April 2003 we moved to Columbia SC in July 2003 after we got the back pay check from the SSA and they were going to transfer me to the team in August and then get me into the domicillary for the program that is when the real problems started, the docs in charge of the "dom" decided I was to sick to be admitted I had to many issues, a power chair, narcotics etc they did not want me, they then decided I could do the same program as an out patient and just go to the hospital every day and go home in the evening which would themn mean 140 miles of driving every day before we moved to Columbia I lived 4 blocks from the uptown VA where the PTSD program is Augusta VA has 2 campuses the downtown facility on 15th Street and then the one off Wrightsboro Road called "uptown" I refused their offer and I went back to my regular shrink and hat in hand asked him if he would continue to treat me instead of transferring me to the team.

That was when I first learned he wasn't just a "psychiatrist" he was also the Chief of Clinic he saw who ever he wanted and if he didn't want to treat you he assigned you to a resident or another shrink it was just that easy for him, but lucky for me he found my case "intriguing" I am the only "test vet" he had ever met before me he thought the stories of the govt using soldiers as "human guinea pigs" was just that stories, with me he got the official file from Edgewood when he first heard my story before we got the FOIA file he asked me if I ever saw "pink flying elephants" in other words he just did not believe my story he was Sri Lankan and we had a communication barrier at first, plus the trust issue, but from the time we first met in Jan 2003 and his talking and working with my wife and I she has always been with me at every appt and at first she didn't say much in the appts but over time he spent more time bringing her into the conversations with questions like Mrs Bailey what isn't Mike telling me? Is he avoiding issues or just forgetful? I had suffered a stroke in April 1992 that left a 2 1/12 in scar in the occipital and parietal lobes and I do have memory problems and some of it makes no sense I remember a lot of things that happened in my life but if I read a book or watch a movie now since the stroke I seem to not be able to retain the data for very long if I pick the same book up or watch the same movie or TV show six months from now it's just like it's a brand new thing for me yet I continue to have flashbacks from the events in my life and also have LSD flashbacks from an OD while on active duty I never took any type of acid (LSD) recreationally in my life I never used hard drugs to me a few joints is not hard drugs and speed heck the Army used to give them to us for patrols and other events when we had to be up and running for days on end.

But this doc wrote great treatment records and made very explicit statements to the effect that if I didn't have cardiac problems or COPD or a bad back he would still consider me totally disabling just by my PTSD symptoms and that after badly dealing with it since 1974 that he doubted that I would ever improve to the point of being employable ever again. He wrote that same statement annually and still does since 2004, the VARO could not just ignore his "notes" it is my firm belief his handling of my treatment notes are the only reason I am 100% P&T because if not they VA would have blamed non SC issues for me not being employable and denied me the 100% let alone a TDIU claim if I had to go that route.

Claims are based on evidence and one hospital stay is not going to destroy everything he has done to date to get his claim approved he might learn something that may make his life a little better on some days will they "cure" him heck no never happen but then again I would never volunteer for one of the "experiments" like the one in Charleston SC VA where they are using ecstacy to treat PTSD vets it would be to easy for the RO to claim that a vet has "improved" from a 70% or 50% for example to a 30% or even a 10% level and for most vets that alone could be devastating if that is their only income and at age 55 or 62 who in the world is going to hire them for anything other than being a door greeter at Wal Mart part time and who can survive on that? To me that would only make the problems more severe

there is a major difference between treating a 20 year old veteran and a 45-75 year old vet while the younger vet stands a chance to build a new life older vets have little chance to "build a new life" and work their way up the ladder again if they had ever made it the first time some of us crash and burned from decent lifestyles and the blow outs were spectacular lost the home, the car and the wife and kids besides just the career. I think that is one of the reasons that 55 and older vets are pretty much left alone by the VA after they reach that age and have mental health problems they know there is little chance vets at that point in their life can "start over" they are pretty much "disabled" by their medical issues and age

