john999

The thing is with all sleep aides is that they really only work for a few weeks and then you build up tolerance. Ambien is the worst in my opinion. If you take it for more than a couple of weeks and then stop you will probably have "rebound insomnia" which is hell. Ambien also has some weird side effects amnesia being a biggy. I had amnesia from taking it. I lost about half a day once. I have been told very often that exposure to early morning sunlight is best, but after horrible and restless night who wants to sit outside and look at sunlight. The things that are good for us are often simple but they can be so hard to do. I think the few drugs you take the better. This comes from someone who takes lots of drugs. I have pain and I can't sleep well at night. Exercise of the right kind and sunlight would help.

I would also apply for social security disability. You should be able to get TDIU also. I remember I stayed at my mother's house for about 6 months after I got out of the army in 1971. I was a basket case. I did get admitted to the VA hospital and got rated 10%. I had zero help. I finally moved out with some buddies who had been to Nam about a year after me. They were drug dealers. I had to leave there. I have a very poor opinion of VA mental health care. The thing is you now have access to lawyers and to internet for help. Hadit really helped me. In 2001 I lost my final job and did not even know what TDIU was at the time. I filed for TDIU when I was just 30%. I got SSD and that helped with TDIU. Just don't give up on appeals. I lost many, many thousands of bucks because of not filing NOD on time. This was in the dark ages when VFW did not even consider Vietnam a war. I got good IME's which are invaluable in the process for getting TDIU or 100% rating. Get treatment for your condition even if you go private. Otherwise your life goes down the drain. Mine did about ten times, but treatment helped me greatly. Not treatment from the VA. That hurt me and almost kept me from getting SC. The VA doctor put the screws to me because I left hospital against medical advice.

If a vet never receives a decision letter with appeal rights etc on a claim where does the claim stand? If you don't get a decision letter how do you know when and if to file your NOD? The VA sent one of my decision letters to the wrong address and it was returned "address unknown". This was in my C-File some place that my lawyer found. John

You will have to write louder. I can't hear you typing.

Does anyone think it is possible via Bash to get OSA secondary to DMII? I was SC'ed for DMII about five year ago and seemed to have gained weight since then and gotten OSA. I went for sleep study because my wife said I snored much more in last few years. I have PN in my feet which makes exercise difficult and take opiates for SC pain. Also 70% for various mental conditions. John

When in doubt send in your NOD. You have plenty of time to gather more evidence but if you NOD date passes you are pretty much screwed. I spent 7 years finding that out recently. I have 90% also and my ratings look sort of like yours. I need another 50% to get 100% scheduler. That may happen one day but I have TDIU for 12 years anyway. I got a 0% rating bumped up to 60% which gave me "S" by just appealing the bad decision.

The Army put me on one of the older anti-psychotic drugs way back in the day. I could not tolerate it. I started get those cramps and all the other stuff, so I really understand that. How often do you go in for counseling and who is doing it? I am not being nosey because in your condition as you describe it you need a lot of counseling and not from a social worker. I have been through this when I got out of the Army. I went to weekly one on one counseling and group via a private source since it was much cheaper then. I went to a clinical psychologist who understood drug reactions. I did not stay at home when I was crazy. I wondered the streets of run down area of town. Not such a good idea but I was not getting but 10% and was trying to use the G.I. Bill, and working to hold onto a cheap apartment with rats thrown in for free. If you can afford it get a private therapist you can see at least once a week. They might have a group you could get into which is great. You may think you are radiating violent vibes but you may not appear that way to others. Group therapy did me the most good. I was in group with some PTSD vets who were really violent and some non-vets who were crazy as hell, but we all got along and used to go out to dinner after group. What kind of stable relationships do you have? Are you alone most of the time. That is not real good for you. I just don't trust the VA to do what they should for vets undergoing great difficulties. Even one hour of group a week can give you a real boost. You may not like it at first because you have to share eventually. The other members of the group will share stuff they would not tell a priest or their wife, mother or best friend. John

I think you will win that 2002 denial of PTSD for lack of stressor. He had PH and they knew it or should have known it.

Just show up on time!

Are you going to trust these jerks with your life?

I don't know the regulation, but common sense says the VA should include private medical records in their medical file on a vet. This does not take a genius to understand. When I got supplies for OSA from VA they relied on my private records. They just lost half of them. The VA wants to "own" your medical care. HA, HA, HA. Yes, and the VA still bills my insurance for everything including SC treatment. If you have DMII that is SC and your doctor does your blood work and glucose testing at the VA how can they bill your private insurance? They do it and dumb insurance pays them because VA knows the insurance company does not want to fight with the VA over small claims. The VA is a lawless organization unless you can hit them over the head and make it hurt.

I have the wake-up thing as well. Of course, I have Apnea so I wake up with dry mouth and have to drink and then have to urinate. This goes on about every two hours all night. I understand reluctance to go in-patient at the VA, however if you have psychotic thoughts patterns and have any insight then carry yourself to the VA. At least you are safe there with their crummy food. They have time to get your meds straight. If you stop taking meds because of side effects then the symptoms of psychosis will return. You must communicate with your doctors about the drugs you take. This is all experimentation on shrink's part. They just try different combinations on you until something works. I don't understand why you have to be a prisoner in your house if drugs are working? Also, are you getting psychotherapy? John

I think they would be if you itemize your taxes. I know it went up from 7% of your income to 10% I think before you can get a deduction. Do you know if medical insurance premiums are deductible? Now days you almost have to have a big mortgage to itemize.

I went to my PCP's office with some medical information and they refused to accept it and told me to go to ROI office. I hate that because I may have to wait an hour. I find it almost impossible to get even dental records into or out of the VA from or to a private dentist. I gave them a report on my OSA which said I had "profound OSA" and was in danger of death. These records never got into my VA medical file.

