john999

Can medical bills etc beused to offset his SSD income. If you just subtract SSD from pension amount he won't get squat. Two people cannot live just on one person's SSD. His wife is his caretaker and must stay at home with him and can't work.

Does he need financial documents to do FDC? They need the money bad. What would vet going for pension need for FDC? He is on SSDI and under 65 with no Vietnam service. No doubt about Parkinson's DX. John

I am helping friend get NSC pension. I know little about NSC pensions and that system. I do have downloaded claim forms for HB and the actual NSC pension. My friend is Vietnam Era vet who is on SSDI for Parkinson's. He is married and him and his wife are flat broke with just very small SSD pension. Are there any tips for me from those who have experience with NSC pensions? What kind of documentation does he need? He has nothing but an old car and cloths on his back. He can't drive. He wife is his caretaker. John

I think the VA does give vet center treatment weight, but the C&P exam gets the most weight. Once you get the PTSD SC'ed then you can get an IMO to get the rate bumped up. My buddy from Nam just got bumped up to 50% on his PTSD and he does not even have a CIB. He was with me at an Army airbase. We just did mucho perimeter guard duty and many trips to the bush as security for civic action people. I think what the VA said in your denial was that you did not have any mental/emotional symptoms at all. They pulled the same thing on Commander Bob and he got his foot blown off in Vietnam. His denial sounds just like yours. John

I take Cymbalta and Clonazepam. I know that Paxil is good for panic disorder but not so good for your sex life. Paxil is a long term treatment for anxiety and panic. It takes a few weeks to get the effect. All the SSRI's are pretty good for obsessive/compulsive disorders. I stopped taking Cymbalta for a while and I notice return of nightmares. I take strong pain meds so I don't like being more sedated than I am. John

Harleyman Yes, I have met some older vets who were in Vietnam in 1961-62. I think these advisors were whatever special forces were called at the time. I am thinking of average age of RVN vets. I was 19 years old when I got there in 1970 so I am at the younger part of the curve. Largest number of vets were there in 67-69, so figure they are probably 65-66. USA began to withdraw after TET 1968. I could google that and probably get an answer. Vast majority of RVN vets were young men, but I know there were career soldiers there for multiple tours. I am sure there will be plenty of RVN vets who live into their 90's or even older. WW11 vet obits are usually for guys 88-90 something these days. 20 years old in 1945 would make a vet about 88. I check obits for Nam vets and most are in mid to late 60's. Yes, I need a life. John

VA acquired paranoia with anti-social traits. Symptoms are mistrust of authority and institutions of government in general. Other symptoms are anxiety over betrayal and deep rage against the machine. Fantasies of driving car through front of local nearest VARO. The paranoia and rage leak over into other aspects of life. Desire for revenge poisons outlook on life over time. John

In Tampa they use residents from the USF medical School or maybe even medical students. I had mental health exams done by very young doctors over the years and now realized they were from medical school who were doing residency at the VA next door. They manage to absorb the anti-veteran bias from older C&P exam doctors. I did have exam for PN done by VA neurologist who is daughter of my private psychiatrist. I wonder if this was a conflict.

I wonder if the USA ever used AO in Cambodia and Laos since we had secret wars going on their for years during Vietnam War? They will never admit it unless someone has absolute proof. The average age of RVN vet is probably 65-68 nowdays. John

A GAF of 45 means you have severe symptoms in the psychotic range so I think 70%-100%. I got 70% with a GAF of 50 and great IMO's. This was 12 years ago and mental health C&P exam formats have changed a lot. I won solely on basis of IMO's. Just a few years ago it was much harder to win if you depended on a C&P for mental health claims. I never got more than a 30% rating depending on C&P exam results. The only thing they asked me was "Do you hear voices?" and "Are you working?"

On my CUE my lawyer recognized early that the VA was going to try and say I was just asking for the facts of the case to be reweighed. If the VA could establish that then my CUE was dead. For my CUE I had a lawyer all the way as soon as I filed my NOD. 6 years later the VA lawyers at CAVC are still trying to say I am just trying to have evidence reweighed 40 years after the fact. This is not true, of course, but the VA will beat that house to death.

I don't think you have enough for TDIU unless you could show with medical evidence perhaps that you now have chronic severe depression due to your disabilities. You need to show the VA there is no work you could do either on or off your feet. I have foot problems and I also got a staph infection from botched surgery. I was operated on and was on IV antibiotics every day for six weeks. Did they have to cut out dead tissue from your foot? Three years later and my foot is still not normal. Do you have chronic pain now?

