Greg88

The organization is in the crapper, in Jan 2012 I received a letter that I may be set up for my 1st C&P after 15 years at 100%, I called DAV and got a SO, he told me "many vets received those letters, it was a computer generated letter and it was sent out by mistake, don't worry about it" 2 months go by, it's now March I call again (at least they were answering the phone) I'm told that the VSO checked and it was a mistake. I call again in late May of 2012, just double checking, "once again the VSO says nothing to worry about you will not get a C&P" On June 3rd I take off to my sisters house for 2.5 weeks- on June 6th a letter from the VA saying that I was being set up for a C&P, the VA Medical Center would set me up, on the 9th the letter came for an appt. on the 19th. I got home on the 21st, almost had a heart attack, called the VA hospital and DAV (they were away at a conference) finally get in touch with them on the 27th or 28th, told to write a letter explaining what happened. For the next 2 months I'm told their will be no C&P, they will decide next week.
September comes and I have a C&P on the 13th, C&P shows that things have gotten worse in the last 15 years (35 years with Diabetes Type 1) it's to be expected, now the phone calls to DAV remain unanswered, when someone does pick up the phone it's the receptionist, no VSO response finally I'm told that everything will be decided in Nov., nothing happens except part of the claim is shipped to Lincoln, NE and then it is shipped back 21 days later closed. The compensation claim still rolls on, DAV still does not call, I go down there in Feb. 2013 and the DAV SO tells me they won't even look at my claim till late March.
So from March until July the only way I get any news is from the 1-800 #, finally frustrated as hell I go down to the DAV office (it's located in the RO in Manhattan) the place is empty just me and another vet, and we are told we now need an appt. I'm pissed so I go over to the RO office across the hall and learn that by showing up and asking I get moved from Prep to Pending and was told the rating will be in next week (it might have helped that my Congressmen called last month also)
DAV took my lifetime money in 1986 and delivered good results in the 90's, but it seems to be a totally different place now.

Chiefhouse, DM1 especially if you are taking a large amount of insulin you should be rated at 40%- when taking insulin activities, need to be regulated (and most MDs agree on this, especially endocrinologists ) or you end up passed out occasionally. Injected insulin works when it gets absorbed and everyone absorbs at different rate. DM1 has a different scale because of the lack of endogenous insulin, if you look at a DM1s blood glucose readings over the course of a day, it looks like a mountain range ups and downs, so testing needs to be frequent anywhere from 6-10 times a day depending how out of control you are. The problem is the VA does not like to give out test strips, I used the VA system for the 1st 22 years of getting DM1, in 1995 they were telling me no more than 100 strips a month, this after passing out waiting for my appt. at a clinic, I went private after that.
Basically what I'm saying is if your injecting insulin you need to regulate your activities because you cannot regulate the exact way the insulin will get absorbed, if it was like other medications we would all have A1Cs of 5 or below.