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iceturkee
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Posts posted by iceturkee
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On 3/4/2016 at 2:42 PM, hotrod351 said:
started a ptsd claim a few weeks back, just saw the psychiatrist on the 3rd. said i had extreme ptsd but also pre-existing condition. because my step father use to spank me and my brother when we were small for being bad, he was only around for a year or two.waiting to get a copy of the paper work he filed but now i fear, because he mentioned it, that the majority of my problems are going to be contributed to my childhood. guess in that case any one with ptsd has pre-existing conditions. what a joke, guess i should of just lied. any one else come across this situation.
please don't take this the wrong way but since when did spanking become a precusor to ptsd? my father spanked me when i was bad and i don't have ptsd!!
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my counselor asked me several questions about me, my disabilities and what i would like to do if approved. we talked for close to 3 hours and she promised to put in a positive word since i was required to get a docs approval. she then, proceeded, to ignore my emails (which i kept) and ignored my voice mail messages. after 4 months i finally gave up. of course, the va tried to claim it was my fault for not following through. didn't seem interested when i produced all of the non answered emails!!
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i fired dav last year. i should have fired them sooner after getting into an argument with a clueless vso over my most recent denial. i now have pva but haven't had to use them yet.
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17 hours ago, babyray said:
This is me again. I went to the c & p exam today and it took just 5 minutes. The VA orthopedic doc ask me about 2 or 3 questions and did a rom on my body parts and said you can go now. He said he will write up the report and he does not make the decision on giving me an increase, someone else does. I have never had a c & p exam which took only 5 min, has anyone else? I got on e-benefit just now and the report says that a decision has been made by the veteran service organization and they will let me know in april/may 2016. What is going on here? Are they for real? Who are the VSO who make these kinds of decisions? Some of yall must know about this. Please let me know.
i had one last 10 to 15 minutes. ortho part of my IU c&p. ortho doc saw that i was wheel chair bound. apologized for the va waisting our time and opined i couldn't work.
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buck, i saw my podiatrist this morning. told her the inserts were helping but i have been getting pain in the bottom of my feet even with them. additionally, often have what feels like a bolt of electricity in my neet. said it was all nerve pain. asked if she thought it was more back related than anything else, she replied yes. got sent to have foot molds made for custom foot orthotics.
i am relatively sure i am moving forth with two clains: one for the feet and a second for radiculopathy (since it is well documented in my va record.).
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4 hours ago, gs106 said:
Thanks iceturkee
you are welcome. hope it helps.
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i got my IU approved in 4 month and was unaware of a vocational assessment. yes, they suggested i reapply for voc rehab (got turned down the first time) but the orth doc who did my c&p exam said i was unable to work.
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from my past experience, unless the muscle is causing nerve damage, no neurosurgeon will see you.
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last i checked, that wasn't the policy at my local clinic. they will give you copies of your exam after adjudication. it was because one of the c&p docs was getting bombarded with angry calls from veterans who had copies of their exams prior to a decision being made.
don't know when or if things changed. last i heard, it was up to each varo, va hospital or va clinic when or if to release the notes. i surmise, the exam results could be withheld from my healthevet until decision day.
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11 hours ago, aoneinsun said:
I have the distinct feeling that I will end up needing to dispute the ROMs that my examiner will list for me too. Is that best done by asking for another C&P exam (if the examiner did not perform the exam properly / did not properly measure with a goniometer, etc). And/or would this entail contacting a VA attorney who would bring in the appropriate medical personnel to perform an independent exam?
i once had a vso tell me not to request anything until after adjudication. because, in reality, you aren't suppose to have your c&p exam until a decision is made. if you request now, i believe you will do yourself more harm than good.
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40 minutes ago, DocC03 said:
I will do all of those suggestions. If my suspicions are true like I think they are then what recourse do I have being this is regarding comp and pen?
truthfully, if you can afford it, take those reports and or imagins studies to a civilian doctor and see what they say. if you go that route, please make sure you have copies of any reports and/or xrays.
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it is quite possible in by saying normal, they mean no significant change since last xray. if thats the case, they should, at least, say no significant changes since xrays of (fill in the date).
