john999

Your guess is as good as anyone else, but at least a VA shrink has said you have PTSD. Now you need to find a doctor who will opine on the severity of your PTSD if the VA low balls you. All these Ebenefits dates are just wild guesses. Are you getting treatment for PTSD at the VA now?

Once you file a NOD you can hire a lawyer to help you instead of some chump at the local VSO. Now if you really think you can win on your own without professional help then go for it. I wish I could have hired a lawyer 40 years ago for my original claim. Instead I got stuck with ding bat VSO's that argued my real problem was a personality disorder instead of depression and anxiety. Somehow I got a rating for 10% in spite of my VSO. John

I would sure get a second opinion about anything serious the VA tells me is wrong with me. Do you have medicare? Get Obamacare if you have to and get second opinions for this stuff. You can pick three orthopods, neurologists and neurosurgeons and they will all probably have different opinions and treatments. Pick the one that is most conservative and is older and established with no boat payments or ex-wives. I went to two highly regarded doctors for my neck. One said I need an operation and the other said I did not need one by any means. What can I say?

Get more testing and get a doctor to opine that your condition meets a higher disability rating than 30%. You need a good IME and a private doctor who will send you out for tests to confirm you are worse than 30%. I would send in my NOD. Many of these VA lawyers who are also SSDI and SSI lawyers know doctors who actually know how to write reports to get benefits. If you could get 100% for your conditions it would be worth every penny of retro you shared with a lawyer and IME doctor. You are at war with the VA now so don't go to a gunfight with a knife.

Were you a postal worker by any chance? If you have more mishaps with your VSO I would hire a lawyer. I know I say this a lot but why deal with rookies when you can get a professional who has clear responsibilities if he/she mishandles your case? Have you filed for SSDI?

If you really think considering your health you should hire a lawyer. Stark errors do not always allow a speedy correction. As a matter of fact the worse the error and the more money involved the more likely the VA is to fight. They lose nothing by delaying your claim ten years. They don't pay interest on the money they cheated you out o,f and nobody gets fired for denying a claim.

Did your IMO doctor have a copy of your VA medical records, C-File and SMR's? You don't have to have the doctor prove that you have PTSD since it is a given, but he should have your rating decision and medical records to refer to in his opinion. Also, he is not really precise about dates. He also puts the kibosh on P&T since he things with intensive therapy you could go back to work. He is saying you are 100% disabled and not just 70% which is good. I do see strong points to this IMO and certain weaknesses. How much did he charge? The IMO does sound like a 100% disability case to me, but the VA will decide that fact. At least TDIU for sure. Have you applied for social security disability? John

One thing I would say is that when you send evidence to your VSO send a copy to the VARO directly via certified mail/return receipt. Now since you have filed additional claims along with the TDIU this may delay your TDIU claim. Forget about all these dates Ebenefits gives you for when things should be done. The claim is done when you get the decision in your hand.

Pete992 That is only true for those who are TDIU. If you are 100% for PTSD and can manager to pass your time productively working some small part time job why should you tell the VA anything. Most vets who are 100% schedular for an emotional disability can't work full time anyway, but if they are able to bag groceries or cut lawns to make a few bucks I can't see the harm. I am TDIU so I can't work without the VA looking me over if I have SSA earnings. I know the VA says you have to be an egg plant to get 100% scheduler for PTSD or any other emotional disability, but there is no one on this list that fits into that category as far as I know. If you can stay under the radar for making some money from a hobby I say do it. If you were to become really successful that might mean you had rehabilitated yourself. There would be no fraud unless you were getting SSD as well and hiding it from them and IRS as well. I think there is a double standard for mental vs physical disabilities built right into the rating system. SSA lets a disabled person try working for a year before cutting them off from benefits. Unless most people are making over six figure incomes you are probably better off getting 100% from the VA and SSD. Because I get OPM disability, TDIU, SSD and money from a private disability insurance policy I do make more than when I worked, and I have better insurance. John

If you are entitled to a claim for depression and/or chronic pain disorder and don't claim it I think you are letting false pride get in the way of treatment and compensation due to a lack of smarts. If you think acknowledging that their is a mind/body link to pain and disease hurts your integrity then go ahead and suffer, but you are only hurting yourself. Sure, there are vets who claim all sorts of things that seem minor, but the hundreds of thousands of vets who suffer PTSD, depression and all the other mental forms of torture would disagree that they have lost integrity for claiming what is owed them . The military brainwashes soldiers into thinking that coming forward to get treatment for mental distress is weakness. It seems you have bought that hook, line and sinker. During WWII, The Patriotic, Good War, a very significant number of temporary and permanent disability was due to mental and emotional injuries and illness. If the VA had compensated me properly 40 years ago for mental symptoms my life might have been much more productive. I did OK anyway, but the correct rating would have allowed me to a lot better quality of life than I had while trying to rehabilitate myself. John

Exactly, just write a letter and claim your SMC explaining why you are entitled! This is what I did.

