Posted on 04/24/2014 5:05:25 PM PDT by maine-iac7
I am certain I have been put on a hidden wait list at the Phoenix VA.
First I want to say that when you do get care at the VA it’s just like any where else however..
I have migraines. For over 10 years I complained about them at every single visit. Every single time I would simply be prescribed Tylenol and told to report back if it doesn’t help, and that they would recommend me to a Neurologist and ENT. Well one day I happened to have a migraine attack while at the hospital. So I went to my PCP nearly crying for them to do something and they told me if it wasnt life threatening they can’t do anything and if it was to go down to the ER. Fine. I go down to the ER who scheduled for a Neurologist to call and schedule me. Two weeks later I get scheduled. The neurologist was the best thing to happen to me because not only did he finally prescribe medicine that works better than acetiminophen he scheduled me for numerous tests to rule out other abnormalities. Including ENT where they discovered my nose was full of polyps and my nose deviation was severe.
The neurologist was so pissed off at my PCP after he personally went through my records noting the numerous complaints, that he personally put in a complaint to the patient advocate.
Now I realize that this isn’t as severe as other cases but the honest truth of it is that something is sick at the VA if it takes 10+ years to get help. I could have been experiencing micro strokes, or had a small tumor or something else that could have been life threatening. Like I said the care is great when you get it but not so great when you wait.
that’s a lot of UNACCEPTABLE years of pain!
I thank God for the Internet - I have printerd out studies by such places as the Mayo Clinic, etc - and taken to my doctors over the years tat resulted in them changing the worthless treatment/prescripts they were giving me.
They get a bit broken nosed about it - but tough.
We almost have to be our doctors now and discover on our own what’s wrong and tell the doctors how to treat us -
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.