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Va Wont Consider Tdiu Until They Get A Formal 21-8940 Tdiu Application.

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Steppenwolf

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In another TDIU post Berta posted this:

"VA wont consider TDIU until they get a formal 21-8940 TDIU application."

A day or two ago i found a similar statement on a non-hadit page.

i am awaiting a hearing date on a NOD from my june 09 award which i sent in a disagreement about the %. My thinking was: get 70% so i can ask for 100% TDIU. Mostly i've been told that i can not have 100% with my current 50%.

i did not ask for TDIU. Never knew about nor was it suggested to me by any of my POA's to submit this form/request.

i have already claimed to be an idiot. My brain must not be working right but when a veteran goes to a poa, a VSO who is trained to know VA law; then is it too much to expect that they will read all through your files that you have not worked, you will not be able to work, " you have not worked in 39 years " etc. that they will suggest that "we submit form 21-8940 and make the case for TDIU since your work record, VA record, and even service records address not working issues"?

Maybe a case can be made that all veterans need to be responsible to know their own case. On the other hand most of us have been in situations where our buddy is stunned by something unexpected and only we can see what they can not. In the field it can save someone's life. i think this could have changed my whole life had someone seen the bleeding and helped apply the necessary fix until i got the help i needed to help stop me from losing my mind.

Just thinking about "yet another mistake i've made" zaps the life out of me. i beat myself with disbelief til i can't move, i unlpug the phone, lock the doors, close the blinds, take some pills, and crawl up into a ball and wait to pass out so i don't have to face the idiot once again.

is it too late to send VARO the form?

If i was at work now i would not be able to carry on...my mind races out of control and it is best if i'm alone.

PS: It was suggested many years ago to file for SSI or SSDI but i didn't work enough to qualify. My regular SS is 333 dollar a month. Most best 18 years were military and before...starting in 1962. You do the math.

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What % are you at now for SC Steppenwolf?

However -regardless of the SC %

"is it too late to send VARO the form?" nope- never too late

but if you can get a real doctor to give you an IMO ( the IMO criteria is here under the IMO forum) that emphatically states your SC disabilites prevent you from working and they can give a complete medical rationale for that- there would be a potential to get TDIU.

I said 'give' but the reality is these IMOs can be very costly.

The IMO doctor's credentials and expertise would be considered by the VA and the doctor would have to associate any SC disability you have with an inability to work.

I dont know what your chances would be as to the TDIU claim at this point- but it is always best to file the 8940 to preserve the earliest effective date if and when they do award TDIU.

Please dont beat up on yourself- I was just talking to our SVR producer Jerrel Cook -telling him how stupid I was when my husband first filed his 1151 claim and increase for his PTSD.He didnt know much either as to what we needed as evidence and how to get it-it took reading whatever the pre -interent days could render -that is where I met Pete here- over 20 years ago- on the Prodigy vets BBS system.

I credit the VBM from NVLSP with the awards I have won. No vet rep or SO I had after Rod died-had any faith in my claims.They discouraged me even from filing the last claim.

They lost credit for it and I won it by myself.( and with some great IMOs I could not have gotten--- had I not done plenty of legwork first)

DONT give up!

Disabled vets should not have to be lawyers and doctors to succeed with their claims.But we are the best vet rep we will ever get.and success comes with leg work.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

I filed for IU when I was 30%. It took another year and a half to get to 70% and my award of IU but it went back to the date I filed when I was just 30%. When I lost my job due to my disability I knew I would never be able to work again so I filed everything including SSD and IU. I threw it all at the wall. I had disability retirement because I was a federal worker and I even had long term disability insurance that I had had for 17 years and which I thought I would never use. I used it.

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50%

It is not easy to keep track of my own files and as time goes by it seems that the boxes of file grow and much of the information is copies that i make and then try to file in some special order that at the end of the day complicates and confuses me more than it helps me. That said, i would like to copy some of the info that you ask specific questions about and post the whole thing for your review.