I guess if you are an in-patient and have to relive these experiences that is one thing, but if you are on your own that is risky to me. In psychoanalysis the idea for curing hysteria was for the patient to relive the repressed experiences that were making them neurotic in the present. This kind of stuff was done with shell shocked cases back in WWI. It is not new. John

As I get older I see my Vietnam vet generation and friends dying off pretty rapidly. I don't think it is normal for a guy to die at age 62-65 in this day and age, but the RVN vets are dropping like flies. I have begun creepy habit of read the Obits and checking to see Vietnam vets who have died. I see them in the newspaper every day along with the WWII vets and Korean vets. I am writing my own obit so I can get it all right and blame my death on Uncle Sam at the same time. Another vet dies from agent orange....."huh, what dat" says the public, and "who cares anyway"?

With all your problems I would put in a claim for depression as secondary to your SC medical conditions. I would go easy on the clean-cut image. If you look too good they will not believe you are in misery. When I go to the VA I just go the way I am feeling with is pretty bad most of the time. AskNod could help with the Hep C. The VBA believes that most vets are there just to get money. Over the last 40 years they have called me a fraud, a liar, and a psychopath. Hey, SOP when you file a claim and appeal and appeal. John

Yes, if they have all you SMR's and current medical records. They can review your C-File, SMR's and current records and write an opinion. Or you can go visit them and bring all the records. You must have the records so they can say they reviewed them. I think an IME is stronger than an IMO based just on records with no exam. I could be wrong.

Did you file your initial claim within one year of your discharge? If you did all those things you claimed should have been given consideration as active duty injuries and illnesses. I would get my rating for PTSD. You could file for PTSD and the CUE. The VA will decide both claims at the same time probably. Then if and when they deny your CUE you can file a NOD and go get yourself a lawyer because you will need one. With a decent rating for PTSD along with your 30% you will probably have enough for TDIU if you are not working. You want the money to start coming in ASAP. These CUE's can take years even if they are clear and unmistakable. The VA will just say "NO". John

I don't think it is normal, but don't mention chiropractors to M.D.'s if you know what is good for you. These guys hate each other. Most M.D.'s think Chiropractors are frauds. Find another doctor.

Just be careful if the doctor tries to lead you down the "Personality Disorder" path. They do this by asking lots of questions about your childhood, teenage years, drug and alcohol use, legal trouble, trouble in school, abuse from parents or sex abuse from others before the military. Approach these exams with caution. You should tell them your life was great before the military and hell after military experience. These exam doctors are not your friends but not necessarily your enemies either. Leading questions about your personal life before military are give away! John

If you are 100% scheduler for PTSD how does the VA know if you are working some job unless you tell them?

NOVA has a list by state I think. It would be nice to have a lawyer you could talk to some other way than long distance. However, the main thing is that the lawyer win your claim even if they are from Alaska and you live in Florida.

So after the vet goes through the new VA treatment does he get his compensation cut? For vets who have been in combat for a year or more how do you single out one event that caused PTSD?

If I win and it sets a precedent then the VA won't be able to suppress or "lose" evidence from VA claims and just say that "yes, we considered that evidence and just because it was not referred to in any way in the rating that means nothing. You just have to trust us". I do see battle ahead when they try and stage ratings for the years after 1971 saying I got better, worse, better.....until the day I was granted TDIU almost thirty years later. If you read my case you will see what seems to be the most egregious violation of due process. If you know you are right just pursue your claim all the way to Federal Court if you have to do it.

The VA gets these guys because they are willing to put up with the VA system. They can't make it on their own. I had a crusty old shrink at the VA in 1972. I came back 30 years later and he was still there. He could never have made it in private practice.

These CUE claims are so full of booby traps I still fear failure if Perry Mason were representing me. I would like to go after the Army if I could since they lied resulting in AR 212-635 discharge after I had been in the army for 28 months.

No, I won't attend. It will be in person. I think they hold court at CAVC hq. I got an email from Ken and he says he has a argument the next day and believes he can help with my claim. He says we just have to wait and see even though he feels it is a viable case.