AprilNC

Hello, my husband has the current ratings 70% ptsd sc 10% tinnitus sc 0% bilateral hearing loss sc 100% TDIU for the ptsd. last summer my husbands doctor upped his olanzapine dose from 2.5mg to 5 then 10 he was suffering panic attacks ...the idea was to help with the panic while the new dose of Prozac was getting into his system. What this ended up causing was Parkinson’s like symptoms, and they were scary.We reduced the dose back down to the original and even lower, by December he was only taking the olanzapine every 3rd day per my request with a doctor who was covering until a new psych was hired ...the doctor who upped the dose had retired. On Dec 23 he had a dose that was less than 1/4 of the smallest pill ...so approximately .75 he threw him right back into the full blown Parkinson’s like episode.. I informed the doctor I was not giving him another dose of this medicine, period. He of course went thru withdrawal and because his psych was gone, I contacted his primary who has always been awesome ( and now he’s retired ) finally after lots of waiting we got in to see his new psych in person ... she dx Parkinsonism and wanted him to see his neuro. We contacted his neuro ( you guessed it ..he also retired ) so finally he sees va neuro in June 6 months after last dose she examined and per her notes his gait and other neuro symptoms are not caused by anything physical ..she also believes the drug was the cause. He’s been on two Parkinson’s drugs and neither are helpful ..we use Benadryl to control the symptoms of dystonia and horrible eye bouncing ... I know i wrote to much and that not even close to what all has happened ...he broke his hand due to the neuro stuff and fell and totally destroyed his rotator cuff ... because of the neuro stuff... he falls, he’s weak, he has tremors ....and is currently being tested for adrenal insufficiency or addisons by the va ....but the doctor we are seeing because they all stinking retired would not be bothering if I hadn’t insisted that something is very wrong ... I had to resign from my job to be home, he’s has good days and bad days but the bad days are starting to out number the good ones .. where do I start ? thank you ~April

I filed my husbands ramp form in May the VA can see it arrived and was scanned in on May 10 but hasn’t moved ... nothing it hasn’t been move to ramp and no one can explain it. Multiple calls and inquiries and still no one can explain anything. I guess my next email will be to our congressional rep she’s pretty user friendly.

I called back Monday spoke with yet another rep who told me my origininal iris was sent back with no answers because it didn’t supply the veterans information no ss# or claim# just his name. So another rep sent it again I have worked with our congress woman’s office before and they helped immensely I’m giving it a couple more days and doing the same. Best of luck to you

We seem to be in the same boat. I sent my husbands opt in back in May. The VA can see where the RAMP form was received on May 10. But nothing else has happened I was told give it until June as it takes 30 days to get it entered. Well I waited called back June 13 still nothing so an IRIS was sent to the RO , a month later still nothing no response from the RO or anyone else. I called Monday the lady I spoke with said she was handing it off to her supervisor as she couldn't understand what was going on with it either. May I ask what RO you are with? We are with Nashville.

I sent my husbands RAMP opt in on May 5 , waited 2 weeks to call to follow up they said it was received on May 10 but it took 30 days for it to moved to ramp...ok I waited and called again in June still not in RAMP can see where paperwork was received but no response or reason as to why it's not in RAMP yet. I called again July 11 still not moved to ramp and no response from the inquiry that was sent before. Nothing has changed on Ebenefits, and on the Vets.gov the section where his appeal was showing has been unable to show his appeal for since last week.....I guess I'll call again next week...

So I called back after being told it takes 30 days to get it into RAMP after they receive the paperwork...this time around on June 13, 2018 I'm told they received it back can't find where it is at so they have to send an inquiry to the regional office. Basically through IRIS and I should receive a response in 10-14 days.....I plan to call back today and see what the next rep says....

Even if we fire the attorney from what I read he is still eligible to receive part of John's award. As for forms I called the attorney we went over the notice he received in September and yes the attorney told me to fill out the TDIU paperwork and submit it. I got everything together and submitted it via ebenefits.

I called the ebenefits lines Thursday according to them John's opt in letter was received on may 10 but has not been scanned in and processed yet. The rep said it takes 30 days for them to get the info put in the system. Plus side of phone call she did state the VA has everything they were looking for for John's remand and his file is in the ready to work stage according to her that means it needs a someone to sign off on it ...lol on Vets.gov they have that little timeline thing at the bottom showing how many appeals are in front of yours 17,101 to be processed before John's and if that thing is just an estimate they are only processing about 250 a week or 1000 a month..so it would take another 17+ months for his appeal to reach the front of the line. I plan to check back on June 12 to see if it has indeed been moved to ramp. I'll up as I get info..lets see if 125 days is accurate.

I'm so glad I'm not the only person who thinks an attorney might not be in a big hurry to get your appeal settled because the longer it takes the more they stand to gain. My husband hired this attorney in 2011 before we met. Until I started handling the contact with the VA and the attorney literally nothing was done in John's favor for 5 years for the last 3 years I have been the one filing out all of the paperwork and submitting all of the necessary documentation. Unfortunately his "attorney" will gain from my work and I don't think there is anything I can actually do other than count that 25% as a loss.

Is there an actual negative to opting in? I received the invitation in the mail yesterday. My husband's appeal has been with the VA since 2011. September 2017 he was granted 70% back to his original date which was 2011 in the same letter granting him a 70% rating for his PTSD he was advised to file the paperwork for TDIU in the actual letter granting him the 70%. A deadline of Oct.22,2017 was given to file , we filed that was 210 days ago. I'm thinking why not chose the RAMP higher level review if we have to appeal we can in Feb.2019 not much more of a wait. I'm going to send it in.

Broncovet , I’m sorry you had to go through that. I hope you win your war. I’m fighting anothe battle with the va not just johns benefits. He was slapped by a va police officer while in a mental health crisis we’ve been fortunate to get some people to listen but it caused more trauma now it’s hell to take him to an appointment at the va campus. Good luck on your journey.

Thank you Broncovet, I do hope you're teasing about the first scenario I can be patient and if nothing changes or we don't get a letter I'll call. I've learned to keep copies of everything. thank you again

I'll try to make this as short as possible with all of the info. Husbands info granted 60% for ptsd back in 2011 filed appeal using an attorney his ptsd has become so bad (medicated and lots of trips to the psych's) he resigned from his job which coincidentally was with the VAMC. His attorney isn't worth a crap so I took over and managed to get him increased to 70% in march ( I faxed hardship letter and supporting doc's in feb and 3 weeks later he received the increase.) His appeal finally went in front of VA law judge and we received a determination that He should have been rated at 70% from 2011 and in the words of the document the veterans appears to have been eligible for TDIU recommend veteran files form 21-8940 so I filled it out and uploaded it as requested on ebenefits along with the other forms they required last work place and some more medical files from the civilian hospital I had to commit him to because the VA didn't have a bed. Now they asked for the forms to be completed before Oct 12 2017 I finished everything double checked and uploaded all the requested information and forms. 10 days ago it went from under review to pending decision approval, yesterday I logged in to see if anything had changed and where it all was under manage claims there are no open claims now and under pending disabilities it is also gone and has not been moved to historical claims...any ideas? Thank you

Thank you Berta I'll sit down this evening and send him an email I can also attach the pdfs of the witness statements ...

I'll edit the witness statement that outlines the entire scene so that names aren't visible and post it.