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Part 2 – I forgot to respond to the remarks that I read above regarding the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that poisoned the water at Camp Lejeune. TPC_Opa – I will not register anything with the VA and, unless there is an overwhelming reason to do so, I will not (am I missing something?)! While their services have improved somewhat, and the VBA (Veterans Benefits Administration – distributes benefit funding for physically disabled veterans such as home modification with wheelchair ramps, doors/halls widened, house entrances/thresholds lowered to allow wheelchair access) is great, they still don’t have the compassion to help with pain in a real, quickly-measurable manner (such as oral opioid medication). Also, if is more than one possible cause for failing livers, and one of them is past alcohol consumption, they will select the alcohol as the ONLY culprit despite however small the amount that you might have drank – they will do everything they can to remove the water poisoning at Camp Lejeune from any consideration. I believe that the reason they do that is because the medical community will not give a liver transplant to one who damaged their liver through excessive alcohol use. So, for all of the above reasons, I will not petition the VA for any help with my liver. The VA likes to shape circumstances to their benefit. Those of you on VA/military disability from the Viet Nam era and/or the Desert Storm/Shield wars have probably already learned that every percentage (in increments of 10) gained in disability is earned with months/years of perseverance and the enlistment of a Law Group. I was finally awarded 100% disability from the VA around 2019, but I had been working on it since I left the Marine Corps in 1992 following a failed spinal surgery at Camp Pendleton. I will not alert the VA to the fact that I am seeking compensation for my disabilities from the VOCs in the Lejeune water wells. My legal representatives have staff doctors/surgeons to advise with the Lejeune legal cases and I was informed that my liver cirrhosis (compensated, almost got to stage 4, but was caught just in time – now somewhere between stages 2 & 3) and spinal deterioration are the result of the VOCs. So, I will see where this goes in the next 6~12 months.
Just FYI… since it takes sooooo very long to settle with gov’t bureaucracies – especially if you seek disability with the limitations of your own personal representation, your requests will be denied time after time until you tire of the process or you are actually able to wear them down. Legal representation works for me at any cost if they can make it happen ASAP and with the best settlement. Since they charge percentages only if they win the case for you, it is such an easy process. If they win a disability percentage, they can only charge you from the lump sum received from the backlog, so that is the reason they try to back up the eligibility date as far as they can.
If you do decide to register with the VA and expect them to make things right, understand that they are going to do things as cheaply as possible. That is the nature of our federal gov’t unless they are just giving things away to people who are not even citizens of our country!! What about our veterans? They need and deserve help more than those who steal it from our complicit gov’t. Healthy veterans as well as those who are disabled? Isn’t our gov’t obligated to take care of citizen/military personnel first? Veterans who have not been combat-wounded are just as deserving as those who have, although combat-wounded should have priority. All veterans joined with the intent to fight and with the knowledge that they might die during their service. So willingness counts for something! And then there are those who were hurt through the negligence of our own gov’t.
Anyway, the VA is going to offer disability payments from their standard scale of 10~100% for the Lejeune VOC-drinkers. This one opportunity to hold the gov’t responsible involves staying with the private sector and away from the VA or, at least, don’t alert them to the fact that you are seeking compensation. I don’t know what they can do, but it is possible that you could be denied any legal settlement if you accept free medical treatment or are “awarded” a disability rating from the VA. Also, compensation won by a law group can greatly exceed any amount of disability offered by the VA. If you have investigated the published reports regarding symptoms from the Lejeune VOCs, you will know, or should be informed, that the current symptom list is very much incomplete. The gov’t is the entity that decides which ailments will be considered. However, my law group has enough clout to include other logically VOC-induced symptoms, so those who have been at Camp Lejeune sometime during the 30-year +/- period of the VOC pollution and drank/bathed in the water should check them out. Pintas & Mullins Injury Lawyers. I have agreed to give them 40% of any settlement I receive, but if you are so inclined to fight huge bureaucracies, you might be able to negotiate downward. I’m just tired of fighting with the gov’t and want to get this done and over. I paid Binder & Binder 20% to settle my military disability – well worth the time, effort, and frustration that I did not have to expend. And, I paid the same to Hill & Ponton (I think) to represent me for my SocSec disability. Again, well worth it.
I have access to a lot of information because of my complete lack of mobility, so I can do research all day. If you need any help or have questions, just let me know. God bless and be with all of you who responded to the call to serve in the US Military regardless of the possibility of death or injury.
