john999

Thanks Berta for that!

My resting heart rate drops into high 40's at night. I am as far from being athletic as you can get since PN ruined my feet and herniated disc happened in my neck and back.

Some of these docs think of vets claiming compensation as dogs. They have contempt for us. I have great contempt for them and pity their patients. I had a few that deliberately tried to screw me with leading questions and conclusions that were designed to point me in direction of a PD diagnosis. Others called me a fake just because I had a degree in pyschology. VA medical has improved but when you go after money they are the same nasty bunch. I had to appeal my denial because of awful C&P for heart condition secondary to DMII. A medical assistant did the exam and just guessed at my condition with no tests requested or anything. I got the tests and got 60%.

I used an medical report 40 years ago, and it was written up on an obsolete VA form. The VA just ignored my IMO. However, with my last claims I did use very good IMO/IME's and that made all the difference. Back in the 60's and early 70's there was an official form for your treating doctor to fill out in detail. It had all the things that you needed for a good IMO. They stopped using it after the early 70's.

I would consult with a lawyer who has done many VA claims. You can't hire them until you are denied and file a NOD, but I bet they could give you some guidance. Also, TestVet here was a chemical vet and he won his clailm. You are getting great advice.

My VA pain doctors told me that if I could get Cymbalta all my worries would be over and no need for dope any more. Well, it is not true. I take Cymbalta and it helps take you mind of the pain but if you have severe pain the only thing that really works at least short term are opiates. Long term it is probably not so good. When VA gives you morphine when you ask for celebrex what can you do. Morphine Sulfate is cheap and Celebrex wasn't cheap. Methadone, oxycodone, percoset, and morhpine are all cheap. Oxycontin is not cheap I don't think so VA will not prescribe it. I don't know how I got Fentynal patches which don't even work that well. John

Do some yardwork or house cleaning with lots of bending and stooping and you will be fine for the exam. Start a few days ahead of the exam so all your joints have time to freeze up. John

Congrats on your win! Has the Dam broken or something? We have many wins here in the last few weeks and days. It seems many waited 2 years plus. I just put in a claim for increase in my DMII. Everybody get there claims in before we leave Afghanistan and vets are forgotten again until the next war.

It is great news but why does it take 2 years if all your evidence is there in the record? A person could lose their house, car, family and be homeless in two years.

I vote for a getting a lawyer. I read a case that ken Carpenter recently won at the COVA. This guy was drafted or joined the army in 1951. He lasted about 4 months and was discharged for the good of the service due to him having what army said was a congenital defect in his hips and back. None of this was noted during enlistement, but he did have scars on his back. The vet then filed for SC for his back. Well, he got denied in 1953 I think. He spent the next 60 years filing claims for his back getting nowhere. He hired Carpenter and Carpenter got him SC'ed at the Court which is rare. It still has to be remanded for disability rating and effective date, but at 80 years old plus they vet is finally SC'ed. He won partly on his own statement the VA accepted one time back in the 60's that he fell during Basic. AskNod: You say an unappealed adjudication erases the one before it. What if you appeal and lose, but your rating remains the same? Does that erase the orginal claim? I must have asked for an increase 10 times between 1973 and today when I file for an increase in my DMII. I was originally SC'ed just for mental disorder. Now I am SC'ed for 6 other physical AO conditions. I will have appealed all those conditions because they have gotten worse or were low balled to begin with when first rated.

I don't know if he can claim PTSD in 1974 because the DX did not exist. If he had no medical DX or treatment for depression or "nerves" during his service and did not apply for benefits within a year of discharge the MDD or any other chronic mental disorder may be difficult to connect to his service. I was connected back in 1973 for a "nervous condition" schizophrenia because the VA seemed to just not have the vocabulary for anything besides personality disorder or neurosis or psychosis. I can say my rating was a sham. I was clearly 100% disabled but the VA did not even ask about that, only my hospital adjustment. I was ok in the hospital so I was only slightly disabled according to the VA.

In his orginal denial did the VA address his social and occupation adjustment. I can tell you that in my 1973 rating the VA ignored evidence, did not consider my occupation adjustment (I wasn't working) and violated my due process rights. I would get a lawyer for this because if you want to try and say that his first hospitalization should have rung the VA's bell about his mental state and his service I think you need expert legal help. It would be worth it. In my own case the VA changed their rules as far as rating mental disorders in the middle of my claim. I found this out when my CUE hit the Court of Vet Appeals. I know what these old VA claims look like and they appear to have been done by retarded primates. John

You got TDIU retro to the day after you got out of service. Did you retire from the military? Either way you had your ducks in a row. How did you manage to get back dated TDIU to the date you got out? Usually, you can only go back one year from the time you applied for TDIU. Did the VA infer it earlier from hospital records? Have you applied for SSDI? It took me thirty years to get TDIU. The first 15 years after I was discharged I never made more than about 7000 bucks a year. I was in and out of work. John