He should go and see what he can use to make both of your lives better you are a team what happens to him affects what happens to you there is no 50/50 it has to be 100/100 and both working towards the same goals for the long term my wife (#5 by the way) has been the best thing that ever happened to me her dad was a Nam vet and a Korean war vet with PTSD like myself she has lived with it her entire life so she knew what she was getting into when we met we dated for 3 years before we married (lived together) back in 2003 we had been under the same roof together since May 2001, so my health problems were not a surprise to her I was still working at that point my heart gave up in June 2002 and I spiraled bad after June 2002 and in Oct 2002 and I learned the full story about the Edgewood Experiments I went into free fall and it was ugly that was what finally led me to mental health like most PTSD vets I blamed everyone else for my problems everyone was causing me problems not me I was a great guy how could I be the problem? yea right I was walking trouble and had been for 40 years because I refused to admit I had issues hell life subscriptions none of us improve until we finally admit we are the problem only then is there a chance to find a better way to live

good luck to both of you

[cachanilla73]

cachinilla, if he needs the help to learn coping mechanisms for living with PTSD day to day then he should go a 2 week program is not going to "cure him" but it sure may help him to open his eyes and see that he is not alone that other veterans are dealing with very similar issues that he is and that their are ways to help show him how to deal with the ""stress" situations

I have seen vets that have gone to group and when they "saw" a new symptom they developed it so that they had it "worse" than anyone not all vets have every single symptom of PTSD not everyone has the same identical stressors where one vet will get disturbed smelling diesel fumes not all vets will if you were caught in a burning M113 or a truck or tank your fear of diesel fumes is understandable if you were beat half to death and left in a snowbank at 20 below zero you may not want to go skiing at Aspen ever again, visiting Alaska in the winter time may not be a great idea either

one GAF score is not going to ruin a claim by now I imagine your husband has months if not years of treatment records and that is what the RO is going to use to rate his TDIU claim not a recent 2 week hospital stay

many vets assume that a PTSD vet can not get a TDIU or 100% rating without going thru the in patient programs that the VA has, some insist that every vet has to do group sessions etc poppy cock each claim will either be approved or denied based on it's own merits I have never done a group meeting in my life I have never done an in patient program not because I didn't want to I asked for a slot in a 6 week program I think it was and I asked to be transferred from my psychiatrist at the VA to the PTSD team so I could go into the inpatient program and they were "setting it up" is was right at the time my SSD had been approved for heart disease problems back in April 2003 we moved to Columbia SC in July 2003 after we got the back pay check from the SSA and they were going to transfer me to the team in August and then get me into the domicillary for the program that is when the real problems started, the docs in charge of the "dom" decided I was to sick to be admitted I had to many issues, a power chair, narcotics etc they did not want me, they then decided I could do the same program as an out patient and just go to the hospital every day and go home in the evening which would themn mean 140 miles of driving every day before we moved to Columbia I lived 4 blocks from the uptown VA where the PTSD program is Augusta VA has 2 campuses the downtown facility on 15th Street and then the one off Wrightsboro Road called "uptown" I refused their offer and I went back to my regular shrink and hat in hand asked him if he would continue to treat me instead of transferring me to the team.

That was when I first learned he wasn't just a "psychiatrist" he was also the Chief of Clinic he saw who ever he wanted and if he didn't want to treat you he assigned you to a resident or another shrink it was just that easy for him, but lucky for me he found my case "intriguing" I am the only "test vet" he had ever met before me he thought the stories of the govt using soldiers as "human guinea pigs" was just that stories, with me he got the official file from Edgewood when he first heard my story before we got the FOIA file he asked me if I ever saw "pink flying elephants" in other words he just did not believe my story he was Sri Lankan and we had a communication barrier at first, plus the trust issue, but from the time we first met in Jan 2003 and his talking and working with my wife and I she has always been with me at every appt and at first she didn't say much in the appts but over time he spent more time bringing her into the conversations with questions like Mrs Bailey what isn't Mike telling me? Is he avoiding issues or just forgetful? I had suffered a stroke in April 1992 that left a 2 1/12 in scar in the occipital and parietal lobes and I do have memory problems and some of it makes no sense I remember a lot of things that happened in my life but if I read a book or watch a movie now since the stroke I seem to not be able to retain the data for very long if I pick the same book up or watch the same movie or TV show six months from now it's just like it's a brand new thing for me yet I continue to have flashbacks from the events in my life and also have LSD flashbacks from an OD while on active duty I never took any type of acid (LSD) recreationally in my life I never used hard drugs to me a few joints is not hard drugs and speed heck the Army used to give them to us for patrols and other events when we had to be up and running for days on end.

