Who Needs A Good Laugh

[Testvet]

I called the 1 800 number today to ask why my mail from the VARO is still going to my old address and that since I was expecting an award letter in the next few weeks I would hate for it to be sent to the old address and have the new tenant throw it in the trash or something else like that. Thelma said nope we got your new address right here, so I asked her why is the mail still going to shadblow lane, she said it shouldn't that it showed I changed my address back in Nov. I asked her to look and see if there was any status on the C&P exams they did since Dec 28, She told me I didn;t have any open claims or appeals pending.

Needless to say I have a call in to my SO, if he don't call me today he will see me in the morning lol don;t ya just love em chicky boom...................

Edited February 21, 2006 by Testvet

[Magoo_Mr.]

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Hoppy or anyone:

Will the same rules that you mentioned on the M-21 .. "Reviewing The Complete Medical File" .. also apply to Soc. Sec ???

Do you have a link to the M-21 as I lost mine ??

Can an IME also help a Soc. Sec. Claim also ??? ... VERY important question for me at this point.

I had 20% at discharge (via MEB) for physical injuries from RVN .... I am now 100% PTSD + 40% Back Injuries + 10%Skin/Schrapnel, P&T, Schedular with the VA (since 1999) ... but I waited too long to file for SS and now am just starting soon to get widower's beneifits on my deceased wife's SS. SS has granted my disabilitities back to 1998 ... but not quite back far enough for me to draw SS disability on my own SS earning.

BIG difference in amounts on my deceased wife's SS widower's benefits and my own SS account with my disability.

I have basically lost well over $300K from the VA & SS (which I will never get back) by not filing with the VA & SS sooner .. so now it time to TRY to recoup some of the back SS.

I did have PTSD far enough back to get my own SS disability benefits ... but I have lost those records and they cannot be replaced at this point. I am trying to go back 15 years and have almost made it ... sooo close, yet soo far away. I proved to Soc. Sec. my PTSD back to 1998 ... and I think that I can get SS back to about 1992 or 1993 with some new found paperwork ... but I need to get SS back to 1990 (that paperwork is lost forever, I think).

I had those records and lost or destroyed them and 2 of those doc's records are now gone and the medical records are only required to be kept for 7 years ... I was told.

The bad thing is that I would not file for VA or SS until I was forced by a private shrink to go to the VA .. then the VA shrink pushed me to file for PTSD and increases in my other disabilities with the VARO but not with SS. The VARO took about 2 years to gte all my records and then increased my old disabilities and added new ones very quickly after they got all the records

The SS thing .. I just did not file in a time ... my PTSD made me really not care about anything to do with the govt. for a long time.

Thanks a lot for your post ...

... Magoo .. aka .. Bill ... :P

PS .. PTSDer are probably some of the most difficult veterans for other people to help ... because, a lot of the time , PTSDers just do NOT care and we lose paperwork and get confused all the time.

God bless those who give inspired me here .. and the people here who have personally helped me ... when I felt hopeless. This whole board has been a blessing for me and I found it by mistake too.

So much for my mindless rambling tonight....thanks ...

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Edited February 23, 2006 by Magoo_Mr.

[Hoppy]

Bill,

Social Security is very different from ther VA. Social security has no duty to assist you. When battling Social Security the quickest way to get your benefits is to start with an attorney. Most people wait until the initial denial then get an attorney. Make sure you are eligible for SSD. Disabled workers benefits. Social security is supposed to send you a financial report every three years. There is a section that tells you your monthly disablity benefit under SSD if you were to become disabled. Any Social security office can provide you with a copy of the report if you do not have one. If you get money from the VA (more than approx $800.00 a month) then the SSD will be the program available to you from social security. You can get both VA compensation and SSD at the same time.

Ask your doctor to help you get social security disability. Sometimes they get involved sometimes they don't. A good report from the doctor can get SSD for you without an attorney. My brother got social security disability without a lawyer on the first time through. It depends on the disability and the severity of the disease or injury. If you get denied from social security get assistance from an attorney. Get it quick. Initial consults are usually free from social security lawyers if you have that original denial.

Social security does schedule exams when you file a claim. Take them everything you have. They will also assign a GAF scoe. If the GAF is low enough you will get SSD. PTSD claims can win SSD.

[Guest Jim S.]

Magoo: when was the last day you worked to earn a living? That date plus six months, is the date that I believe that you might be able to use as an EED for SSDI. Depending on you claim with SSDI they may take the day you were considered unemployable by the VA plus six months as your EED for SSDI.

When I applied, they used my date the VA approved me for pension, plus 6 months for the EED to pay me and I did it on my own, and won SSDI first time.

The forms are fairly easy to fill out and if you have a question, they will help you. I listed all my medical diagnoses and all my medications and their side effects on my everday activities, and how my different medical problems make it even difficult for me to do household chores or to be on my feet for any appreciable amount of time, I got a nice letter from one of my last employers on my difficulties on the job

and my recent Driving Record for driving big rig transports. It was pretty hard no to approve my claim, I sent them copies of everything includeing all the different Drs and Specialist at the VAMC who had cause to see me for whatever reason. Then their were privet Drs, too.

I'm sure with all you have and with the reports from your psychiatrists on PTSD and whether or not you are 100% or less with TDIU you should not have much of a problem in getting SSDI

Jim S. :P