If they had listen and observed, the masses not the ones who really cared and did, these past some forty years they wouldn't have been making matters worse for many of these younger Veterans now, also including civilian populations that have been misdiagnosed for decades as PTS is not only coming from war theaters and soldiers serving in.
Drugs, even in our drug lovin society of quick fixes, and yes alcohol is a drug, especially extremely strong addictive drugs, do not help those suffering from PTS, in most cases it makes that suffering worse and or longer term.
March 6, 2012 - Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with mental health diagnoses, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder, were significantly more likely to receive prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone and other opioids than those with pain but no mental health issues, according to a large Veterans Affairs study released Tuesday.The veterans with mental health diagnoses who were prescribed the powerful, euphoria-causing and potentially addictive drugs had worse outcomes, with more overdoses, accidents and risky use patterns, the study found.
“Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with pain- and PTSD-prescribed opioids may be at particularly high risk of … misuse given the high co-occurrence of substance use disorders among veterans with PTSD,” according to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“These findings support further efforts to improve care of patients with comorbid pain and PTSD because of the heightened risk of self-medication with opioids and substance abuse in veterans with PTSD, which may result in further declines in interpersonal and occupational functioning.”
Dr. Robert Kerns, the national director for pain management at the VA, said in an interview the study was important for bringing attention to a common problem among veterans and the “widely accepted appreciation that chronic pain is very commonly associated with mental health conditions.”
The study was conducted by Dr. Karen H. Seal and colleagues at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. They reviewed a national sample of 141,029 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who’d been diagnosed with pain (excluding cancer pain) within a year of entering the VA health care system from late 2005 through 2010. read more>>>
Karen H. Seal, MD, MPH; Ying Shi, PhD; Gregory Cohen, MSW; Beth E. Cohen, MD, MAS; Shira Maguen, PhD; Erin E. Krebs, MD, MPH; Thomas C. Neylan, MDAbstract
Context Record numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans survive their war injuries and yet continue to experience pain and mental health problems, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Little is known about the association of mental health disorders and prescription opioid use.
Objective To investigate the effect of mental health disorders, particularly PTSD, on risks and adverse clinical outcomes associated with prescription opioid use. more found here>>>
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