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How To Apply For Anxiety/depression Due To Chronic Pain

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BrookH

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Hi,

A friend of ours is rated at 50% with lumbar, cervical, carpal tunnel, gerd /h-h, shoulder raduicaphy, high blood pressure and something else. Anyhow they had a neurophysc visit while on active duty and the specialist said something like unknown reasons but problems like other pgw vets qualify with dsm iv (I think), now after retired they had another appointment because of memory problems, depression/anxiety (seeing a va counselor and such). The neurophysc tests came back good, brain is working well. A few things our friend said was the neurophysch seen sleep apnea and asked if treated with a cpap now. The answer was yes, so neurophysc said (not sure if he wrote it down) but possible reason test were bad back on active duty was maybe sleep apnea and good now because cpap has fixed that. Also said memory problems and depression now is probably because of current pain.

So it might be a stretch but if the military doctor on active duty thought svcmbr had sleep apnea could this neurophysch thoughts be help.......there are smr notes but not diagnoses.

Also would it be reasonable to claim depression/anxiety due to chronic pain and how is this rated?

Opps, also the person claimed sciatica on their claim but examiner said no sciatica but a lumbar strain. No MRI was given but probably 5 years later went to pain clinic and received a tens was also told pain was sciatica. Can that get reopened or not worth it and how to change to ivds or idvs?

Appreciate it and will pass all info on.

Edited by BrookH
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Hello all, I was trying to get some information on how to proceed with filing a claim for Depression and Anxiety as a result of Chronic Pain. No offense but can anybody give me the skinny without the clutter (The BLUF), I'm just looking for the process steps, strategies, and tactics employed to successfully achieve the goal and objective.

Thank You! :biggrin:

Again, No Offense!

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First off, you have to have a record showing chronic pain, which usually takes more than a year or two.  Secondly, you should have then, continuing treatment of said pain noted in your SMR or VAMR as well, showing continuity of said pain.

For example, say a Marine fell down a flight of stairs....perhaps on November 21st, 1992. And lets just say, for sake of conversation that this flight of fancy(or just plain ugly) happened on said Marine's 5th day of boot camp, at the beginning of a 6 year enlistment.  One would think that 23.5 years of treatment records and complaints of pain in both the SMR and VAMR would be enough to show chronic pain(never mind the wording "chronic patellafemoral pain syndrome, bilateral" actually written).  However, since said hypothetical Marine did not seek any help for MH issues, until last year, the VA chose to ignore the medical evidence the clearly shows chronic pain.

So...unless you want to end up like said hypothetical Marine, with a denial(because they can) you should seek MH treatment from the VA(harder for VA to deny what their own MH drs say) and establish a paper trail of treatment for depression due to your pain issues.

Just because said hypothetical Marine called the hotline, last year, at the end of his rope, doesn't mean that the VA will connect the dots that you have laid out so nicely for them.

By the way, I am very offended that you would think I may be offended, and your statement of "no offense" is very offending in it's nature, implying that you meant to offend. How rude!  And offensive, too. Okay, not really. But that hypothetical Marine, from above, may or may not be slightly offended due to the degree of perceived offensiveness of your claim of "no offense". Or maybe not, said Marine is often dazed and confused, and most of the time can't get it right, due to usually getting it left.

So...to rehash 1) inservice injury with treatment records, 2) records of ongoing treatment, since it's hard to prove chronic if you have no record of ongoing complain or treatment. 3) evidence of MH being effected by said chronic pain, preferably MH treatment records.

Semper Fi

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2 hours ago, Andyman73 said:

By the way, I am very offended that you would think I may be offended, and your statement of "no offense" is very offending in it's nature, implying that you meant to offend. How rude!  And offensive, too. Okay, not really. But that hypothetical Marine, from above, may or may not be slightly offended due to the degree of perceived offensiveness of your claim of "no offense". Or maybe not, said Marine is often dazed and confused, and most of the time can't get it right, due to usually getting it left.

 

Semper Fi

I must say, this cracked me up so badly this morning, and I mean a full belly rumble "guffaw" if you will.

I'm glad this Devil has retained their sense of humor.

Edited by awgv001
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The crazy one here, first things first. The OP (Original Post) is well over five years old or very close to it. To get more responses you might want to start a new topic.  To get any condition service connected you will need treatment records and you will need a medical nexus with a good medical rationale.  The medical nexus is a statement/letter/note in your treating records from a treating doctor that states that your current condition is as least likely as not caused by or the result of your service connected condition and then give a medical rationale of how they are related.

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4 hours ago, Andyman73 said:

So...unless you want to end up like said hypothetical Marine, with a denial(because they can) you should seek MH treatment from the VA(harder for VA to deny what their own MH drs say) and establish a paper trail of treatment for depression due to your pain issues.

Andy, I have to disagree. I have seen VA deny a veterans claim even after the veteran had a positive C & P exam. The veteran had to file an appeal to win his service connection. That is just too crazy but VA will do anything they think they can get away with and if the veteran does not file a timely appeal then the veteran loses.

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pete,

You're right, I actually am in the middle of that myself, right now, on several issues.  Sometimes dazed and confused spills over into other areas of my brain..

Semper Fi

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