JohnM

How long should one wait after their C&P before calling the 800# And would they tell you of your rating if you call

Brandy, I have fibromyalgia it took me 7 mos, after the original 6 mos, pain is a hard one to win because people have pain all the time but it can be won, chronic pain, fibromyalgia,rsd/rsds arthritis and more are considered on SSD. What I did to win my case was I went to an occupatioanl therapist, and a pain clinic, SSD seems to take their word on weather you can work or not. In my case my pain is so bad that I can not sleep and your body can not function with out sleep. Keep fighting you will Win

John applied for SSD last Nov. for his back, The day before he had surgery ( 6 months later ) he got the news that they excepted him. we filed claim for his back, and did let them know that he is recieving SSD, they got his records from social security, and after C&P the dr. wrote down at least as likely for his back, shoulder, pn, & diabetes. I thought for sure they would deny for back and that was the one that would be the hardest to prove, but instead the C & P hearing dr. deny sc for hearing which is on discharge papers, this I don't understand. By the way when John filed for SSD, he had lost his job because he was off more than 12 wks, and at his age they probably thought he can not be retrainable. Nobody wants to hire someone with back problems, and John can not sit, stand, walk, bend, for any length of time. I do know that the Pain clinic that he was sent to said that this has been a problem for a long time, ( which it has) he suffered for years and finally the back said no more. Again, he fell off of two helicopters in Viet Nam while working on them.

Thanks Tbird, this time it worked, I hope I don't have any more problems

He had his C&P for medical, DMII, back, shoulder, PN, hips, four out of 5 where at least likely or not, left hip was, right hip not. plus For PTSD, hearing and eye exam hearing was not good, eye exam I don't know about this because he was told by our private doctors to have the catract surgery because of his balance, so he had both eye's done before the exam was scheduled. I guess at this point we will have to wait and see, I do know that I will disagree with the hearing,

We filed for hearing loss, vertigo, tinninus and menier's menier's because they ( independent Dr.) can not come up with why he has vertigo In either case if he is denied( which I'm already preparing for ) we will file for NOD. All she did was counter dic herself, and records clearly state that before discharge he had a hearing problem.

No just lower back, lumbar spine. No headaches, a lot of dizziness, sick to the stomache ( especially when our dog licks behind his ear ).

John had his C&P exam on the 6th and on the 13th of this month, we went to the records dept. on the 13th and signed a release form and recieved a copy of all on the 26th ( This was at the VA hospital )

Let me clarify this I mean after he gets a rating, I'm thinking because of what she wrote down that they will deny him for hearing loss and then the Menier's disease will be denied. He has gone through all the testing for vertigo, therapy, and still has the falling down dizziness, also did and MRI and they can not come up with a reason for his vertigo.

Ok here I go and this may be lengthly, hope my spelling is ok. WE got John's C&P report the other day, everything went good, actually better than I thought. The only thing that was not right was John's hearing. Enlistment exam dated 02/25/66 indicated: normal hearing ( Remember he enlisted twice) this was his first enlistment exam. On 12/9/68 exam indicated normal hearing except for mild hearing loss in left ear, ( This was less than a month before he went to Viet Nam). His next hearing test was 6/18/70 just before his first discharge indicated normal hearing except for mild hearing loss in left and right ear.( Right after Viet Nam) ( He was in Viet Nam for 12 Months). His hearing has gotten worse through the years, with tinnitus, dizziness and vertigo Her medical opinion is ( Private medical records where not reviewed) No mention of tinnitus or hearing losss on discharge exam ( that's funny it states right on discharge papers that he has a hearing loss). Her opinion is : It is not caused by or a result of his military service.The discharge exam dated 10/2/72 indicated normal hearing except for mild haring losss, during the 34 years patient has had occupational and recreational noise exposure( reportedly all with hearing protetcion) these factors support the above opinion. Ok here's the question(s) Would John have a good arguement for NOD? and if so is there a special form to fill out?

I am sure this has been asked before, but can not find it How do I find the rating codes for pacific illnesses?

Jstacy: PTSD is related to Viet Nam Combat Thanks for your reply, that gives us something to go on, If the rating would come up to what you said should we file for NOD for the hearing?

