Guest posting by Angelica Razo
You would think that a soldier’s return from war would be happy. A picture perfect scenario would include a tear-jerking moment as they embrace their family at the airport. However, we forget that scenario is only moments long. Veterans return to suffer from PTSD and painful injuries. In order to cope with physical and emotional agony, they turn to pain-killers for relief. No one would want to deny a veteran pain-relief, so VA hospitals have prescribed them with a large amount of opiates with no hesitation. Unfortunately, this allows them to development opiate addiction. Now, we see an increase of opiate addiction and overdose cases among veterans. Veterans are being locked in a life-and-death situation.
What if we could change the way pain-relief was delivered? Recent research has shown the positive impact that acupuncture can have on veterans. Of course, too many people, this “alternative medicine” might sound too strange. After all, how can having large, yet almost invisible, needles stuck in your body help you forget the pain. Still, case studies have proven that veterans reduce the amount of opiates that they take when they are participating in acupuncture. Acupuncture has very low health risks and any possible side effects (eg. Headache and nausea) is minor compared to the side effects of opiates. This new method of PTSD and pain relief is beginning to gain ground in communities throughout the United States. For example, the positive response from the Wounded Warrior initiative in D.C. has provoked the opening several acupuncture clinics specifically for veterans in several states. Not only does acupuncture aid with pain relief, but it is a form a relaxation in which a patient can be release of mental stress and anxiety. For veterans, proper mental wellness is crucial to their reintegration into society.
Yet, the FDA refuses to recognize its use and continue to allow veterans to be prescribed opiates with little restrictions. Communities have taken their own initiative in building up this type of treatment, but they lack the support from higher powers to reach their full potential. Clearly we have the resources to utilize this type of medicine on a larger scale, but the government claims that we should take caution with such “alternative medicine” since we do not know about to properly regulate it. Once regulation begins, acupuncture treatment could become just another form of medical prescription. Doctors could prescribe it, insurance companies would cover it. Yet, we know we are still a ways off from a world like that.
Who’s the real addict? The veteran, a victim of war? Or is it the health system? As veterans are dependent on drugs, our health system has become a dependent on pharmaceuticals for treating their patients- hesitant to try a different approach to medicine. We revere our veterans as heroes, but we let them come back to their homeland to suffer in addiction. We claim that patients come first, but why don’t we prove it?