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How screwed am I in dealing with the VA after retirement?
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vet2018
BLUF: Retiring in a few weeks, just got AD medical records including mental health which I started seeing a few months ago for anxiety-type symptoms and concerns of recurrence of PTSD-type symptoms experienced after a rough deployment around 10 years ago that I never sought help for. I'm concerned that my psychologist, who has apparently has painted me as a hypochondriac, has screwed me over dealing with the VA going forward because they will now downplay all future interactions as being "in my head." Is this a valid concern?
I apologize for the length below, but I'm pretty pissed right now.
In the records for this psychologist I find repeated diagnosis of "Other Specified Anxiety Disorder (Insufficient symptoms)" and the below statements. (this same type of statement is generally repeated across multiple visits)
I'm pretty pissed right now over the statement of "no significant occupational impairments" when I've clearly stated to the psychologist over many months that I have had significant difficulty focusing on tasks, difficulty remaining motivated, etc. I'm basically on terminal leave the past two months but during that time have had extreme difficulty organizing most things in my life. My wife is very ill, I myself just received a diagnosis of a rare potentially very debilitating disease 2 weeks ago, and we were caught in a four-car wreck on the freeway the following day (five minutes away from a pre-surgery consult for my wife where we expect multiple complications) that has left us living on pain relievers and muscle relaxers since then, our stress level is through the roof, and the therapist has been told all of this but made no mention of it in the clinical notes at all. Only statements that I am overly focused on getting ill -- which was in a sense true as I was very worried about "numerous unexplained symptoms" for many months until I finally got the diagnosis (through an objective test by a specialist that clearly demonstrated the illness) two weeks ago that tied all these symptoms together. It turns out that I have a disorder of part of my nervous system that affects multiple systems in the body in different ways, so someone not familiar with the disorder can think the patient is presenting with numerous symptoms with no cause, hence it must be mental.
Bottom line is this therapist has painted a picture of me as a hypochondriac who has no work impairment at all, despite a significant recent medical diagnosis and repeated statements that I have significant difficulty with tasks at home. For example, I have repeatedly said that our house is a mess and I have not been able to get organized enough to complete projects at home to simply clean up. I can't stand it around here but never do anything about it. She just wrote from one visit "He was assisted in exploring cognitions that perpetuate procrastination." I have no hobbies, no desire to do much of anything, I just sit all weekend and make my wife miserable. I've told her this repeatedly and as recently as today and the notes she wrote from today are quoted above. Maybe I wasn't clear enough to her but she has expressed at least some sympathy so I thought she understood what I said.
Also I have repeatedly tried to discuss concerns I had regarding severe stress after my deployment, but she has apparently characterized that as "marital strife" when I clearly told her the strife was caused by my inability to deal with my deployment emotionally and taking anger out on my wife. I've told her I was constantly having flashbacks for five years after my deployment, constantly obsessing over loss of friends and what I could have done differently, etc. None of that is mentioned. In fact, the one time I was able to spend some time talking about deployment experiences a few months ago she finally stopped me and said "Whoa, we need to take a different approach next time and avoid that."
I feel that I've made a terrible mistake in trusting this therapist. My initial concern entering therapy was a fear that I did not properly deal with my deployment and that I could return to my previous condition which alternated between complete detachment and rage. I never spoke to a therapist at the time despite my wife begging me to. Now that I tried to talk to someone I find out that those concerns are completely ignored and I am instead painted as a hypochondriac. Because of that I am concerned the VA will treat me as a "problem patient" going forward and automatically discount any concerns I have as "mental" instead of potentially medical.
How realistic is my concern? Thanks.
Edited by vet2018Link to comment
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vetquest
Yes your therapist might have made things hard for you. What you need to do is get some C&P's completed and see what they say about you. I was discharged at the convenience of the government and
vet2018
Thanks all for the responses. I apologize for the length of these rants but it's a lot to get off my chest and I want to make sure I go through the process correctly for my family's sake. @Buck52
vetquest
I agree with everything by Broncovet. The good thing is that they gave you a diagnostic code of Anxiety. PTSD is a form of anxiety. Survivors guilt is common too. As Broncovet said you need t
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