B478

My VA records which were in Oakland at the RO stated that I had service connection for Traumatic Brain Disease of 10% (8045) as well as Migraine Headaches 50% (8100) when I went to the C&P for the Migraines/head injury to increase that I was awarded previously as "8045-8100 Post concussive tension migraine." This had been in my records for years at the RO, but I was never given an award letter for the TBD of 10% (or paid for it). In the C&Ps that I went to the notations stated organic brain disease, and brain disease as being service connected. If I had been given that disability rating where is it at now? On the C&P notes to the C&P doctor is states they are to look at just the migraines "pls examine and provide information on the frequency of attacks. Are they prostrating and prolonged? Does the condition produce severe economic inadaptability?" When I first filed for the disability it was head injury with residuals, and I listed memory loss, black outs, loss of consciousness, dizziness concentration problems, headaches, and migraines (and all are listed within the notes of the initial general C&P along with the doctors notes that continued until I was finally rated over 1 1/2 years later. In that initial C&P, it gives a diagnosis of "concussion to head, but no remaining positive findings." I fought it back then and ended up with as what I stated above the 8045-8100 service connection claim. ?Is it normal to have a service connected disability that is listed as two separate numbers? ?If going into my C&Ps the doctors are told I already have a 10% service connected disability of Traumatic Brain Disease (8045) and a 50% service connected disability claim of 8100 Migraine Headaches, is this not incorrect information that is against what I am claiming for the disability of the head injury? (And I know this one comes up a lot)...?How can the initial general exam not ask for other specialist? Shouldn't I have been sent to Nuero for a C&P prior to the determination of the claim, or to nuero C&P after I disagreed with it (NOD)? Before a decision again was made? Thanks:)

Is there a link for the ones which are no longer in use? I am looking for the ones which would have been in effect in 1991. Thank you

Where would you find the list of C&P worksheets for 1991? Is there a place you put in "work sheet - skin" and "1991" and then you get the worksheet? Or "work sheets for C&P 1991" then you pick the ones that pertain to the conditions you listed? As for the duty to assist, does that just go back to 2000? Thank you

So if the issue is not listed as a condition before the extermination, but this issue comes up during the exam the doctor and VA does not have to address the issue? If the issue has been stated as a condition prior, the issue comes up, the doctor states the issue, but nothing is done, then what? The issue was stated as loss of memory and black outs. When the exam was done the doctor noted that I claimed them. In the final decision of that year I was given some of my listed conditions, however, the loss of memory was never noted to a condition or a decision made, and it was put in the notes that further exams for the black outs were made to figure out what they were all about. If the final decision is that more test will be performed.... and then more and more tests are done but a decision is never given what would be the decision? Undiagnosable illness? Does the VA have to make a decision on all the conditions listed? If they do not address them as sc or not, what do you do?

I have a question. When I first put in for my disability claim right after i got out of the military for issues my VSO thought would win a claim, it was hard just signing the paper in front of the VSO. It wasn't that I did not believe I had a claim, I knew that I would be touched and I thought I would just lose it and be locked up for the rest of my life. When the appointment time came I freaked, quit my two part time job and moved out of the state. I just could not deal with it. I had a person talk me into putting in a transfer to the new state and see if I could still get the C&P, so I did. As the date came closer I was a wreck. During the C&P I didn't freak I went numb and blank. I could barely talk, think, and it was terrible. When I got out of it I left the state (it was either the very next day or the next.) and the job that I had just got. And that has been the difficulty. I get confused, I freeze, I forget, I say yes when it should be a no. So I did this for years as the VA tried to figure out one of the issues that nobody seemed to get...black outs, and dropped the other issue of memory loss. Finally I was given yet another exam in Nuero to figure out what was wrong (I had already been given sc for migraines, from a fall I had sustained about 1 1/2 months before i was discharged (right after my exit exam), but were still looking at the black outs, ruling out lesions, and other such stuff. Now I had the black outs before I had the fall and the loss of memory too. Someone put in for a PTSD instead of Nuero and at the end of some fighting (because the doctor did not have any records at the C&P and stated that it would be service connected if he had something to say anything (all he had was my name and social), but put me in for dystemia and an informal claim was filed and I followed up, A little while later after seeing the red flags in my records all the way back before I was discharged, I was granted sc PTSD. After I had freaked the second time, I called the VRO and asked if I could do it all over again, that i was dealing with emotional issues, couldn't sleep and such but was told no. I even wrote that in the NOD about them knowing my emotional state at the first general C&P. So now it's years later and I can look at the records and accept that it was not me, it was the disability. My question is, back in 1991, what was the requirements for an examiner to schedule a mental health evaluation? He noted that I was reluctant to talk about my injuries or problems, he had my service records which had me seeing a therapist and with a scheduled appointment that I did not go to because i was discharged before the appointment. I believe now at a general C&P someone would look at the records and see how I was and schedule a mental health eval, but what about then? I looked over the records and finding what procedures they were expected to follow is difficult because of all the changes and i just can't seem to get the one that I need. Where would I find the procedures used at the time? Thanks in advance.

