Depression as secondary

[Andyman73]

Hello all,

I got a phone call at the end of work yesterday afternoon, can I come down for a C&P exam on Tuesday, the 3rd of November...what is this for...my claim for depression, yes I will be there.

Anyone go through an exam for depression as secondary to chronic pain?  Or even just depression, that can give me some pointers?  What should I not mention, besides life before my service? How much detail should I give?  Should I mention my night sweats, and nightmares along with my chronic sleep impairment?  How long will this type of exam take? 1 hour, 2 hours, or longer?

Semper Fi.

Andyman.

[Andyman73]

Cut out the spicy food? Noooooo! Just tell them to give him better meds!

He developed some ulcers  and some other issues, that's why the spicy cut out, cuz of ulcers.

[Andyman73]

iceturkee,

And hour or so...I can handle that.

[Vync]

He developed some ulcers  and some other issues, that's why the spicy cut out, cuz of ulcers.

Yeah, those dreaded ulcers. That can ruin some tasty food. But, they have medication for that too!

[Gastone]

Years of pain, you may have just recently got the VA MH DX but I've never seen any medical literature that "DOESN'T" imply a Nexsus between Chronic pain and the development of Depression. Your good to go, don't worry about scrambling at the 11th hour for Med Pubs, The C&P Psychiatrist should be all over your Chronic Pain as the Primary cause of your Depression. The only question is, How Depressed are You?.

Anything on the Depression DBQ that your not sure of, needs further research. I would spend my free time getting up to speed on all the questions that the C&P Dr is going to address in-order to complete your DBQ. You need to be able to answer all of his questions knowledgeably, your SC rating depends on it. Don't exaggerate your answers regarding your symptoms.

Your depressed, so let's throw in a little paranoia. Keep in mind, MH C&P's are somewhat "Forensic" in nature. As in PTSD C&P exams, the Raters want the Dr to assure them that your not trying to get over on the Comp System by exaggerating symptoms and claiming your more Fracked Up than what you actually are.

If you haven't already done so, I would file an IU FDC right away. I don't know what your employment situation currently is, but I think your going to get an "Inferred IU Claim" along with your SC for Depression. Get IU claim in so they can be combined. Currently a 50% SC for Depression, would get you to 90% SC. Get the IU for 100% SC Payment rate.

Semper Fi

[Buck52]

Andyman

I think you have a real good chance of getting a higher rating

sounds like they should rate you way up there..

I hope your C&P goes to your favor.

 

Good Luck Buddy!

 

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

[Andyman73]

Gastone,

I was looking over the chart that was posted earlier in this thread to see what and where and so on and so forth, and here's what I came up with,

Most of my symptoms are in the 50% box of the chart.  I have chronic sleep impairment that includes nightmares, and night sweats, and sleep apnea, for which I do use a CPAP.  I have trouble staying asleep, which is why for many years now, I've resorted to alcohol as a sleep aid, because it's the only thing that doesn't leave me feeling foggy and groggy when I wake up for work.  My short term memory is virtually non-existant, I forget stuff my wife tells me with in a few minutes.  Sometimes I don't even recall that she was talking to me, like missing time blocks.  I sometimes joke around that I have mad cow disease, but only as a deflection from my actual swiss cheese mind.

Now, I have dealt with suicide ideation(with a few attempts)for over 20 years, and that is in the 70% box on the chart.  And I do have moments of anger that explode for no reason, during which my brain feels like it's on fire.  Both of these I have mentioned to my VA MH doc during my sessions, and he has me DXd with MDD, reoccurring. 

As for work, I can't stop, 100% would be more than I take home now, but if I had to pay for benefits, it would leave me worse off, and my wife wouldn't be able to work enough hours to make up the difference, and it would destroy my home life...costing me my marriage and family.  While suicide would most likely break them, it wouldn't financially destroy them, but this would make it so.

My twin brother is 100% with IU, but he had made comments to my wife, when he still lived near me, many years ago, so she always brings that up about how I'm turning into a lazy bum like him(never mind he walks with a cane, has 3 fused neck vertabre an so on.