Veterans, advocates examine potential link between prescribed drugs and veteran suicide

Males tend to use a weapon.
Rich

“We joke now but I really tried to drink myself to death just because I couldn’t get the help that I needed.” Parish said he felt like he “fell through the cracks.”
For all to many of us this is reality. I got sober 7 years ago, as a result I also stopped taking many of the VA scrips I was on and developed a closer relationship with my Mental Health support team. For the 12 years prior to the intervention, not waking up was my goal when opening another 5th of hundred proof. I looked like a scarecrow, I have 8 teeth left in my head for now. To others going through it right now I say, Please get Sober. You have family and friends that Love you and can't stand what you're doing to yourself. Life is good.

We must be extremely careful here and not mess up healthcare as we have with the 'opioid crisis' has done. We have hurt people who need pain meds and let me tell you, telling a breast cancer patient over the phone that because her medication order was miswritten that she would not be getting her meds is not fun. Had a lady with a broken arm because her diagnosis was not properly transmitted ( narcotics now must be electronically transmitted, no written scripts) that did not receive her meds. Issues in my ER happen several times a week and people that need narcotics go without. Most geriatrics have enough meds at home to take their life in a comfortable way and many of those medications control heart rate and blood pressure that they need. We should not punish a whole group of people because a few people misuse these meds.