Actually the 08/28/97 was an information claim from the VA. I had been going to the Neurologist for years, for the black outs, and loss of memory in the first place trying to figure out what the problem was, what was causing them (as well as other issues that I was having that I had no clue would be considered something to be compensated for disability - nightmares, emotional difficulties, avoiding things, all PTSD symptoms). In a confirmed rating decision for the first disability claim, "Episodes of "black outs" were reported. Diagnosis was possible post traumatic headaches, with further testing ordered to rule out possible seizures or lesion." Although that was not what the doctor wrote. He said the headaches were possibly post traumatic and need there needed to be another neurology appointment (further testing ordered" to rule out other causes for the blackouts, they dropped the loss of memory and the other listed symptoms which were noted." That was the final decision so I continued to see the neurologist with the PTSD symptoms all along thinking someday they are going to figure out what the black outs and memory loss (and other issues) were. Over they years it continued to be just there, what was going on, more consults with more neurologist, one even who could not speak English well and totally messed up my records, but the next neurologist countered what he said, On 28 August 1997 I was given another consult to Nuero for the same conditions that i had been stating from the beginning (in the original claim). Someone, who probably knew what they were doing, sent me off to an exam for PTSD by mistake. It states that the appointment for PTSD was a mistake on all my records (VA actually admitted they made a mistake), and during that appointment i was given a diagnosis of dystemic disorder, but in the exam the doctor put there was a history of symptoms of PTSD, however because he did not have any records for me and that he had no information that what I was saying was true, he could not be definite but if all that I said was true and i was actually been treated in Saudi for what i said, then it would be service connected. That was the first time I had been told that my symptoms could be something other than some organic brain disorder, epilepsy, and other suggestions with more testing to be done. I was given the informal claims and awarded service connected which I fought for PTSD instead of their dystemic disorder. My records are riddled with almost every symptom listed in PTSD yet nobody ever thought to think outside of nueor and toward mental health, even when my service medical records clearly state that I was seeing a therapist up until I was discharged. In fact my last appointment with mental health while I was in the service planned for me to return. I had an appointment with them but I was discharged so that appointment as well as other medical consultations which I had been given appointments for I did not show up because I was no longer in the military. Although now I am Honorably discharged, I was discharged in 1991 for 39-10 Pattern of minor disciplinary infractions (which were all a bunch of lies to get me out). I know it has nothing to do with my VA claim but it always irritates me when I think about it, especially when I was ordered to see the commander on my only convalescent day (recovering from being in the hospital) to give the decision, and as he had told me "my defense" for nonjudical punishment, which I told him I wanted a court martial so he called in the first sergeant and I was taken to JAG put in a room with them, a call to ADC was made and my lawyer more or less stated that I would be dishonorably discharged if I went court martial, he hung up and I continued to demand court martial. I was still very weak from the hospital stay, still bleeding really bad and asked if I could use the bathroom (so needed to throw up). I was told that i could not leave the room until I signed for a court martial, when I could no longer hold out I signed. Of course you are asking why the ADC was not there but on the phone? Well it was Saudi and he was in Ryhad, I was in Jeddah (500 miles away). I would not have put it past JAG or my commander to have not even called the ADC. I feel so stupid for believing the JAG who said if I really did not do what I was being charged with, I could appeal, it would go to a third party outside my squadron and they would overturn it if it was true. Well I did appeal and got the letter back stating that I could only appeal the punishment, not the decision, another lie I walked into. Oh, the reason for the article 15? Did not water or clean my MWD's kennel on around the 11the of January 1991 (the day that I went into the hospital). Had I been able to actually form a logical sentence on the day I signed for the Article, I would never have. I had witness statements, and others who covered their whole time. Plus the statements against me, were they did not know the date, did not tell anyone, but it happened. I am sorry this is for my VA medical, I sometimes get so obsessed that I forget what I am actually talking about. Back to the medical, would it be CUE? Or can I reopen? Or is there anything? All my records are riddled with reg flags for PTSD, yet not even a consult for years. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

