john999

Not a problem

I think if you file right now it very well might delay your rating since you had your c&p exam in February. I think I would wait and then after I get a rating file a reconsideration request and include the new evidence if you think it is going to mean more money.

I use Tampa VA hospital and I have mucho experience with their so-called pain clinic. I would not get into a pissing match with my PCP. What can you expect from the VA? I think with your problems you should just find a private doctor if you can afford it. I have 60% for CAD and I have never seen a cardiologist at the VA. I have deviated septum and tried to see an ENT and was told they only see patiets at 8am in the morning once a week. Like you I can't even get out of bed that early. I just use my insurance and see real doctors which are not that great either. The VA is good for pills and a couple of trips a year. If you start to depend on them they will disappoint you big time.

A person can smile and smile and still be a villain in regards to QTC. These exam doctors will smile in your face and shove a knife in your ribs on paper.

I think that the bipolar is co-morbid with the PTSD which just makes both conditions worse. I think you will get your PTSD rating. The C&P exam doctor says it is possible to separate bipolar from the ptsd.

Bronco I had to file a CUE to get my "S". I got it via Bradley v Peake. Others here in more or less the same situation were denied "S". I think VSO's are just ignorant about these things.

I bought a version 10.5 of Dragon a while back, but I never use it because I don't have a good tutorial for it. Does anyone know where I can get a tutorial for Dragon for someone who knows little or nothing about the program? It is getting harder and harder for me to type. John

If you have a rating of 30% and there is clear evidence that you are unemployable the VA is saying this is not an inferred claim for TDIU? I read in VBM that if a vet is SC and there is evidence that the disability makes the vet unemployable regardless of current rating that is an inferred claim for TDIU. This fast letter is say that this is not so. John

I asked my PCP about a link between DMII and OSA and she said she did not know of one. I think there is a link but I don't know if you can say one caused the other. Dr Bash seems to think you can but will his opinion a C&P exam where the doctor is primed to say "no link"? John

There is a rule as well about reducing a vet who is 55 years of age or over 55. This is for those who are total. It is in the VBM. Now for all those who don't know can someone outline what a vet should do if they get a proposed reduction letter? What are timelines for appeal and what kind of appeal should one file?

Hey, they screen for alcohol as well. If you come up dirty for street drugs it can be a problem for you and gives the VA the excuse to boot you from numerous programs. If I come up dirty for street drugs I get kicked out of opiate program no matter that I have been on it for 8 years. Can you spell "Cold Turkey". I can deal with it but it would upset my wife if I did not sleep for a week. When I signed for the opiate program I agreed to not take alcohol or any street drug. I am OK with that, but I am not sure why they would screen all others for drugs and alcohol. They may start screen for tobacco use and who knows what to deny future claims. It used to be only drunks used the VA ha, ha. John

The VA should have inferred a TDIU claim if they knew you were unemployed or had an employment handicap. Having an 80% disability should have triggered a TDIU consideration.

The VA has been prescribing narcotics of all sorts for me for at least 8 years. Now they come saying I have a opiate dependence problem. They gave me the problem. The first time I went to the VA pain clinic in 2005 they prescribed morphine for me. Since that time they have changed to methadone, oxydodone and Fentynal patches. All they are really concerned with is that you "have" a dirty test when you get the urine test. They worry that vets sell their drugs and don't take them.

One of my best friends in Vietnam was granted 30% for PTSD recently while I was granted 10% for schizophrenia back in the day. We had the exact same job. I was much worse off than he was then, and now he is worse off than I was. I have 70% for mental disorder and he has just 30%. The VA reasoning on mental health DX and severity are just a throw of the dice. If they said I had major depression in service that is the claim I would go with and not try for PTSD unless you are trying to get the special combat compensation.

