Questions Mount About Military And Va Use Of Mental Health Drugs

[allan]

Questions Mount About Military and VA Use of Mental Health Drugs

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/08/22/questions-mount-about-militarysvas-use-of-mental-health-drugs/

Edited September 1, 2011 by allan

[john999]

VA mental health care is a joke. They don't do psychotherapy and they don't do effective drug therapy. How can you moniter drug therapy when you only see a patient for 15 minutes every three months?

[Rangerwaldo]

The woman I see is nice enough but john999 hit it on the head. The program they're running at my vamc is a joke!

[justrluk]

I only see the psychiatrist at the VAMC. I use an external psychologist - the VA provided psychologist I started with was great, but left a few years into treatment. The replacement was awful.

[exitflagger]

I use SSRIs not anti-psychotics. I'm guessing the VA docs are partially using them as mood stabilizers--off label treatment--since a lot of young guys have serious anger issues. A lot of times these drug treatments require a few months of experimenting to find the right drug or combination of them and the proper dose. Everyone is a bit different, some respond well to SSRIs others don't and so docs try the anti-psychotics. My doc in Seattle--a guy I trust--said he's seen success with some veterans using them but its not his first line of treatment.

Slightly off topic, I started at the Seattle VA hospital Mental Health Center/PTSD clinic; for four years the treatment and people involved were excellent. I moved to Portland, OR and used their VAMC recently. Primary care is great. I've found their MHC trying like hell to get you to utilize anyone else--Vet Centers, pro-bono Veterans Project counselors--but them. They seem overwhelmed and short-staffed. I found it kind of disconcerting really.

Edited September 2, 2011 by exitflagger

[john999]

Did they tell you that SSRI's have the unfortunate side effect in both men and woman of sexual dysfunction? It is a very common side effect.

[exitflagger]

Did they tell you that SSRI's have the unfortunate side effect in both men and woman of sexual dysfunction? It is a very common side effect.

In my case not only did they tell me I researched it before taking the drug. A combo with Welbutrin decreases or eliminates that as does your body's acclimatization to the meds which generally takes several weeks, at least in my experience. That's the sort of insight a psy-MD has that a GP/internal medicine MD might not give you. I'm also of the opinion that one should educate themselves as well on their meds, not weird internet sites but places like the Mayo Clinic, WebMD and that sort of thing.

One side effect of untreated depression can be a carefully placed bullet through one's own noggin, so there's a trade off of sorts.