Veldrina

if you moved, they're supposed to transfer the entire C-file. That might be what does it....ask your old RO to make sure all your records are sent to the new one. Good luck.

@ Pete I don't thik I've ever seen agoraphobia as part of a claim. The rarity of it might be why they forget. But thanks, I'll know now if I ever come across a case like that :) @ Philip Yeah, i can't put those VA math together without the "Combinator" calculator, i was just giving an example of several disabilities vs one disability. The math wasn't meant to add up, just show quantity. This is why i was an English major in school ;)-

oh geez, sorry to hear that. If St. Louis doesn't have them & they were already sent to VA, it means VA has lost them. Unfortunately, becuz we still deal with papers & filing cabinets, things get misfiled & misplaced a lot., esp. back in the day before tracking. If you can have them do a special search for the records, that may do it.

Ah, Philip, i always hated math to begin with, I can't tell you how mystified I am by VA math. It got the the point where they know gave us a VA SMC calculator so we aren't sitting there banging our heads ...but ti still happens. The bilateral factor does bump things up, so your legs should combine to a 20% with the bilateral factor. Not sure what the question is re 100 +60....that;s for the housebound critera, which states that if you have a hundred percent evaluation for a single disability & either an additional disability or combined disabilities that total at least 60%, you then qualify for special monthly compensation at the housebound level (which i think is level S if I remember). So if a person had 100% for lung cancer, and a 60% for diabetes...or 100% for lung cancer & 20% for diabetes, another 20% for peripheral neuropathy fo legs, & a 10% for upper extremities and it all totalled to 60%, that would qualify the person for the housebound rate. Theres different levelso fo SMC, such as if you have 2 or more 100% evaluations, a k level for certain losses of use, etc. SMC and effective dates are the banes of my existence! I hope I didnt confuse you further.,

exactly bulldog :) in other words, it means you reported your history accurately . We have vets who are forgetful, have dementia or are so memory impaired that they are not good historians, We also have those who lie (no, i never abused substancesm, ever!) then when confronted with their medical history, they back down (oh yeah, i didnt know you meant crack...) So the doc is basically saying your responses were accurate with what they have on charts for you.

I just saw this today....sry, i missed it earlier. Yes, i am taking questions, but not as part of my job at VA.. I am a rater at the VA RO in NY but I am not representing them or the VA in general in any way. I'm here of my own volition, both because I want to help and because I genuinely want to see what ppl think/where the problems are. I'm just as frsutrated as anybody with the way things are run, & if i can gain ANY insight as to how things could be better organized, I think it would be a win-win situation. There are limits on what I can do/answer because I am a "newbie" rater (less than 5 yrs exp. under my belt) but if I don't know the answer I can try to find out for you by asking folk at work who would know. If you (OR ANYONE ON HERE, BTW) would like to ask me something & make sure i see it, pls feel free to send me a msg, or at least a heads up in my mailbox that you posted it under whatever topic heading & i will do my best.

i would put in for PTSD. They've eased the standards on ti & it sounds like you have enough to file for fear of terrorist/military hostility.

In addition to carlie's question: you are already s/c for PTSD? Many of your symptoms fall under PTSD, except for migraines. Did you ever lose consciouslness when your convoy was struck, or had a blast injury? If so, that could be a symptom of TBI (traumatic brain injury) & i would have it checked out. You will need to show proof that you were in the unit that was struck & that you were seen for it in service.

A few things: Larry, i need to disagree with you on the filing of it. Yes, you are correct that we will only rate ONE mental disability, & since he already has PTSD, any depression, anxiety etc. will continue to fall under that as they all share the same symptoms. It will be a waste of Papa's time and the VA's to file a claim for depression because of that. You can, of course, file for anything you like as it's your right under VA regulations, but my recommendation would be Don't, especially if you haven't received anything yet re an increase, as it will hold up the claim unnecessariiy. re GAF, don't worry too much about it. Raters use it if we're stuck between one evaluation and another and don't have anything that can swing you one way or the other. But the exam had enough to swing you to the higher %. We also take the GAFs of past visits in the yr into consideration, so if last yr's GAF was in the range of 20-30, & u had 50 on this one, it could just mean u had a good day. Re obesity: this is not an actually disabling condition that is compensable by VA. Unless you can somehow prove that everything in the military's food was made with bacon grease & thus you had no choice but to gain weight, it ain't gonna happen. In some extremely rare instances i have seen obesity secondary to medication, but you're better off finding a 4 leafed clover. It sounds as though obesity was used in lieu of substance abuse to treat your anxiety, so it will just be a mention in your PTSD, not anything ratable, just a symptom of it. Sleep apnea is a different story, and has a physiological etiology as opposed to insomnia which can have wither a psychosomatic or physiological one. If the doc is linking your sleep apnea to obesity, I'm not sure that will be able to be service connected. The doc would have to a make a very clear distinction as to how your "food abuse" led to obesity, which in turn led to sleep apnea...a secondary of a secondary. It's a long shot, not impossible, just very iffy and dependent on how the doc connects it.