I was rated 70% for a mental disorder and their was no question about being incompetent. I think if the VA is going to maintain you are incompetent to handle your affairs you should be 100%. I think an appeal is in order. I don't see how the VA can have it both ways. Either you are competent to handle your affairs thus 70% or you are incompetent...100%. John

I have not won my CUE yet. It has similarites to yours since there was medical evidence that was in the record at the time of my rating that was not before the rating staff. The VA maintains that the medical information that was excluded from my rating decision would not have made an undebatable difference in the outcome. Of course, since it was excluded how can we know. If the prosecutor does not share evidence with the defense that is grounds for a mistrial is Law 101, but not at the VA. They can hide records and then claim it would not have made any difference. My claim is at CAVC: Just go to docket and type in John King. I am John t. King

If you need help with your claim why not hire a professional instead of some VSO who won't even remember your name. Get a lawyer or do it yourself with help from Hadit. John

Get the IMO! A good IMO may be able to connect all those sick calls with your current knee problems. You have not had a medical opinion in over ten years and you need to balance the scales in your favor with a good IMO/IME. I have said it many times that without IME's I would be sitting at 30% instead of P&T since 2002. I spent about $500 bucks and it was worth it. John

The thing is with a TDIU claim there is more to it than just having an 80% rating and being unemployed. You need to show that the reason you are unemployable is solely due to your SC condition/conditions. I was 70% for a single disability and on SSDI for that disability and the VA denied my TDIU saying my unemployablility was due to drugs I was taking for NSC disability. I did eventually get my TDIU but it took another IME to get it, and then another IME to get P&T. TDIU claims are not slam/dunks. If your medical records state that you are unemployable due to your SC conditions then I think you are home free. I waited about 13 months after I got 70% to get TDIU via the DRO route. The VA nit picked my IME's to death to find a reason to deny. They used a half a sentence out of context in my first IME to deny the TDIU. John

Yes, they have cost me 7 years on my CUE at St. Pete. They made a horrible decision on my initial claim back in 1973. Now when they were faced with their disaster back in 2006-07 they forced me to appeal to BVA and CAVC which has added another 5 years to my wait for justice (money, since they is the only justice there is in this world). The DRO's and all the rest won't stick their neck out one inch if it means lots of retro or admitting a ghastly mistake or wrong doing on their part. They stalled my mother's claim for A&A until she died. John

Yes, it indicates a 100% rating to me. It means the VA will probably want your wife to handle you finances regarding any VA money you get. I think your C&P exam doctor indicated that you were really mentally disabled by your bipolar condition. It is funny since I spent two weeks in a VA mental ward months after I was discharged, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia(misdiagnosis). I was jobless and homeless and the VA eventually said I was competent and just mildly disabled....10%. I could probably have just stayed at the VA hospital and gotten 100% if I was willing to be institutionalized back in the 70's. Things have changed a lot. If you don't mind having your wife handle your money I think you are 100%. You could appeal the competency finding after you get that 100% P&T. From meds you say you are taking I think there is little doubt you have bipolar. I wonder at your effective date since this is what you were discharged under was a mental condition. If you had filed right away you effective date would have been the day after your discharge. That is what I got which was a tiny sum then. John

I just filed a claim for an increase with St. Pete on my DMII. It is cut and dried I think. I used to be able to control my DMII with diet and now I can't. I have to take Metformin. I think this is almost automatic 10% to 20% but I will probably have to wait two years. By them my DMII secondary conditions PN and CAD will probably be worse. I thought St. Pete was the worst VARO in the nation. They have never given me a break. I have always had to fight for every little thing including my "S" award which required a CUE. John

Tonio How long did the entire process take you from filing through appeals to the award? If you are TDIU you have to send in an employment questionaire every year. I do this every December. I have been TDIU P&T since 2002. If you have a spouse I would consider using some of that retro to start a savings account for her. If and when you die all she gets is DIC which tops out at about 1400 bucks a month. She has to apply for this and their are conditions. The VA has no mercy on spouses even aged ones. Have you applied for SSDI yet? John

The big factor for emotional disability claims is "Are you working". This is usually the difference between 30-50 percent and 70-100 percent. Back in the day the shrinks at VA C&P exams would ask me 2 questions: Are your working and are you seeing things? If I said "yes" to working it did not matte what else I said.

I ask why a claim involving a presumtive AO claim where there is no doubt about the DX and all records are at the VA should take two years? It is great when a vet wins his claim, but two years for CyberNick's claim to take two years........! If you add the normal appeal to this you add another 2-5 years. Vet's are timing out while they wait. I read a claim at the CAVC for WWII vet who got 100% for PTSD in 2002 and died in 2004. He did not get 100% retro back to WWII. Now his elderly spouse will die before her claim for DIC is shot down because he can't prove he was a POW (records burned in 1973). No benefit of doubt for this dead combat vet or his spouse. This is the real VA.