post concussive headaches, tension and migraine 10% from 04/04/1991 50% from 06/09/1994 major depressive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder 30% from 08/28/1997 50% from 12/03/2004 patellofemoral syndrome, right knee 10% from 04/04/1991 patellofemoral syndrome, left knee 10% from 04/04/1991 IU 100% February 27, 2000 Separated 1991 April 03 First Disability Claim Received by VA April 17, 1991 rating decision attached Thanks:) rating decision page 1 nov 6 1991001.pdf rating decision page 1 nov 6 1991002.pdf

Separated in 1991. 80% combined (including PTSD) 100%IU from 2000 There has never been a decision on the medical reason for the black outs or memory loss. I do have a SC for migraines from an accident, however the black outs and memory loss was before the accident annotated in medical records black outs and memory loss (in my opinion and a private therapist - due to PTSD), because they occurred right after the trauma and were recorded in mental health records Goal is to get service connected back to the original date of the claimed disability, since I know that is what I had at the time, and at least should have been given an exam for mental health to r/o any psychological disorder. The C&P exam only checked over the items which were listed, nothing else pertaining to my records, or the other symptoms that I stated at the exam (which were only included as stating i had a lot of complaints).

I have looked over my first disability claim in 1991, I saw that I claimed memory loss and black outs in my "frequent black outs" "loss of memory" on the Report of Medical Examination for Disability evaluation, which was received prior to the exam. A complete general medical examination was requested. In the C&P exam the doctor notes frequent black outs and loss of memory, also states, In the remarks also it talks about how it appeared that I was required to do more than what would be expected to do, and that I would not discuss my injuries or problems while in service, The decision does not say anything about the loss of memory or black outs, there was no decision on them. Prior to my discharge i was seeing mental health, they had diagnosed me with Adjustment Disorder, however mental health relied on what my squadron said when I saw them. I had been back in country for only a week from deployment to Saudi Arabia and had been seeing mental health in Saudi for the last two months of the deployment (which was cut short for medical rotation out for my Military Working Dog). My mental health records from Saudi they "lost" but in my medical records is shows the consult. Now I know that I was misdiagnosed and it should have been PTSD, if I had the mental health records from Saudi I am sure that is what they would say. I was given a C&P for PTSD years later in 1998, by mistake and it actually states on the decision that it was a mistake and the doctor noted that the symptoms I had historically and then been experienceing would be service connected if I was treated for that in Saudi (lost records, thanks Air Force). The date it went back to was the informal date of the exam. Question, since the exam was supposed to be general, I had stated the loss of memory and black outs, it was noted by the doctor in the C&P and the black outs were noted in the confirmed rating decision, but there was never a decision made for them, is this a CUE? Also prior to the rating decision there was another statement in support of claim which states "as the SFVARO is aware, due to the emotional state I was in at the time of my VA examination appointment, I was unable to assist the examining physician." My understanding of the general medical exams was to look over the whole body and to focus on the items which are noted, since there was notation of the symptoms from me to be looked at for disability reasons (the report of medical examination) but there was never a decision on them, isn't that a CUE? With the mental health history and then the symptoms being noted from me and from the doctor and from the RO (in the confirmed rating decision), shouldn't I have been given a special examination for mental health? I know the opinion of the doctor who did the exam is not a CUE, what about the procedure for a complete exam when there is reference to the symptoms but no decision made on them? If not CUE, then can I reopen?