Lol, AMEN, preach it brutha!

oh believe me, i know, i have friends outside federal who work retail, corporate, gas stations, dont work or cant work. (i have friends???? ;) jk) But you made the point i was trying to make...the federal employee is in the SAME boat as everyone else. That someone is saying we are getting bonus pay and awards is simply not true.

Success! it worked! From the exam, i would say your PTSD is in the 50-70% range. If I were rating your claim, i would give you the 70% based on the following: the obsessive/ritualistic behavior interferes "severely" (as doc said) with daily activities, sere impairment of attention/concentration (can't sit still, need to escape from places/situations), near continuous panic attacks, disturbance of motivation and inability to establish/maintain effective social/work relationships, impaired impulse control (easily angered, irritability, history of explosive behavior). The doc didnt come out & say you are unemployable (it aimpacts occupational functioning but he didnt say prevents) so a 100% is iffy unless you have other disabilities which render you such. Did that help, or were you looking for something more specific?

Bonuses? really?? where??? We haven't gotten any bonuses or awards in years. The only "bonus" we ever got was some extra $ that would be doles out to the teams which would amount to maybe 50 per person, sometimes less. This yr, nothing. Next yr will be same thing. The "incentive" awards they are talking about is nothing new really. if you perform in all your job capacities as "outstanding", then you get a bonus of maybe 100....TOPS $500 but it's all taxed, so ur looking at 250 or so when all told. And to get outstanding in ALL areas, you have to do above your standard (3.5 pts) CONSISTENTLY, above accuracy (90%) for the entire award period (ie whenever period they decide to review you for however long), and go "above & beyond your job". lrey it;s har dto make the standard with the archaic points system, and accuracy means your ratings can NEVER have an error. EVER. Goddess forbid the program messes up the wording in your claim or you miss a detail. And "Above & beyond" isn;t exactly explained. mostly, it;s a LOT of paperwork for the coach to explain why we are outstanding, and it;s both time-consuming, and they've been accused of favoritism in the past by other disgruntled folk. For Satisfactory, it's just checkmarks. So yeah, bonuses are like unicorns...much cited, never seen.

nope, never heard of that. The exam they give u has to fit a certain criteria. if only one ear qualifies you can still be rated for hearing loss in that ear, but they dont give u anything additional for ears unless there;s an actual disease, like otitis media.

meh, they've tried. We have Virtual VA, & they now gave limited access to vets of the MAPD program, where you can see entries re your claim (ie "rec'd med. recs from so& so") They have been talking about going paperless for a long time now, but they can barely fix the issues we have with some of the programs, & the mass undertaking that scanning all the zillions of files we have into the system would be....we just dont have the manpower to spare. We need robots!!!

actually unnecessary for me to chime in here since you guys have it covered, but it sounds like someone is just using the standard wording for claims as opposed to the presumptive language. Obviously if you have evidence of the condition starting after service, it helps your cause greatly, but some AO presumptive conditions don't rear their ugly heads for years. highlander, put in a claim for these secondary to DMII/AO expsoure if you have a diagnosis of them: peripheral neuropathy (numbness/tngling of the extremities), diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or cataracts, hypertension that began AFTER diagnosis of DMII, skin problems, heart disease, leukemias of any sort, prostate cancer (not enlraged or benign hypertrophy, only cancer), diabetic nephropathy, respiratory cancers and symptoms of parkinsons.

let me clarify...every RO has its own INTERNAL oraganization. Some ROs are broken down into teams (rating team, development team, tc. Some are broen into "pods" which are a self contained unit that has raters, developers, authorizers, etc. Sorry if i wasn;t clear. and re IU claim it should be the date you filed for IU

waiver? they can't hold you to that, especially if they can't produce said waiver, You have every right to file a claim for compensation. The only thing that bars you is dishonorable service. I would totally challenge that.