I can't stand that the VA will accept one form of Leukemia as presumptive for AO and another as not. Dioxin causes cancer and if a vet was exposed his cancer should be SC'ed as presumptive. People die as the VA fiddles. Dioxin is one of the most deadly substances on earth.

You can ask to view your file without making an entire copy. If you see something you need they will copy 10-20 pages. I did this while waiting for DRO. You have to get your file sometime since if you ever get a lawyer they will want to see a copy. Seeing my file got me TDIU probably two years earlier since I stopped the VA from shipping my claim to the BVA instead of doing the DRO Hearing to fix obvious problem. John

I certainly remember the blood with the air guns at Ft. Benning in 1969. I remember seeing other guys with awful infections days later. I would want to get to the bottom of my being eligible for Chapter 35. In this day and age ChampVA can be very valuable since combined with medicare it usually pays the whole freight for medical treatments. The only problem with ChampVA is reluctance of doctors to bill them as secondary. Many doctors just refuse to bill them and send you the bill with threat of collection agency.

If you get spine and shoulder SC'ed then radiculopathy is just one of many ways to describe cervical disability. It just means your nerves in neck are being pinched which causes the numbness. Many ways for this to occur.

This claim shows that a vet can get a MH rating for something besides PTSD. Not every vet has PTSD but depression and anxiety by themselves and make a vet 100% or TDIU. If your SMR's support in any way a different DX than PTSD go with what is documented.

The VA made a little mistake on my original claim in 1973.....wrong diagnosis! I got 10% and spent the next forty years dealing with that mistake. I think I agree with John Basser to get a good lawyer involed after first NOD. When I read these horror stories I wonder how I ever got any rating. 90% was luck and fact I was in a VA hospital for treatment when I got out of the Army. These VSO's are mostly idiots and one was directly responsible for me losing at BVA years ago. John

I think the VARO can do anything, but unlikely since they have backlog of new claims to deal with, and not mess too much with established claim. Are you still in Treatment? If you are going to file new claims be sure you keep going to the VAMC for treatment. This is just my opinion. If you have anything wrong with you at least get it into VA records. You want a nice long "problems" list.

I bought the ASA Kit. They produce a cheap and worthless product. If you go to dentist medicare will pay $800. The dentist wants $2500. Do the math. John

AskNod You should write a book.....oh, yeah..you did! What do you think about going from CAVC to the Federal Court? I feel for Bevo and I think he should go for an increase in PTSD rating. Since PTSD is more subjective you have a better shot at a rate increase if you get a good IMO from a doctor who is going to be your advocate. To hell with objectivity. I don't pay for that when I buy an IMO. There is some winking and nodding, but this is what the VA does all up the line. Asknod is so right since VA screwed me out of proper compensation for 30 years. I would get a lawyer as soon as I could in the process. If you had a DUI would you go to court without a lawyer? If you had joint monies and kids would you go to divorce court without representation? John

I don't know because I like to file a claim at the VARO and try to win it at the VARO. Say, you file a claim for PTSD at the VARO. The RO gives you a rating of 30% for PTSD using a C&P exam. You are not happy with this rating so you file a NOD and ask for a DRO Hearing. If you can produce some new evidence that your PTSD is worse than 30% you may avoid the BVA. Now if you go to the BVA you want to have your issues pretty clear by now. If you lose at BVA then you go to CAVC where you cannot add evidence. Win at the VARO if you can. I have been at the BVA/CAVC for about 4 years with no end in sight really. If I was trying to get initial 100&/TDIU I would try and keep it at the VARO. John

File for TDIU now. You can get your medical opinion saying you can't work as soon as possible.

I think one way to avoid little mistakes is to have legal representation as soon as you see your claim going off the rails. Once your claim is beyond VARO it gets harder and harder to correct errors. You know that you can go to federal court after CAVC, but I bet your lawyer just wanted off the case.

I think you should be entitled to effective date equal to the date you filed the claim. However, it is your claim and your peace of mine. I tend to appeal just about everything since I know the VA rewards persistence. I have been P&T for 12 years and I just filed for an increase in my DMII. During the period of being p&t I filed many claims including two CUE claims. I filed for money and not really to prove a point. I believe that if a vet gets 10% they can get 100%. I did it. I read CAVC claims and many vets have really weak claims, but over time they have won. There are many RVN vets claiming PTSD because they see retirement staring them in the face and they have nothing. You have won that Lotto game so far. It used to be so hard to get 30% for PTSD back in 80's. Probably 500,000 RVN vets were screwed out of PTSD compensation, so I say file for it. You notice when you go to VAMC you see a bunch of old guys with standard issue VA canes. John