But as much as i appreciate the help from all here on Hadit, i think some of the information should remain private.

i think T-bird once told me that she set up a conference room or some other method like that to communicate privately. Are you familiar with this method?

Since VSO's and other Rep's often give bad advise who else do we have besides each other to share and review specific information that we have; some that will help us or in some cases hurt us if submitted or stated incorrectly?

Every VA doctor and therapist that i spoke with and in some cases allowed to read the decision that awarded me 50%, found it near impossible to believe that the records, letters, and IMO's that fill my file folder with language about not being able to work, not working and not being gainfully employed for most of the 40 years since discharge, being a threat to myself and others in a work environment, coupled with 40 years of financial statements which was below the poverty level ( totally free VA health care and medications since 1970 because i didn't qualify for co-pay ) and now my social security records which are missing the last year of my military service ( DD didn't pay SSA the money that they held back from my pay ) All of my doctors are shocked that the VA could not connect the dots to see that i have been TDIU since 1970.

But again, much to my surprise, no one has ever suggested submitting the request form for TDIU. No one has ever connected the dots for me that point to unemployability.

Last year Sharon suggested that i apply for "None Service Connected Pension". i had no idea what THAT was nor was i aware that such a thing was available for me. Had one of my VSO suggested it for me it would have changed my life in ways that i can not even imagine....maybe it might have helped me with this 40 year old case? Sharon had me file right away Feb 28 2008 so now that consideration is waiting for the appeal to end so it can be determined if i qualify for the $1,100. a month for non-service connected pension or if i just continue collecting the $770. for 50% SC And yes i know the rule for collecting the pension are much more rigid but if my math is correct i qualify. If i get TDIU then the Pension is mute.

i do understand on an intellectual level that beating myself up is not the right thing to do but i have to lock myself up sometimes to stop myself from doing things that aren't good for me and may get me in one kind of trouble or another.

One more thing: i think i may have mentioned this before: i just went to a well know shrink in the area who examines and wites IMO letters for vets. Unlike some other doctors that i've seen who are not happy about being asked to write a letter on my behalf; this guy told me "I know what to say. This is what I do" He wanted to send the letter to my VARO. i asked him if he would send it to me so i could carry it to my hearing. It was a good thing that i did. i could see that the letter had the kind of language that the VA likes to see but it was surely not a scholarly letter. But specifically, he got some of the dates and facts wrong. For instance he had me getting divorced in 1971 when in fact i didn't get married until 1975. i called the office and spoke with the nurse who assured me that the doctor would help me. She put me on hold to see if the doctor was willing to change the letter. Hmmm! If the letter was wrong why wouldn't you be willing to change it? He suggested that i make the changes to the letter that "needed" to be changed and email it to him for his approval. Now my question is: do i read your IMO information and customize his letter in hopes of him just signing it or do i just correct the obvious date mistakes?

Thanks again Stepp

What % are you at now for SC Steppenwolf?

However -regardless of the SC %

"is it too late to send VARO the form?" nope- never too late

but if you can get a real doctor to give you an IMO ( the IMO criteria is here under the IMO forum) that emphatically states your SC disabilites prevent you from working and they can give a complete medical rationale for that- there would be a potential to get TDIU.

I said 'give' but the reality is these IMOs can be very costly.

The IMO doctor's credentials and expertise would be considered by the VA and the doctor would have to associate any SC disability you have with an inability to work.

I dont know what your chances would be as to the TDIU claim at this point- but it is always best to file the 8940 to preserve the earliest effective date if and when they do award TDIU.

Please dont beat up on yourself- I was just talking to our SVR producer Jerrel Cook -telling him how stupid I was when my husband first filed his 1151 claim and increase for his PTSD.He didnt know much either as to what we needed as evidence and how to get it-it took reading whatever the pre -interent days could render -that is where I met Pete here- over 20 years ago- on the Prodigy vets BBS system.

I credit the VBM from NVLSP with the awards I have won. No vet rep or SO I had after Rod died-had any faith in my claims.They discouraged me even from filing the last claim.

