Most every day there is a provocative news report suggesting that some “miracle drug” may help treat Veterans with PtSD and TBI. If it is not a new drug, cannabis or ecstacy are often cited as “new” drugs that can help Veterans cope with the debilitating symptoms of PTSD.
While many Veterans with brain injury and their caregivers hope that prescription medicine relief is on the way, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) has a very poor track record in ...
Continue Reading →For some inexplicable reason, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) has a “thing” about service dogs. Despite an overwhelming amount of evidence that service or companion dogs help Veterans, the VA insists on studying this issue still further. SFTT wishes the VA had taken the same level of precaution in prescribing OxyContin for Veterans with PTSD.
A companion service dog program appears to provide comfort and support to ...
Continue Reading →As reported earlier, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) is now providing hyperbaric oxygen therapy of “HBOT” on a trial basis to Veterans with PTSD and TBI. This marks an abrupt turnaround within the VA that has repeatedly claimed that there is insufficient clinical “evidence” to support the use of HBOT in treating Veterans with brain injuries.
The VA’s ...
Continue Reading →At the request of Reps. Mike Coffman, R-CO., and Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H., the Government Accountability Office (“the GAO”) agreed Sept. 27 that it “will review the way the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) treats patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other combat-related conditions.” In particular, the GAO will focus on “how heavily the VA relies on powerful psychotropic drugs to treat patients.”
As ...
Continue Reading →Just when one was beginning to wonder whether politicians could agree on anything comes the CBS/Washington Post story that shows that the Senate unanimously passed H.R. 471 – Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2015, which stripped the DEA of any enforcement capability and greatly fueled the opioid epidemic in our country.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia voices his outrage in an interview with MSNBC:
Sadly, the wake ...
Continue Reading →SFTT has been reporting for a number of years the abuse at the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) for prescribing addictive prescription drugs to Veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI.
Despite repeated messaging by VA officials that it applies “science-based evidence” to prescribe treatment for Veterans, it would appear that the VA has been sadly duped into believing that painkilling opioids is a “science-based” solution to treat Veterans with PTSD.
The Washington Post reports tonight (Oct 15, 2017), that ...
Continue Reading →Found below are a few military news items that caught my attention this past week. I am hopeful that the titles and short commentary will encourage SFTT readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.
If you have subjects of topical interest, please do not hesitate to reach out. Contact SFTT at info@sftt.org.
More Sabre-Rattling from North ...
Continue Reading →Found below are a few military news items that caught my attention this past week. I am hopeful that the titles and short commentary will encourage SFTT readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.
If you have subjects of topical interest, please do not hesitate to reach out. Contact SFTT.
Tensions High over North Korea
“Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should ...
With 80 people dying each day from overdoses of opioids, it is not surprising that Federal, State and Local authorities are seeking emergency measures and money to treat opioid abuse.
Less surprising is the moral outrage and lynch-mob mentality of those who seek vengeance against those they deem responsible for the epidemic. Just today, I read in the New York Times that the McKesson Corporation, “the nation’s ...
Continue Reading →Recent information suggests that 68,000 Veterans are addicted to some form of opioid (hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone and morphine). The VA argues that “more than 50 percent of all veterans enrolled and receiving care at the Veterans Health Administration are affected by chronic pain, which is a much higher rate than in the general population.”
According to the Center for Investigative Reporting obtained under the Freedom of Information Act,
Continue Reading →. . ...