But this doc wrote great treatment records and made very explicit statements to the effect that if I didn't have cardiac problems or COPD or a bad back he would still consider me totally disabling just by my PTSD symptoms and that after badly dealing with it since 1974 that he doubted that I would ever improve to the point of being employable ever again. He wrote that same statement annually and still does since 2004, the VARO could not just ignore his "notes" it is my firm belief his handling of my treatment notes are the only reason I am 100% P&T because if not they VA would have blamed non SC issues for me not being employable and denied me the 100% let alone a TDIU claim if I had to go that route.

Claims are based on evidence and one hospital stay is not going to destroy everything he has done to date to get his claim approved he might learn something that may make his life a little better on some days will they "cure" him heck no never happen but then again I would never volunteer for one of the "experiments" like the one in Charleston SC VA where they are using ecstacy to treat PTSD vets it would be to easy for the RO to claim that a vet has "improved" from a 70% or 50% for example to a 30% or even a 10% level and for most vets that alone could be devastating if that is their only income and at age 55 or 62 who in the world is going to hire them for anything other than being a door greeter at Wal Mart part time and who can survive on that? To me that would only make the problems more severe

there is a major difference between treating a 20 year old veteran and a 45-75 year old vet while the younger vet stands a chance to build a new life older vets have little chance to "build a new life" and work their way up the ladder again if they had ever made it the first time some of us crash and burned from decent lifestyles and the blow outs were spectacular lost the home, the car and the wife and kids besides just the career. I think that is one of the reasons that 55 and older vets are pretty much left alone by the VA after they reach that age and have mental health problems they know there is little chance vets at that point in their life can "start over" they are pretty much "disabled" by their medical issues and age

He should go and see what he can use to make both of your lives better you are a team what happens to him affects what happens to you there is no 50/50 it has to be 100/100 and both working towards the same goals for the long term my wife (#5 by the way) has been the best thing that ever happened to me her dad was a Nam vet and a Korean war vet with PTSD like myself she has lived with it her entire life so she knew what she was getting into when we met we dated for 3 years before we married (lived together) back in 2003 we had been under the same roof together since May 2001, so my health problems were not a surprise to her I was still working at that point my heart gave up in June 2002 and I spiraled bad after June 2002 and in Oct 2002 and I learned the full story about the Edgewood Experiments I went into free fall and it was ugly that was what finally led me to mental health like most PTSD vets I blamed everyone else for my problems everyone was causing me problems not me I was a great guy how could I be the problem? yea right I was walking trouble and had been for 40 years because I refused to admit I had issues hell life subscriptions none of us improve until we finally admit we are the problem only then is there a chance to find a better way to live

good luck to both of you

TestVet, thank you so much. This was very helpful. Thank you for your service. He did go the clinic, it was an eye opening experience for him, he won't get better, we know that, there are bad days and there are worst days but we are taking one day at the time.

[john999]

Did your husband apply for disability retirement from the feds? You have one year from separation to do this rather than just resign.

[Tbird]

Thank so much for helping your husband our brother veteran. Talk about Standing By Your Man :)

It really is all about management, manage triggers, manage symptoms, manage medications. Cures are few and far between, though there have been studies, that a one traumatic incident victim who gets the right kind of help right away have overcome their PTSD. I think this fairly rare, but I haven't read the studies.

So remember you are now both co-managers of his PTSD, work together with each other and the doctors and you will find some joy in your life together.