ptsd Am I Housebound? Does It Matter?

[hedgey]

Just pulled out my CD with my records from May this year, going back to 2007. In my last 2 years of seeing my therapist this has been part of each session's record:

CHIEF COMPLAINT/SYMPTOMS: Low mood, sleep disturbance, distressing

recollections/dreams, irritability/anger, anxiety/panic/agoraphobia, exaggerated

startle response, hyperarousal, difficulty concentrating, flashbacks.

DIAGNOSIS: PTSD, chronic, severe

MDD-recur, severe

OCD

This is from the therapist's notes. The psychiatrist session notes don't have a diagnosis or chief complaint section, just a medication list, session notes and treatment plan.

Does the therapist saying 'agoraphobia' carry enough weight?

[Pete53]

Your therapist needs retraining. Maybe some quack at VA thinks that you cannot have agorophobia with PTSD but there are plenty of Veterans who have it. I have panic disorder with agorophobia.

It does not make sense but I don't have a current DSM all I do know is that the DSM I was rated from would ask if the disorder had agorophobia or not.

If I were you I would review medical records to see if it is ever mentioned.

[hedgey]

Pete53, we must've been cross-posting.

anxiety/panic/agoraphobia appears in the list of Chief Complaints in every one of my therapist's session notes going back over two years (I got bored after that and stopped looking). It definitely pre-dates when I received my TDIU, so it was definitely in my records before they made the decision.

So if my MH records show agoraphobia as a Chief Complaint (see my other post for all of them and my diagnoses), am I right in thinking that the VA should have considered me housebound at the time they awarded me SC for PTSD and then shortly after TDIU?

What should I do?

[hedgey]

Pete53

Resurrecting a post here. I hadn't posted in a while, and have posted a bunch in the past couple days.

It was the VA psychiatrist who said agoraphobia was a component of PTSD, not the therapist. Either way, agoraphobia is clearly noted in my therapy sessions, and though I haven't gotten new records since my last post, I have talked to the psychiatrist more about my anxiety at leaving the house.

This is all so mucked up. My husband needed me to go with him to the VA clinic this morning, and he wound up having to look after me because I was freaking about there being a knot of people queued up to check in. They have the sign-in kiosk right inside the entrance, so it's a bottle neck area.

So I'm trying to think of what I should do here. I know it's confusing because both me and my husband are vets, and it must seem to people that I'm wrong to seek more help. But then I get mad and think of all these years that we both fended for ourselves because we didn't know there was VA services available.

I'm going off on a tangent. What a freaking joke I am. I talked in other threads about calling tax guys, but never said anything about pacing for two hours before I could pick up the phone. I talk about going to the JAG office on post about getting a will done... not gonna happen. Even with DH holding me up I'm not gonna be able to do that. Maybe someday, someday, but no time soon that I can see.

Should I file for an increase to my 70%? If I got 100%, won't that make me lose my right to have a firearm? Will I be put on a no fly list? HA!! as if that would be an issue for me! I make it to my therapy sessions because my husband takes me and I can take an Ativan in the parking lot.

I'm sorry. I'm a ball bearing in a pinball machine right now.

[hedgey]

Just been reading through the $3.350 document. Now I have two more questions.

One is, if I filed and got SMC-S for being housebound, that will raise my monthly to $3,309 from what I get for 100% for TDIU. So it's about $300 more a month. Is that right?

[john999]

Yes, it is about $300 bucks. It means your cola will increase as well.