After all these decades and wars the VA is still trying to avoid financial responsibility by claiming vets with mental health issues have pre-existing personality disorders. They did this to me in 1970 in the Army and the VA picked up on that false diagnosis and has tried to run with it ever since. My IME's defeated that dirty trick, but I see they are still trying. Now that they are going to downsize the military all these guys who have TBI's and PTSD will find a new PD diagnosis in their file.

I had a travel board a few years ago. It was a farce. My lawyer presented his brief. The judge just glanced at it, and said he was glad we knew what a CUE claim was all about, and then 6 months later he denied it. The Traveling Board was just an in-take process. Nothing was discussed of note.

Hmmmm......maybe the VA is waiting to send me for C&P except all the evidence necessary to grant an increase is in my VA medical file. 10 months in gathering evidence stage for FDC is BS. If they send me for C&P the evidence is right there and I will mention my PN getting worse as well. That evidence is there in my VA records. I did not really care about money but felt that if my DmII is getting worse I want it SC'ed. Anything to do with AO exposure I want it SC'ed. In my obit I am want it to say "Mr King was killed from exposure to AO". The world should know this thing is killing us.

Are you SC for PTSD/depression? I see you are 80% already. That is enough to file for TDIU. They also say you have personality disorder. Were you in combat or in a combat zone? If you are 80% for your psychiatric conditions you might want to get an IME to rule out the personality disorder and to say that you are unable to work solely due to your SC conditions. I don't think you are going to get another 100% rating for your TBI, but you might get something. If you are on SSD you should file for TDIU and not bother trying to get 100% for TBI which is not going to get you to 100% IMO. It is very hard to go from 80% to 100% scheduler. I had 70%,60% and five 10% ratings and all I got was 90%.

Go for SSDI. It means extra money and medicare. Medicare is the best value besides ChampVA in existence. If you buy an insurance policy equal to medicare on open market it would cost $1500 a month even without the drug plan.

My claim has been in gathering evidence for 9 months. All the evidence is 20 miles away at a VA hospital and yet the VA can't seem to get at it. If this is a FDC then it sure is a sham. I am asking for an increase for DMII and yet the VA refers to my claim on Ebenefits as a new claim. I have tried to correct this to no effect. The thing I am angry about is if it takes almost a year for my simple claim to make its way through the system what about guys who are losing the homes and families due to VA working in slow motion, plant photography rate on this backlog? I am going to file a claim on everything that is wrong with me. They system could not work slower than it does now. John

I was lucky since I had doctors that were also my advocates. Shrinks are the best for this I think. They have some understanding that when you become disabled no amount of money (especially not SSD or TDIU) is going to make up for your loss. What we get from SSD or VA is just money to keep us quite and to keep us alive so we don't join ranks and do another Bonus March. Your shrink could say you are totally disabled due solely to your depression. You got to get that depression service connected. The VA is very good at parsing percentages of disability for physical impairments. It is cut and dried to an extent. If you lose your leg below the knee you get 40% if you lose it above the knee you can get 100%. They use a tape measure on you. They can't do this with a mental disorder, but they are trying very hard with PTSD as we speak. John

The military likes to choose a DX where they would have the least possible financial liability. To them you are just a bag of water inside a skin. I thought the draft was the last gasp of fascism in our country. The New All Volunteer Army treats is members just as bad as the draft army I was in back in 1969. They threw me out for asking for help.

That 24k is fully taxable. Your insurance comes out of that if you keep any. Do you have a family? You really think you can get by on 24k a year. Where do you live? I want to go there. Do you have secret savings? The best from the feds you can get under FERS is to get OPM and SSD because then you get medicare in two years. You want to keep the federal health insurance and life insurance if you have anyone you care about. I get SSD,OPM and TDIU. With that money I keep my head above water, but I have things like life insurance and other things to take care of my wife if I die before her. If you house is paid off and you plan to drive your car until it turns to dust you may be able to get by on OPM retirement. I could not do it. I don't want to die poor or rotting in a VA nursing home where they turn you every few days until you die from bedsores and malnutrition.

It is good to see the VA for any SC conditions. It is also good to see your PCP at the VA if you may have any AO exposure or Gulf War illness. Secondary conditions can be identified and the proof will be right in the VA's records. I did the AO Registry exam in 1999. The report said I had borderline DMII and some nerve problems. A few years later my borderline DMII became 10% DMII and I was also connected for PN. The AO Registry exam got my mind working. When I came up with a problem with calcification in arteries in my legs I knew this was most likely secondary to DMII. The VA doctor even made the connection for me. I know that a civilian doctor would not know that AO could cause such conditions. The VA PCP made the case for me. In general, I feel VA care is poor at my VA hospital. However, the medical evidence they generate themselves is hard for them to refute. Now if I could just get my PCP or VA pulmonologist to say my OSA is secondary to DmII I would have them. It is these small victories against the Evil Empire that make it all worthwhile.

These VA providers suffer from a common ailment at the VA...."Lack of Guts" disease. However, if they are new on the team the VA will get rid of them if they go against the unwritten policy. I had a pain doctor who went against the VA's plan. He prescribed Fentanyl Patch for me. This drug is expensive. He got fired or transferred. A few years ago I had a Russian doctor for a PCP. She would write great letters for me. She got kicked upstairs. Now I have routine VA doctor who will not stick her neck out one inch. I don't even bother to ask anymore. The Russian doctor had access to a IME type application on her VA computer that would generate the most beautiful letter you ever read to make secondary connections. That App. must have been deleted. John