AMMOroadkill

To add to this aside from not qualifying for any other medical assistance that I have found... If looking to pay out of pocket for a specialist or further imaging every place I have called has required a referral from a physician, a few places said that the ER might work but they would prefer primary care. The last ER bill I had was just shy of $10k... -I have been unable to get a referral through the VA channels to an outside physician, so even if I could afford out of pocket medical care they wont see me. Also, currently, I have too many significant pre-existing conditions to qualify for any paid for out of pocket private health insurance that sounds worth purchasing... I can find companies to take my money but the services that would be offered would leave me in essentially the same predicament with the exception of a significantly lighter wallet. I also have a couple questions... 1.If I do end up finding a way to obtain medical care outside the VA will it negatively impact my medical and/or financial benefits from the VA? 2. Does anybody have any experience with having service connected problems paid for in other countries? I dont want to hurt anybodies feelings, and it leaves an empty spot in the pit of my stomach, but would the ex-pat route be a viable option...?

No, I cant get SSDI ...Ive been out for 6 years and have not paid into SSDI in that time. I make too much for SSI and according to my denials from SSDI I did not have sufficient medical evidence until literally days after I was no longer eligible. I have a lawyer for SSDI and a trial coming up soon and he seems to think that there is enough evidence and documentation to prove my case. *edit* I have currently been denied twice for SSDI and am in the trial phase right now but SSDI is going completely off of my VA medical records... I have also applied for TDUI/unemployability through the VA and in my last denial was told that they were going to wait to see what the decision was from SSDI before they made a decision on my claim... Is this even legal? In the six years I have been in the care of the VA I have dropped out of school numerous times and have started and lost my own (financially successful) business, all as a direct result of my service connected injuries/disabilities... In the same time I have incurred significant debt and my credit is shot... Ironically enough, I am assuming that they (both Social Security and the VA) are using this as proof that I was able to work. I had hope that I might qualify for something with this Obamacare debacle but... no. If anybody here has found a solution or knows of other options to healthcare in my situation I would be happy to hear it.

I have been rated 60% SC since separation and have had 100% medical coverage through the VA since then. -I am unmarried, no kids and unemployed -I do not qualify for any state or local programs that I have found as technically I am not un/underinsured, -I am over the financial need threshold (by as little as $7), -I do not qualify for SSDI/medicare/medicaid as I have not had the medical documentation -the only places that I would otherwise qualify for will not touch me because I have been on prescribed opiates for pain management for the last few years... Since separation and entering into the VA medical healthcare system I have heard the words "not warranted" in regards to investigating or verifying service connected issues or those that could/would be secondary. Any other medical agency I talk to apologizes and says that see other veterans in my situation frequently. I dont need an ER visit, I need specialists and competent and timely follow up care. Are there any other options available other than paying out of pocket, which I can not afford? Also, how many others on here are in a similar situation?

Man... I feel your pain and frustration. Im in a similar situation here except VA is my only medical care option at this point and has been since my separation from active duty 6 years ago. I complained of thoracic/upper back pain for years both on active duty and after I separated. The doctors never even attempted to diagnose any problems with my upper back until the end of last year when I was finally authorized to see a specialist. Prior to that, I was told on numerous occasions that thoracic injuries were rare... I was told it was probably a pulled muscle or that it was possibly gall bladder/GI issues as I have a hiatal hernia/GERD as well. I was also told that it was somatic complaints after I screamed at my dr to do his f#$%ing job which had unintended results to say the least... After finally seeing the specialist they found mild to moderate damage on every single disk and vertebra in my thoracic spine and a long since healed compression fracture at t-12. Since that time they just refill my oxycodone prescription and send me out the door. I have been taking them as prescribed since my separation in Nov of 06. They are/were the only thing that would touch the pain but with the side effects I am having now I wouldnt suggest them to anyone long term... but honestly when I started taking them it was the first relief I had had in years and I probably would do it again. The drug list that I have been prescribed sounds similar to yours with the exception of gabapentin (Id have to recheck for the doses) and methocarbomol after I started having allergic reactions to the cyclobenzaprine and they had me on morphine for a while as well too. I have never tried the lidocaine patches. Im not a doctor so take the rest of this with a grain of salt and discuss it with your primary care doc... The only thing that helped the pain other than opiates was the gabapentin. It took a while to get through the titration period and become effective but it noticeably numbed the pain... It turned the volume down to background noise if that makes sense. I experienced some fairly significant psychological and cognitive side effects though so I stopped taking it (cold turkey per Dr.s orders which was a huge mistake...) I have talked to a few other chronic pain patients who have taken gabapentin with little or no side effects though and they say that its a life saver. Do you experience frequent heartburn and or does your pain flare up after you eat greasy food? My gallbladder functions improperly, it "works" except that it holds bile until I eat something and then releases it all at once. It does not do it all the time but occasionally, after eating, the pain in my back will be literally very close to the intensity of passing a kidney stone. I switched to a more natural nearly 100% organic diet and cut out nearly all artificial sweeteners and preservatives and it doesnt happen anywhere near as often now. If I go out to dinner at a restaurant (applebees is the worst for some reason) it will take me out within 20 minutes after eating. Gerd flare ups or heartburn also cause me significant upper back pain as well but I am able to keep it somewhat under control with ranitidine and omeaprezol (both prescribed by the VA) Nexium works significantly better but it is expensive and the VA will not prescribe it to me so at this time I take what I can get. It seems that it takes an act of God to get anything that is not offered in a generic... If you do have heartburn, buy some over the counter nexium and see if it helps with the back pain. Take it as directed not as needed because it has to build up in your system for a bit to take full effect. Also low impact aerobic exercise helps get the endorphins flowing and masks it for a bit as well it will improve your mood as well. It might not be a bad idea to try and keep a journal of activities and foods to see what might be triggers for the pain... Hope this helps you out some