They lost credit for it and I won it by myself.( and with some great IMOs I could not have gotten--- had I not done plenty of legwork first)

DONT give up!

Disabled vets should not have to be lawyers and doctors to succeed with their claims.But we are the best vet rep we will ever get.and success comes with leg work.

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If he charged you for that IMO-he should correct it.

The VA would not look favorably on any IMO where the vet themselves has made corrections.

Snce I came to hadit I must have attached the TDIU form hundreds of times to posts. It sure pissed me off one day when a rep in my former POA office looked all over for a 21-8940 form. I realized they didnt know enough to give the form to vets who should have gotten it.It is always on a floppy next to my PC so I can attach it here. You would think the 8940s would have been in an obvious place at the reps office.

"Every VA doctor and therapist that i spoke with and in some cases allowed to read the decision that awarded me 50%, found it near impossible to believe that the records, letters, and IMO's that fill my file folder with language about not being able to work, not working and not being gainfully employed for most of the 40 years since discharge, etc"

Will they document that into the medical record for you?

My husband went from 30 to 100 for PTSD- much of his psychiatric VA records I had to send to VA myself.

They said they were not in his medical file. His shrink gave them to me.And his shrink also made a statement for me when the VA lied about Rod's SSA award (solely for PTSD). There is possibility that the RO is not aware of some psychiatric records they should have on you. In my husband's case there were results from 6 separate types of psyche tests and the results were catastrophic PTSD.

The RO claimed they were not in the actual med rec but his doc said they were. These test results too I sent to the RO myself.I receioved post humpus award within a few weeks after VA got this stuff.

TDIU_21_8940.pdf

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The doctors have agreed to make the corrections.

Since i was here last i continue to get a wide variety of feedback, thoughts, and ideas. Maybe all of them will work to a greater or lesser degree depending on how clearly i understand what is being recommended. That said, here is the latest feedback that i got today from the local DAV guy: "Who in the H told you to file an NOD?!?!?" "Do you have another 5 to 8 years waiting for a hearing when all you NEEDED to do was to ask for an increase in benefits. If you asked for that last year when you got your decision; with the letters and records that you already have you could have had an answer already!"

i slowly took out the letter from the DAV SO who argued with me over the phone about what i could and couldn't do and showed it to today's VSO. Today's guy told me that last years guy must not have understood what was already in the records.

In any event the dark cloud continues to follow me around. Now what? Talk about triggers for turning dark clouds into storms! i almost hurled on the table.

Why is this case so difficult to see?

Someone here on Hadit told me to "just ask for an increase" But yesterday's yoyo told me that i couldn't do that and the only thing that i could do was to submit a NOD.

If he charged you for that IMO-he should correct it.

The VA would not look favorably on any IMO where the vet themselves has made corrections.

Snce I came to hadit I must have attached the TDIU form hundreds of times to posts. It sure pissed me off one day when a rep in my former POA office looked all over for a 21-8940 form. I realized they didnt know enough to give the form to vets who should have gotten it.It is always on a floppy next to my PC so I can attach it here. You would think the 8940s would have been in an obvious place at the reps office.

"Every VA doctor and therapist that i spoke with and in some cases allowed to read the decision that awarded me 50%, found it near impossible to believe that the records, letters, and IMO's that fill my file folder with language about not being able to work, not working and not being gainfully employed for most of the 40 years since discharge, etc"

Will they document that into the medical record for you?

My husband went from 30 to 100 for PTSD- much of his psychiatric VA records I had to send to VA myself.

They said they were not in his medical file. His shrink gave them to me.And his shrink also made a statement for me when the VA lied about Rod's SSA award (solely for PTSD). There is possibility that the RO is not aware of some psychiatric records they should have on you. In my husband's case there were results from 6 separate types of psyche tests and the results were catastrophic PTSD.

The RO claimed they were not in the actual med rec but his doc said they were. These test results too I sent to the RO myself.I receioved post humpus award within a few weeks after VA got this stuff.

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