PTSD & Chronic Depression

[JKJ]

Hello,
I'm new here.  I have severe PTSD from military sexual trauma (I'm a veteran) and chronic depression.  I'm currently being seen at a VA facility and enrolled in this new treatment for PTSD...but it's not going well.  I'm extremely depressed...it's really bad.  I've had bad experiences with being in-patient at VA hospitals as they are very scary especially for female vets.  I'm on 100% disability due to my PTSD and therefore don't have any other insurance for private healthcare.

Does anyone have any idea of other options for care?  If I go to a civilian ER will they see me or will they send me to the VA?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[JKJ]

thanks for the info!
i will check and see what is available in the area.  i've just heard from other vets around here (and my therapists) that if i went to a civilian ER that once i was "stable", i would be sent back to the VA.
i can't get it through their heads how a VA mental health ward is so "unsafe" for a female vet with sexual trauma issues.  (i.e. being locked up with all male patients!!!!)...it only makes things worse; much, much worse, but the pdocs and tdocs don't understand that.
when i still had insurance, i had been in a civilian hospital once and it was so much different...there were almost half/half female/male patients and i didn't feel so threatened.

again, thanks for your help.  the VA healthcare system has a long way to go in helping female vets.

[el_dave]

I believe you're right. It's 0230 and I'm so wide awake I could turn the music up and just listen to the ringing in my ears as Hildy's rolling pin whacked me severely about the head and shoulders. I think I'll go in there and read for an hour or two, and if I still can't sleep I'll just have to temporarily abandon my grand plans. I've an appointment at the VA Monday ot Tuesday or something like that (I don't "do" schedules. Hildy and Sweetling handle those sorts of things for me.. I always say let the grownups do grownup work.. I'm not gonna be one of those kids that tries to be an adult before my time!) and perhaps then I can ask about Ambien. They can write that sort of script when they're regular medical doctors, right? This appointment is for what Mom and the 'pick actually made me go to the VA for in the first place- to figure out what makes all my joints hurt so badly.

Oh, yes, Hildegard is quite something else. I'm very proud of her, and very proud of myself for having whatever it takes to keep someone like Hildy on and by my side. She's an executive type, and looks the part, goes to work in business attire, and is the boss. When I need to see her there and they see this grubby ol' biker come wandering in they always look a bit perplexed when they first find out that I'm her husband and not some guy who came in looking for a janitorial position.

[xanweaner]

I like your desire to try sleeping without using anything, but it doesn't quite work that way.
I'm not sure how you will need to cut down on what you've been concocting, but you could get some rebound insomnia if you just stop it "cold turkey".

The best way to kick it would be to get a sleep aid, use if for maybe a week or two, then wean yourself off the sleep aid.
If you do try that route, don't get the Ambien CR, but get the plan ole Ambien. The 10 mg. can be broken in half, then cut down to smaller sizes. That's what I do when I wean off of it.

Thanks for the great info. - amazing stuff. Hildy is a great resource person. Give her a big "hi" from Cali from me.

[el_dave]

Just call their financial unit and ask. Hildy ran that unit for the local non-profit hospital (which is also the area's largest healthcare facility), and I was amazed at the difficulty she had in finding sufficient writeoffs, especially since all the patient has to do is fill out (and document) a financial assistance form. Now she's gone with a company that hooks folks who have no insurance up with various means of paying for their care (not loans!) and the hospital actually pays them to write off a patient's bills. The majority of outside labs and specialists, etceteras, write it off when the hospital does.. probably as a tax thing, I don't know. Hildy's the one who should be in here, she's much more intelligent than I.

Hey, I'm listening to you. I'm thinking seriously of trying to sleep tonight with no sleep aid at all other than an hour or two with Dean Koontz. Kicking that terrible depression without medications gives me hope (yes, I'm listening to Hensley, too!) that perhaps the same can be true with sleep meds.

[xanweaner]

That was valuable info. - how do you check out which hospitals are a non-profit charters?

[el_dave]

Here in Tallahassee, the VA tells us to go to the ER in any "emergency" situation. Also, check to see if there are hospitals in your area with a 'non profit charter'. If it's the same as here in FL, at least here in Tallahassee, you don't have to have insurance because to maintain their non profit status they're actually looking for writeoffs.