First off, thanks for the replys. 71M10 in answer to your questions; -I was 22 when I joined, I had a job of one form or another from the time I was 14 and I worked construction and manual labor from HS graduation to a couple weeks prior to my joining the AF. -As for being stooped/hunched over all the time, I am (was) over 6'3" tall and the safe drop distance on most of our munitions was less than 30". If I wasnt hunched over while working I was ducking to keep from hitting my head... and Ive got a few scars to prove it... and all of it included heavy lifting. I am barely 6'2" now. -My enlistment physical is clean other than a slight scoliosis that the doc said was most likely due to heavy manual labor and being predominantly right handed. I dont agree with the Schuermanns at all because the timeline of my condition doesnt correlate to what Ive read about the onset of Schuermanns. The VA doc said that he gave me this diagnosis based on the extreme stiffness of my spine, the evidence of multiple schmorls nodes and the wedged vertebra, and the extremely tight hamstrings. I had never heard of this disease before at the time of diagnosis. I listened to him while he explained the typical onset of the disease and when I told him that didnt match at all he just kept talking over me and not listening. As for the accident, I didnt mention that after I hit the ground on my tailbone, I had another guy fall on my back hard enough to bounce my head off the floor between my knees hard enough to knock me out. On a positive note, I had the whole squadron there to witness it as it happened while playing basketball on a squadron PT day. I agree that an IMO is necessary but there is no way in hell I can afford one at this time. Ketchup56; I have a lot of secondary symptoms, all that you listed as well as worsening problems with my shoulders and SI joints, not to mention the effects of being on opiates for the past 6 years. USMC5811; Thanks, I was aware that the C&P docs dont grant the percentages... but their observations and opinion do have a fairly significant role. In this case I have seen this Dr three separate times for C&P exams on my back and not once has he ever used a goniometer. ...Ive also read through more than a couple complaints on QTC medical examinations... One of my questions was what constitutes an incapacitating episode? I have numerous episodes a month that take me out for days(3-4) and a couple (2-3)times a year I have them that will take me out for a month or more. The last long one lasted from October - July... If it werent for the medication (opiates, muscle relaxers and NSAIDS) I would barely be able to move on the best of days. I have been going to the VA now for 6 years and have only been prescribed bed rest one time, and that was by an ER doc. At my next primary care appointment my doctor said that my back condition was being complicated by underlying somatic issues and cancelled my pain medication. I was in tears and asked him if he thought "it was all in my head then" and "What in the hell does it take to see a specialist around here?" When I asked him this I could barely stand and my left hip was visibly out of line by 3" at least (identified as mild retrolisthesis in my records...) The "diagnosis" of somatic complaints was used by the VA to knock down/deny the results of every C&P exam up until I finally saw a specialist nearly two years later... and is currently being used to deny back pay as my "VAMC medical records do not show my condition as worsening" until then even though the numbers from prior exams support it except for them being denied due to "somatic complaints", and prior to that they just said that my VA medical records did not support the results from the exams. Fun stuff... and Im sure alot of this would fall under different headings on here. I also have an open claim for individual unemployability and I couldnt say at this time whether its looking good or not. They keep asking for more info and sending me to more C&P exams...

Hi all, First post so hopefully Im doing this right... A VA ortho surgeon/spine specialist diagnosed me with Schuermann's Kyphosis and says that there is nothing that I could have done in the service that would have aggravated this condition. At the time of diagnosis he would not listen to my story. He wouldnt even give me a chance to make a rebuttal in the initial meeting (when the diagnosis was made.) In a later phone appt. I interrupted him and told him to listen. Even though he made the diagnosis he says that he can not change it and that it is now a matter for C&P to decide whether or not it was aggravated or caused by my military service. I had a bad fall on my pelvis and jammed my spine. Problem is that I was AF and went to a Navy ER and the records never got transferred or got lost. I also worked VERY hard lifting alot of VERY heavy items and have many complaints of back pain/problems in my SMRs. There is a notation in the records of my very first visit to the VA (5 yrs prior) of the fall and there is a notation of the fall in my SMRs that say that they are awaiting x-rays from a fall as I described but there is no follow up and there are many missing records of visits to the Dr. for this fall. My SMRs also show that the records that were transferred to my forwarding base were incomplete/lost. I had a recent C&P exam and the examining doc would not acknowledge and would not even let me talk about the problems in relation to my thoracic spine which include severe muscle spasms, 7 out of 10 pain on most days and literally zero flexion. He also (acted like) was in the dark or had no information concerning the compression fracture at t-12 (minor at 7degrees) and a whole slew of other problems in my thoracic region (enough for a diagnosis of schuermann's). At the C&P exam the doc raised me from 10% (which I have been since my initial award in 06) to 40% for degenerative arthritis of the lumbar spine... my original claim was purposely vague for "back condition" to include both the identified lumbar pain/problems at my time of separation as well as the unidentified thoracic issues. To clarify, I have three main questions; 1. Is Schuermanns Kyphosis compensable or not? 2. Seeing as how the thoracolumbar spine is all rated as one disability does the name for the rating actually mean anything 3. Can they actually say that my military service did not aggravate this condition? I could walk upright when I joined and moved like an old man at the time of my discharge... and I still do.