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Is It Too Late For Me?

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Charlieg

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I am a USAF Gulf War Vet. Left service in 1992 and went to VA clinic for skin rash medication and stomach issues as I can remember. I had a very serious rash on my feet while in Saudi Arabia and did not go away for years. Also was rushed to Air Force hospital after coming home with stomach issues and had tests but no diagnosis. I stopped going to the Va clinic after only about 3 visits because of work. Just could not keep getting time off. Over the years I thought about checking in with the va but never seemed to have time and when I needed help I would just go to a family doctor. My va card is so old as compared to others that I've seen. I was doing some construction work in a va clinic and asked about my status and was told that they had never seen a card like mine. I've had a lot of the same symptoms that others here have, just wondering if I can still get help. Or is it too late.

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Chalieg, find a VSO immediately.

Next, read HADIT articles. I'm sure someone has commented on started the claims process.

Do this right the first time, because mistakes mean unnecessary waiting.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Charlieg,

I would think SMR's is referring to ''service medical records'', same thing as STR's '' service treatment records'', but the poster may mean something else?

......................Buck

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The mix of acronyms confused me at first, too. STR is used on AD for training records a lot nowadays instead of treatment records, so they have been using SMR for medical records, at least recently in the AF. Like PCM is primary care manager instead of PCP, since most aren't physicians anymore, nor good for shooting up in pup tents on the beach in the '70's (PCP).

Edited by TALON II FE
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I know this is a lot of information, but I think it is all important, and I probably left some things out.

What are your symptoms/problems and do you have any current diagnosis of any illness/disease?

One of the biggest problems Gulf War vets have is getting an incorrect diagnosis from a physician. And the only diagnoses that the VA will except for presumptive claims are; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. If you are diagnosed with a known condition they will not grant your claim. An example - you have shortness of breath and your physician gives you a diagnosis of Asthma - Asthma is a well known illness with known etiology therefore it is not an undiagnosed illness. The physician has to state shortness of breath with unknown etiology for the claim to be granted.

Start by reading the information at http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/medically-unexplained-illness.asp

There are links there with more specific information.

Then go to https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/38/3.317

This is a search page for VBA appeals decisions. If you search for undiagnosed illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and read some of the decisions, you can get an idea of what they are looking for in the claims. http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/bva.jsp

Go to the link for 4.88a on this page and read it. http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?rgn=div5;node=38:1.0.1.1.5

You should get a copy of all of your service and private physician medical records so that your physician can review them. Then explain Gulf War Illness to him/her, if they are not familiar with it. Ask the physician if they are willing to complete the required paperwork to help you with your claim. If not find a new physician, If yes then they should start evaluating you.

You should get your physician to complete DBQ's for any of your symptoms. Search Google for CFS DBQ, Fibromyalgia DBQ, Irritable Bowel Syndrome DBQ, They are easy to find. Your physician should test you to verify that your symptoms are not related to any known disease/illness which is not related to service.

A lot of people say it is not needed, but I think it helps if your physician states in a letter that your symptoms are "more likely than not" or "at least as likely as not" related to your service in the military during the Gulf War. The terms "more likely than not" (meaning greater than 50% likelihood of a connection) and "at least as likely as not" (meaning equal to or greater than 50% likelihood of a connection) This is called a nexxus statement, and there is a lot of information about nexxus letters on this sight.

When you are reading about the presumptive illnesses if you don't understand a symptom, research it. I found that I didn't know what some of the symptoms were, and after researching realized that I had those symptoms. Some Symptoms I thought I knew what they were, but after researching realized I didn't understand them.

This is the rating table for CFS, the numbers on the right are the rating percentage for the listed severity of symptoms. (The copy and paste didn't work as well as I would have liked but hopefully ou can understand it.)

6354 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS): Debilitating fatigue, cognitive impairments (such as inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, confusion), or a combination of other signs and symptoms: Which are nearly constant and so severe as to restrict routine daily activities almost completely and which may occasionally preclude self-care 100

Which are nearly constant and restrict routine daily activities to less than 50 percent of the pre-illness level, or; which wax and wane, resulting in periods of incapacitation of at least six weeks total duration per year 60

Which are nearly constant and restrict routine daily activities to 50 to 75 percent of the pre-illness level, or; which wax and wane, resulting in periods of incapacitation of at least four but less than six weeks total duration per year 40

Which are nearly constant and restrict routine daily activities by less than 25 percent of the pre-illness level, or; which wax and wane, resulting in periods of incapacitation of at least two but less than four weeks total duration per year 20

Which wax and wane but result in periods of incapacitation of at least one but less than two weeks total duration per year, or; symptoms controlled by continuous medication 10

Note: For the purpose of evaluating this disability, the condition will be considered incapacitating only while it requires bed rest and treatment by a physician.

Another good link is http://ngwrc.org And you may want to print this and give it to your physician http://ngwrc.org/docs/Help%20for%20your%20Claims/VAtl10-01.pdf .

You can private message me with questions, and I will help you if I can. I didn't know what I was doing in the beginning and am now in the appeals process. Maybe the good folks at had it and I can help you and you can get it right the first time.

Edited by k5one
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Charlie's:

Stay focused and never give up. I went in for my Gulf War exam and the doctor never made eye contact with me. I ended up with 4 of 7 main GW illnesses and yet the doctor still said I was not GW connected overall. One of the last three show confirmed symptoms. Frankly, he's just one of those doctors that does not believe in GW illnesses. So, be prepared for a fight. Also, if you are not having the symptoms on the day of your eval they will count it against you...but keep trying because other docs out here may be different? The irony, is that I was contacted by the GW Burn Registry folks from DC last week and was asked to provide my information for the Burn Pit Registry?

Anyway, good luck...

DOD is now studying us gulf war test rats,,, WHY because they are afraid that present day soldiers are going to get gassed in the future/. They want to study us, but not compensate us. WHY praytell would they make the ilnesses presumptive if they didnt know it was real and common? WHY praytwll did Undersec Hickey attempt to have Gulf war veterans as a class be abolished and just called iraq war vets> THEY KNOW, !!!! The VA will dilly dally around until they think most of us are dead before they fully admit and compensate us, or until something similar to the Neimer actions take place, and the Govt gets sued into submission.

Right now, the govt is playing slick... very slick, with the bullshit presumptive laws they can say they are doing the right thing, and avoid a Neimer type lawsuit and still screw the Gulf war vets over, because of the deceptive way they wrote the rules.. I would hope that in the VERY NEAR FUTURE that NVLSP will file suit and end this scam the VA is running on gulf war vets...

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