if a claim is with a supervisor, it just means the coach was given the case to look at or to assign to someone as a priority usually. It could be, as you said, because of the reconsideration, esp. if it becomes a CUE (Clear and Unmistakable Error) which then needs to be looked at by the service center manager once done for correctness. Unsure what "development 1" stage is..every RO has it's own system & organization, but it kinda sounds like it;s in the very beginning phase (ie they have sent u or still need to send u a VCAA letter, they are gathering info from docs, & ordering exams). If THAT's the case, then there shouldnt be any issues with your claim being looked at, though how it can be in development 1 stage AND with a supervisor is confusing to me). The last part re the IU I'm not too clear on....can you explain again? You are already 60% since when, Aug. 2010? And u filed IU in Sept. 2010? I'm confused.

hmmm. they really should be revieweing your claim for aggravation. As John & Larry said, you were accepted into service, meaning they found you fit to serve. They were aware of a pre-existing condition, so whatever you had upon entry is your baseline (which sounds like a zero since u were under treatment & not exhibiting symptoms). They have to figure out your level of aggravated disability from there.

jbasser: yes, its an ancillary claim. however, if it's connected with a claim that is already being worked on, many raters will want to finish the claim first then hand it over to the post development team. I;'m not saying this is the case, or even standard practice in all VA offices, I'm just saying that is a possible scenario. but yes, it should be able to be dealth with & then sent to wherever else it needs to go with little interruption, and if you have a VSo i would have them actually walk the case over. Chuck, its not so much non compliance as it is both VA & Congress didnt realize the massive undertaking this would be. Do u know they actually expect us to have the majority of these cases done by end of Feb., and we aren't even at the tip of the iceburg re doneness?

Ty Berta. It's ok re criticizing the VA. VA knows it has a bunch of problems, and there are many ppl trying to put their heads together as to the best ways to fix them. And I would rather you not temper your posts....one of the reasons I'm on here is because I want the REAL vet's perspective, not just what we're told. I want to hear it from the horse's mouth. And I also want to dispel myths such as "the less money for vets, the more $ for VA" or "VA is waiting me out on my claim". There's potential here for a better understanding of both sides, & I'm voluntarily seeking it. So post away frankly :)

Newark is one of the better offices we have re time for claims getting processed. As you went in for PTSD, we usually consider an increase in whatever the disability was that caused you to be admitted to the hospital in the first place for either paragraph 29 (hospitalization in excess of 21 days) or paragraph 30 (convalescence). The temporary 100% can be dished out beginning when you were admitted and extended to up to 3 months without need of a veterans service center manager review...they can grant longer if the evidence shows you need more than that. As for your PTSD evaluation, since you are still employed, chances are you will not get the 100% disability since you are still at a job. As for the VA math...i never liked regular math, let alone this kind! But we have a calculator program that figures it out for us so that there's no human error re combining the evaluations. If you give me a tally of all your disability evaluations now (not what you expect to get) i can try to figure it out for you.

the VAF 21-4192 does help your claim, but it won't prevent us from rating it if there's enough evidence of record to show you are unemployable. A claim won't be delyaed just for that, and if they entered a note stating that you don't expect them to reply or of the employment was more than 10 yrs ago, it won't count against claim if there;s no reply. What matters is how much medical evidence you have to show that you are not able to work due to your service connected disabilities.

The only reason i can see for a delay in a dependency claim is if the rater is already in the process of rating a claim. If i have a claim for 12 + issues (just an example, not saying u do) and someone tells me to give up the file to do a dependency claim, i am not letting go of that folder, because chances are they will not return it to me once the dependency is done, or i will lose what I've worked on. A claim like that would go to the authorizer once i rated everything else & the dependency claim done along with the claimed issues so that you get all your back pay at once. But again, that's just a scenario. I don't know why else they wouldnt just do a dependency claim if it's not with a rater. Chuck re the presumptive status, some of the newer Nehmer cases are being fast -tracked (dont ask me what this means, i have no idea) but anything nehmer must be handled by the Nehmer specilists in the office. The IHD itself is a presumptive condition & on the rating it will end up saying that, they are just not being done as quickly as the ones that have been on hold for years. And I'm not sure what you are referring to re the entrance exam.