S/F, – Jim
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All of the posts under the “pain management” topic are old… are any of you posting authors still tracking?
I had to taper under the VA as well. I am extremely fortunate that my body is able to handle withdrawal without EXTREME discomfort (everybody is different), but the pain is so much worse than I imagined it would be after years of reasonable relief with the morphine. My VA prescription was at an incredible level at 460mg of MS Contin (morphine) daily towards the end of my VA prescription. I had been using morphine since 1985 (still on active duty until 1992 – then dropped after 18.5 yrs because of my lower back disability). Dealing with this pain without the buffer of a painkiller is the hardest part as my pain is with me ALWAYS. I cannot sleep in a conventional manner and can only sort of nap when my body is comfortable enough to do so at any time of the day or night.
I submitted a post earlier under the “pain” topic which describes my situation in a little more detail if any are interested.
Has anybody found any satisfaction or significant, real pain relief? I need to know ASAP as I am going through another breakthrough pain week and can no longer receive pain meds (oxycodone) from my civilian pain clinic. I read that there are a few of you who have had intrathecal pumps implanted into your abdomens, but the comments I have read here and on other sites indicate that the pumps are marginally useful, and only for moderate- to medium-level pain. It might just be another money-maker for the medical money machine – hospitals & facilities, pump surgeons and the RNs who perform the refills. My pump hasn’t provided any sort of relief from my pain – not one tiny bit. I tried fentanyl first, then morphine – no relief!!
According to my observations from frequent monitoring of the VA, I find that they have improved immensely under the scrutiny of one of our country’s former leaders, but this no-pain control mindset is KILLING veterans! Unchecked pain is just as dangerous as pain controlled by meds, so why doesn’t the VA err to the benefit of the veterans who served their country with the all-too-real possibility of coming back home hurt, disabled, or in a casket. Pain, however mild or strong, is a form of perpetual physical trauma.
I have looked for and tried everything that I thought might help to take my pain level down to a more tolerable level. DRs and RNs are liars when they say that it’s OK, all sufferers eventually grow accustomed to the pain. My pain clinic DR and RN just told me that today – so I and the Sierra Vista and Tucson, AZ Desert Sky Pain and Sports Medicine clinics are done as of today. I am moving on to my next potential solution.
When the VA took my pain relief away, I drank alcohol for relief. I knew it wasn’t good for me, but, despite what my DRs and RNs have said about alcohol, it actually helped me to a degree. Then I found out about Kratom. I tried it and it helped some as well – not a huge amount, but enough to ease things a little. The combination (Kratom/alcohol) was helpful to me, but turned out to be potentially dangerous to my health. I learned later that Kratom is as dangerous for the liver as alcohol if not more.
There are 4 factors that had a hand in causing issues with my liver, but the VA refuses to recognize or refer to anything but the alcohol use. The poison in the water at Camp Lejeune that I drank for 6 months every day (20yo in 1975) must have hurt my body/liver some. I was an athlete at the time and rehydrated daily after physical activities with several quarts of poison water to replenish the large amounts of water that I lost to perspiration. Rehydrating with poison in the water is like drinking a concentrated form of the chemicals in the water.
I took large, oral doses of MS Contin and other opioids for 35 yrs (since 1985) – couldn’t have helped my liver either. Kratom and alcohol (2016 through 2021) were what I was using before I learned that I was harming my major body organs. But, the VA only hears what they want and there is no official mention of possible damage caused by high doses of MS Contin, definitely nothing about the poison in the water at Camp Lejeune. And they don’t acknowledge that Kratom use can hurt the liver. They like to say that it is because of alcohol ONLY. It benefits the VA to classify me in that manner because it gives them the power to deny certain medications and medical services without detailed justification.
Also, it seems like the VA employees enjoy making entries in my health records that make me look a drug seeker. I heard about a treatment that was being performed in California which involves an infusion of Ketamine. I did not know what Ketamine was when my sister in CA told me about it. But when I asked a VA RN about it, she made a log entry stating that “patient is asking for illegal drugs.” I just don’t see compassion in many VA employees or at my former pain clinic nor do they try to understand what a patient is really saying rather than half-listening and assuming that they understand the whole story.
I am fighting all of this and will take it to the end. Although many of the remarks on this website are old, I’m hoping some of you are still monitoring this website. If anyone is interested in my progress – especially if I find some workable solution to my extreme pain – just reply and I will ensure that I keep interested pain-sufferers apprised of my progress.
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