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when i first enlisted in the army in 1974, my entrance physical indicated i had no physical problems with my feet. when i got to my permanent duty station, there was a requirement that women wear heels with their uniforms. i did but shortly thereafter, i fell down two flights of stairs (broken at the first landing) and injured my back. i had caught the rung of my heel on a step and tumbled.
shortly, after, starting to experience pain in my feet, i went to sick call. the doc looked at my feet and indicated i had several problems, the worst being very high arches. i was given inserts for my shoes and issued a permanent profile that i wear only low quarters with the inserts. this is in my army medical record.
fast forward to the present, my feet are worse, i have hammertoes, arthritis and still have high arches. i have constant pain in the metarsal region of my feet. in january, the podiatrist gave me orthotics. i am debating whether or not to open a claim for my feet, either based on my army info or as secondary to my service connected back issues. thanks.
i
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On 3/7/2016 at 9:37 AM, JLino19 said:
I have been SC for my back for a while when i first got out I was 10%, I went for a rating increase and was granted an increase of an additional 10% for 20% total for my back in 2012. Now I have constantly gone back to the VA to get pain meds and therapy for my back and was recently given an MRI which the Chiropractor suggested I do. In it shows that I have 3 herniated discs from L3, Annual Tear on L4, and L5 that is herniated that moves from side to side. I've asked for things to help get my back fixed, and I always get denied for any type of surgery, I was given a tens unit which does nothing, a traction unit that gives me some relief but is so big that i can bring it everywhere with me, especially not at work, and lastly was given lidocaine cream which does nothing as this is a disc problem. I was wondering if any have had an increase from 20% as this seems more than what they are saying it is. Thanks
after years of trying, i got raised from 10 percent to 40 percent on my back. my lumbar spine has 5 herniated discs, a slipped vertabra, two torn discs, foraminal and spinal stenosis, moderate arthritis and an abnormal upper lordatic curve.
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i believe there is but i don't know it off hand. maybe a google search?
i can tell you my monthly deposits don't come from DESC but from c&p so that could be meaningful.
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21 hours ago, Andyman73 said:
I do have copies of the MRI reports but is that enough? Or do I need the actual images too?
images would help in the liklihood the va radiologist didn't read the xrays properly.
- TALON II FE and Vync
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42 minutes ago, pwrslm said:
The spine is a funny critter. If you know how you stack dominoes, then knock them over, this is how the spine falls apart. One bad disc at first just upsets the level balance of the one above, and the weight bearing of the one below, and alters the wear pattern in both directions. As you age, it gets more and more pronounced. It is not uncommon to find scoliosis secondary to old back injuries, caused by desiccated discs. I was right at 20 when I injured my back doing sit ups in the gravel. 18 months later they said I had scoliosis, and blamed that for my back pain. They were wrong, it was a herniated disc and at that young age it brought about a visibly noticeable curve to my spine after 1.5 years. Ancient History, 35 years later I had 4 level spinal fusion, thanks US Army, not diagnosing my back pain really did change my life.
But beyond this, the iliac crest is the top of the hip bones. Its the last section of the pelvis bone to grow, and spans across the top side of the hip bone. Pain from this location is most likely muscular or tendon related, but dont ignore it because the pain might telegraph from the sacroiliac joint (the S1 through S5) or your Lumbar spine. Get the MRI, and have a good Orthopedic MD look at it. Don't assume that the guy from Radiology is reading it correctly. The sacrum is the last 5 segments of your spine, and is a part of the sacroiliac joint, its a very complex region and diagnosing where the source of pain is in this region is a little harder than say, the L4/5 would be.
The sacrum and lumbarthoracic spine will be rated as one segment of the spine, but if the sacroiliac joint is involved, then you have to get this identified by the specialist (orthopedic MD) and detail its nexus as secondary or primary to an original service injury to get it rated properly. If it is a muscular or tendon problem, then you probably will be limited to low ratings for it, much like most cases of arthritis would be. If an aspirin a day masked the injury, its probably not significant enough to garner more than the basic or 10% minimum due to pain.
i definitely have had problems with va radiologists reading my xrays.
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andy, i, too, fell down two flights of stairs (but broke it after the first flight) when i was in the army. i sustained a shaarp pain in the middle of my back but never went on sick call because of all the horror stories i had heard about our army hospital.
fast forward a few years later, a civilian orthopod decided i had sustained a slight fracture of my t-6 vertebrae. years, later in the navy, i threw out my lower back trying to pick up a box.
i have severe issues in my lumbar spine which has now radiated into both legs, keeping me in agony even when trying to sleep. we tried the pain clinic route a couple of years ago but that didn't work. however, my quality of life continues to diminish and i'm not sure what happens next. see my doc mar 23.
don't know if this helps. but wanted you to know you aren't the lone stranger. god bless and good luck!
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you know the back is based on either range of motion or prescribed (in writing) bed rest.
i am 40 percent for my back. i have 5 herniated discs, 2 torn discs, a slipped vertabrae, spinal and foraminal stenosis, an abnormal lordatic curve and arthritis. my guess (without knowing your range of motion) that you would stay at 20 percent for your back. my 2 cents.
Sent to outside Disability Doc for C&P exam
in Veterans Compensation & Pension Exams
Posted
interesting, this is the first i've read that the two are connected.