iceturkee

thanks. i am currently awaiting a determination on depression caused by my primary 40 percent back condition. i finally managed after years of trying to get my back from 10 to 40 percent. i'm not real sure how i get it to 50. i have been using an electric wheelchair that i successfuly got the va to issue me almost 6 years ago. it was given to me for a combination of my back issues and rheumatoid arthritis. when i did get my rating up, the doctor who did the c&p even admitted on the exam there was no way to determine from xrays of my back whether the damage was caused from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid. of course, the va gave me 40 because of the range of motion criteria, arguing the chair was for the rheumatoid.

what is your percentage for your back? i fell down two flights of stairs while in the army and messed up my thoracic spine. i avoided sick call because the army hospital where i was stationed had a very bad reputation. when i was discharged, i saw an ortho in town who after looking at my xray said i had sustained a slight compression fracture of my vertabrae. that was in 1977. obviously, it has gotten worse with age and now i have severe multi-leve DDD. i also have cervical and lumbar problems. yet, the ortho at my local VA clinic says i am not a surgical candidate because over 50 percent of my back is messed up. so your story interests me. thanks.

baca, i wonder if that is true for all states. i'm trying to picture florida's right now and i'm drawing a blank. i'm thinking there was no wheelchair on it but i could be wrong.

i disagree as they don't always write everything down. example, a few years ago i went in to try to get an increase for my back. my electric wheelchair the va has issued me had been condemed and a new one was on order. the doc asked why i was using a manual chair, i explained. he wrote on my exam....don't understand why veteran is using a manual wheelchair as it would strain her back condition. he never mentioned what i told him about my power chair.

well said.

i agree with sandman. hopefully, you will get a good examiner who will listen to you and document what you say in the report. too many examiners only write what they wan and not what you tell them. good luck.

i understand but i don't think people would look at your car tag and think you were a mental case. i would hope someone would think the opposite. but then its hard to know what people are thinking anymore. its sad but true.

than why did the president state this morning (wednesday) that va checks might be effected?

i was able, at the urging of my then dav nso, to expedite my claim for non service connected pension based on the fact i was high risk to become homeless. at the time, i was way bewhind on my rent because i had fallen off a public bus and couldn't work. from the time i submitted my claim to the day i got a determination was about 90 days. this was in 2001 before the influx of veterans returning from iraq and afghanistan.

and recember the va pays a month behind. you get your december benefits in january.

bama, its a sad but true story faced by veterans every day. as you have probablly heard, the VA is some million claims backlogged. from what i read, all or just about all regional offices are backlogged. have you had your c&p yet? i don't know what others would recommend. my suggestion would be to contact your congressman or congresswoman. i know the one thing i've heard my friends in the va say they don't want to deal with is a congressional. good luck and god bless.

that happened when i was awarded aid and attendance on my non service connected pension. they established my effective date as the day i had my c&p exam. i appealed and a few months later they changed it and sent the back pay. :-)

its been almost 9 months since i submitted my last claim and i am still waiting. c&p was done in mid may. patience is the key.

thas very good to know. i was kinda afraid they might do that too. glad it worked out. now, if the va would make a determination on my pending claim.....

that is absolutely the truth. i have had it go both ways. but i have found if the doctor is honest during the exam, they will write what i tell them. knowing what is actually written n your exam usually goes a long way in determing what the va will give you. hope that helps and good luck.

i will say when i got my original disability rating from the va, it was a month after i was medically discharged from the navy. but my navy medical record had an abundance of information proving my disability. i did not have a c&p exam at that time. but it was the only time, i didn't that i received a favorable determination from the va.

i would concur with that as i have had a few claims denied where a c&p exam was never scheduled. but then i didn't have the evidence in my va medical record either. so the va figured if i was never diagnosed, i can't have a valid claim to the disability.

guess i'm a little confused as to why regional would call you in april and indicate you were 100 percent and yet by the end of june, you hadn't received official notification. i know it can take awhile from when the rating board makes it decesion to the time you get the notification. maybe, it has been awhile since my last claim and that things are taking much longer.