Last VA visit was 1 hour. A solid 25 mins were questions about considering suicide. The procedure is to scatter them around so that if you’re discussing Vitamin D levels and then something else the suicide question appears again.
Have you had any thoughts about planning a suicide?
Have you ever bought poison or a firearm with that in mind?
In the past 3 months have you ever discovered that you had no food or a way to get some, and do you have any worries about having shelter over the next year?
On and on. The veteran suicide numbers are pretty ugly.
And another item . . . heads up on this, it shocked me, 81% of vets over age 50 have sleep apnea and without treatment it will evolve into stroke or a long list of early death mechanisms. It’s not BS. It’s real. Have a look at your local non VA hospital. It will have a sleep clinic.
The number thrown around, throughout the US...around 70-million people have sleep apnea. Some people think it’s always been around and it’s not some sudden surge in the past three decades.
I am in contact with most of the guys I served with. Interrupted/lack of proper rest has given us all sleep apnea. I was all but dead in 2010 when I got my 1st CPAP. Last Tuesday I got my new machine and sleeping better already.