We recieved John's report today, Please tell us what this all means PTSD----GAF score----60 Degenerative joint disease of lumbar spine is at least as likely as not Right shoulder joint disease this is at least as likely as not DMII Peripheral neurpthathy both lower extremites this is at least as likely as not right hip joint disease this is less likely than not As far a hearing loss and tinninus although it is on discharge papers she wrote is not caused by or a result of his military service. ( will file NOD on this). Can anyone tell us what this all means and what kind of rating he Might get also filed for TDIU Thanks in advance

Thanks we will try that

Maybe we are punching in the wrong number It say to press 1 to verify the statis of your disability then to put your file # in and thats when we get the recording that they are unable to access your file at this time

We have called the 800# and all we get is we are not able to access your file at this time. We always hang up then, put should we hang on and talk to someone or talk to our Rep. ? We do have his VA file number but yet the recording says unable to access your file, Why is that? What good is the 800# if you can not access your file?

Can someone tell me what P & T stands for? I think it is permenet and total but not sure Thanks!

John had his C&P for hearing yesterday, Said he was border line for hearing aid, but not as yet but if he gets a rating she could give him an amphilier for television. What bothers me and maybe someone could help me understand: When we filed for hearing loss we also filed for Menier's because of his tinninus, dizziness, and vertigo, but they did not examine him for this, we had sent in Dr.'s statements on all of this and I know that they read it all, because of making statements from the reports.What bothers me is because they never checked for vertigo and our audiologist specialist that we went to ( outside of VA) did all the checking. Will they ignore the claim for menier's? It is on service records for his hearing loss, so that is not going to be a problem for him on that claim. He also had his C&P for eye exam because of his catracts but before they scheduled these appointments he had catract surgery on both eyes,it was suggested to have it done becuase of his dizziness and possibly falling. Anyways The Dr. was very nice, checked his sugar count that he had done last Friday and with medicine and diet he is at 6.1 but because of his recent surgery on his eyes he could not tell much. Will they still give John a rating for this claim even thou he had the surgery? We also went down and signed a release form for him to get the records, once they are recorded.

This is interesting: I would like to get into the website but it says permission denied. How do I get into it? Thanks

John had his exam on Friday was suppose to be 1 hr with psych dr. ( lasted 1/2 hr.) 45 min with xray 15 min lab ( only took urine sample ) then with Gen Med Dr. They would not let me in with John with the psych dr. But otherwise had no problems. I do not understand how they can make decided if John has PTSD by spending and 1/2 hr with him, although it sounds like he asked John a lot of questions. then just checking his urnine for DMII with no fasting ( That doesn't seem efficient to me ) The Gen Med. Dr. checked his back and leg movements, checked his shoulder, checked for PN ( feelings in his feet ) Everthing went so fast that we were out of there with in 1 1/2 hr.'s Does this usually go this fast ? How can they make a judgement on this, Do any of you think that he will be denied because of how fast it went? Or is this just the way they operate? These where very yound DR.'s and I can not see that they would have all of the answers to such medical problems. Or am I just being paranoid?

You need to tell the assistant that you have been denied and you need to file before this date, and you want to set up an appointment. That's all I had to do, but I live in Wisconsin and had Donald Becker who does just SSD Claims. Good Luck! John's Wife

Yes Berta, this is for everything! PTSD,Hearing(Menier's) xray of his back, lab work for DMII & PN, Its an all day thing. He does have combat awards stated on his DD 214

Pete: Who told you that you couldn't have a blockage in 6 months? That is pure nonsense.! I had a stress test done in the doctors office and 6 months later ( 5 weeks after knee replacement) I had ByPass surgery. My stress test was ok and no signs of any trouble. I drove myself to the doctors office and said I was either have a heart attack, anxiety attack, or just plain old digestion. They took me in right away and did an ekg and gave me nitro, I was ready to go home and the doc said "NO Your going to the hospital, Your having an heart attack". I was only 48 at the time. The Dr. said I was a very lucky Lady. You could see in my face that something was wrong I looked very gray. So it can happen ! Good Luck to You

John has filed in July and today has recieved a letter for his C&P exam for next week. Is this fast, good indifferent, Should we be concered, what should we take with us( everything that we have filed) ? Thanks so much for everyones help, especially when it was time for John to write his Stressor letter?

This is a good post for people that where and are concerned that they could not be in the room with spouse or friend III. states You, and any persons you choose, will be involved in all decisions about your care. Thanks for finding this