Va Has A New Pain Management Treatment

[RUREADY]

After raising hell about no treatment for pain in pain-management other than injections

in the bones seems as though or was told a program is started in Tampa for Empower

Veteran or something that last 10 weeks at 3 hours one day a week to help cope with pain

retrain your mind to handle pain and depression suppose to help live a better quality of life.

Only one clinic that takes maybe 100 people will get approve for so far . I was ask would I like to try and my

reply was why not nothing else worked so far. Anyone in Tampa area tried this. Will have the exact

name later for the program but it is just getting started in Atlanta area . I never turn down pain treatments. jmho

[ArNG11]

I've done chiropractic care, physical therapy, epidural steroid shots, facet block injections, bilateral medial branch blocks and a rhizotomy. This is all on my private medical insurance. I have tried getting fee based care from the VA and that was a no go. I managed to get the VA to do PT and Accupuncture. Now they will do trigger point injections. I haven't tried those but I'm willing to if it can give me some relief. I've considered surgery several times but I am leery of letting the VA do that. Even on the private side I have reservations about spine surgery. It's a gampble and risky even with the newer medical advancements and treatment options.

[RUREADY]

I've done chiropractic care, physical therapy, epidural steroid shots, facet block injections, bilateral medial branch blocks and a rhizotomy. This is all on my private medical insurance. I have tried getting fee based care from the VA and that was a no go. I managed to get the VA to do PT and Accupuncture. Now they will do trigger point injections. I haven't tried those but I'm willing to if it can give me some relief. I've considered surgery several times but I am leery of letting the VA do that. Even on the private side I have reservations about spine surgery. It's a gampble and risky even with the newer medical advancements and treatment options.

you have not tried this its a NEW program and covered by VA

what you got to loose. Surgery on your back from VA is your choice

but me the only way is a last or only resource I have. jmho

Edited January 29, 2015 by RUREADY

[ArNG11]

Oh most definitely. The VA is not going to touch my back. Even with my private insurance I'm leery. It's a big risk, however, I'm at that point. I will look into the program. The closest option I have VA side is the Spine care center near Dallas, TX.

[Vync]

Vync, from what I been told they have everything social workers, mental , chaplain , pharmacy

a complete team of doctors mental, physical, sleep doctors, that is suppose to help with chronic pain

and dealing with it to have a better quality of life. It just this one in Atlanta is in the C&P compensation clinic on FT MCPEARSON

Breathe 2 relax and CBT i coach are smart phone apps that VA has made to help with sleep disturbance.

After talking to a few in the Jan class they seem to like it and it seem to be helping with chronic pain and enjoying life better

It really does sound promising, but folks like ArNG11 and myself have serious trust issues with the VA. I know nobody is perfect. I still am interested in this program because it does not seem to involve any sort of surgical procedures.

[john999]

I live in Tampa but was told I had to be off opiates to use the pain program. I was pressured hard to reduce my opiates, and chose to withdraw from crummy Fentanyl Patches that did not work anyway. This seems to have relieved my doctor's mind, but they won't be happy until I am unhappy. If you have back or neck trouble and don't respond to injections the other real options are dope or surgery. I am not doing surgery on my back or neck until I can't walk or can't hold a cup of coffee. No way in hell would I let VA cut on my back or neck, nor would I allow injections since I had RF Ablation and steroid injections by private doctors and it hurt! These private pain doctors wanted me to come back for more while VA could care less as long as you don't die when they are standing over you with a knife in their hand. My trust issues with VA point towards paranoia, severe, chronic and poor prognosis. I just don't trust the VA at all about anything.

John

[broncovet]

Yea...I think the VA's "new" pain management is similar to the "old" military "3 step" pain management system.

It consists of 3 parts:

1. Tough

2. It

3. Out

This is an improvement over earlier (Vietnam Era) military pain management 2 part system:

1. Stop

2. Complaining

That is an improvement over WW2 Vets pain management "one step" system:

1. Shutup!

While none of these actually helped the Veteran with pain, all, when applied, seemed to make things much quieter for others.

Edited January 30, 2015 by broncovet