His hospitalization could be treated as an informal claim for benefits. I wonder if the VA did not commit some kind of CUE when they denied his orginal claim. I think you should hire a lawyer and let him review his entire C-File and medical records. Because their is some kind of chance at a earlier effective date, and TDIU, the lawyer might want to take the case since he gets 20% of any retro money. Phil and AskNod have both said it is a long road. It will be even longer without expert help. I have a CUE going back to my discharge rating and that was 1971. I have a lawyer working on it because it has been very frustrating as you can imagine. The VA broke every rule in the book on my original claim, but what did I know? As far as TDIU if he can't work due to SC condition that is definition of TDIU. Has he applied for SSDI? John

It is a good think especially when you see these down and out vets at the VA living on scraps because nobody documented their back injury in service, or they just broke down doing physical labor. You know vets in Florida who are on pensions are just like those on welfare and are treated pretty much the same. It is good to hear somebody is getting 100% SC! It took me years. I went through all levels of hell to get it. This is why I say get a lawyer if you are having trouble. John

Asknod If this vet had of had his breakdown within a year of discharge he probably would have been SC'ed for something. You are so right about the personality disorder jive. I did get SC in 1973 for schizophrenia and a personality disorder, of course. I did not have schizophrenia. I had dissociative disorder which is close to PTSD and has many of the same symptoms and causes. I was lucky to get any SC considering the way my claim was worked. The VA just excluded my private doctor's evidence and used the VA doctor's notes. During the Vietnam War and in the years before PTSD was recognized you had to be stark, raving mad at the time of discharge to get a high rating. Even then if you got better by the time you saw a VA shrink you would get "PD", social misfit, drunk, anti-social PD.

I was told the same thing yesterday about Crestor. It is nationwide because generic lipitor is less expensive. Lipitor is a good drug and both are statins so they are really the same drug family with a few quirks to each drug.

What you need is a letter from your treating doctor saying due solely to your SC conditions you cannot work. If you are on SSDI for SC conditions that is a big factor. I was fired from USPS in 2001. I filed for SSD, OPM, Worker's compensation and eventually TDIU. I won by using IMO/IME doctor reports that I paid for to add more evidence on my side. The VA awarded me 70% for mental condition but denied my TDIU at first. I continued treatment as I always had and also got extra IME/IMO to help me get TDIU. The VA is great at finding alternative explanations for your inability to work. I was harassed right out of my job and I made them pay. They threw me right into the briar patch. If you OPM and SSD for your SC conditions you are almost home. John

Get in treatment for the PTSD and stay in treatment until you get 100%. Medical evidence will be what gets you where you want to go. The VA's denial is insane. The are splitting hairs with the PTSD dx because many don't have symtoms for years and many have symptoms very soon after events.

Keep appealing and stay in treatment! If you don't get treatment at the VA get it somewhere for the PTSD/Anxiety/Depression. You want to document treatment until at least you get 100% if it takes ten years. It took me 30 years from the time I first got 10% but that was before the internet.

I agree with what Chuck said since you go to your PCP complain about all your SC disabilites, get blood work, get pills for free and get out of there. Nothing really worthwhile is free including medical care. Of course, the government and the people of the USA owe us, but while you wait you may die from neglect. John

jon If it is front teeth I would make an appointment with a psychiatrist and say you are socially isolated because you think everyone is looking at you and judging you because you are missing your front teeth. My VAMC guards dental care like it was FT Knox and the care is crummy. There are so many vets walking around with chronic infections of the gums which could cause heart disease I am told. It is just the money factor. I talked to one of my VA dentists and he believed that even poor people should be responsible for their own dental work. Here is a guy living off the government just like vets but he has the money for good dental care and no sympathy for those who don't. People can't even pay rent or mortgage so they ignore their teeth or have some disease that takes them.

Qwik If I were you I would have a private doctor follow me very closely on this gerd since you can have throat cancer from it. By the time the VA gets around to it you will be far gone possibly. Apart from compensation I would stay very much on top of this.

No, they are just cheap! Have you talked to patient advocate? If that does not work ask to see medical director via certified mail.

Most of the time I use my own dentist and eye doctors rather than the VA. When I had 20/800 in my rigtht eye due to a cataract and the VA said I was not blind enough to get the surgery I knew I wanted nothing else to do with the VA eye clinic. Medicare paid for it plus I have medigap insurance. Why should I go to a charity clinic when I have good insurance? Let the really needy use the VA. I do use them for pills and general documentation of my disabilites. They gave me a CPAP and now a few weeks later they want it back because I have not used it enough. They could not find a mask that fit me so it is my fault. What a waste of money the VA is for most of us. John