john999

Wow, I think you have enough for TDIU now and maybe 100% with IHD.

Yes, I will continue to pay the premiums I guess. If you have a spouse it puts you in a bind. If spouse gets ill and needs LTC you have to pay until your finaces reach a point where you are just about broke. If you get ill then your spouse has to become destitute paying your nursing home care bill. You and spouse may end up on medicade but you have to be pretty poor by then. Nursing home care is about $70,000 a year and medicare won't pay. The VA does frighten me because you know they use lowest bidder probably.

Was this an IMO? Normally, you don't get SC'ed for something until you claim it. What did VA rate you in 2002 and for what?

Hire a good lawyer. So you have to give them 20% of the retro. That is better than getting 0% via the DAV.

I had a CUE claim wating for a decision at the BVA. I discovered that I had another potential CUE. I filed on the second CUE and within 8 weeks I won the second CUE along with $8200 of retro. If I have a claim arise that I know means significant money I am going to file come what may. I had 70% TDIU back in 2002. I filed for DMII, PN, CAD and SMC "S" and a CUE that is at the CAVC since then. I am glad I did not let the VA scare me from doing this. I stay in treatment at the VA and I have my private doctors on the payroll for IMO/IME's. John

This particular disease may not be on presumptive one year list, but I don't think that list is exhaustive. It does not stand to reason that you got this disease five months after you left the service. You had low white/red blood count while in service. MM is a chronic disease even if it is not on the presumptive list for one year presumptives.

You have to consider all the career military who were in Vietnam at one time or other. They many have been in the 30's or even 40's when they served. I think most of the 19 year olds are probably still alive, but I wonder when I read obits in my town. The 850,000 number is for "boots on the ground" Nam vets that I have heard often. I could be wrong and would not be unhappy if someone proves me wrong. The AO exam I got was pretty good. The doctor acted almost like an advocate. He wrote down three conditions he said were probably related to exposure to AO: DMII, PN and chronic pain from nerve damage. I still have the note he sent me If I can find it. I got it done in 2001 I think just for the hell of it. John

The government new almost nothing about long term effects of atomic radiation. The soldiers themselves may have been radioacative and caused the sickness of spouses and children. Soldiers observing atomic tests said they could see the bones in their arms and hands when the bombs went off. How much radiation did they get? USA does not care one bit.

When you think that only 30%-40% of RVN vets have ever had AO exam it is sad since many will die from AO diseases. I think of their spouses who could have DIC if the Nam vet dies from IHD,CAD,prostate cancer, lung cancer, DMII complications etc. 850000 "boots on the ground" Nam vets left alive and all will probably die from AO exposure. I preach to every Nam vet I meet to get checked out for AO disease presumptives. The US government has put a death sentence on the head of everyone who served in Vietnam and probably surrounding areas at sea or on land. Kill millions of American servicemen and women and even more millions of South Vietnamese farmers. We were supposed to be saving them, but we had to kill them to save them. Better dead than red. John

If at some point you need to go into the hospital do it. You and your GF must remain safe. If you really feel you are going to hurt yourself or others go to the VA and get yourself admitted. I did it before some years ago.

Yes, you should get Feb. disability on March 1, 2013 as I see it.

Street Back in not so distant past the VA c&p examiner asked me just two questions on my mental health exam: 1.Do you hear voices? 2. Are you working? My answers were "NO" and "yes" and based on that I continued with 10% rating. The fact I was a college graduate and working as a dishwasher was never discussed. I was living on other people's couches, no car and a few days away from homelessness. My exam lasted about 5 minutes. I think the exam doctor did ask me if I felt suicidal and I said "yes". No matter.....this patient has only mild mental impairment from major depression and schizophrenia. You got to get an IMO or these bastards will just run you over like you are grass and they are lawn mower. The IMO that got me TDIU and P&T said " This vet suffers from bipolar disorder, PTSD, panic disorder, dissociative disorder and is on SSDI for these issues". The VARO incorporated my IMO right into my rating decision. I was misdiagnosed from day one back in 1972. I did not have major schizophrenic symptoms because I was not schizophrenia. People with co-morbid conditions were often just described as "chronic, undifferentiated schizophrenics" or "personality disorders". I got both DX'es at one time or another.

AskNod Write that book about the CAVC and give it to my lawyer. I have been to CAVC twice and BVA twice on my 7 year old CUE with no end in sight. I say if you have a claim just file it. Don't wait for anything since you may not live to win or lose it ultimately. John

I had six months of out patient records for treatment of a mental health condition at Hunter Army Airbase. I never got records when I was discharge. Now they have disappeared and the shrink I saw is probably dead. I also had hospital records for a mental health hospitalization while I was on leave from Vietnam and that is long gone. Getting copies of medical records would probably have gotten me a higher rating much earlier.

Vietvet I am guessing you are an AO vet. Get the condition of your cardiovascular system checked out for hardening of the arteries. If they find it the VA will consider it heart disease probably. Like you I am SC for DMII and PN due to AO and while having a lump on my leg checked out via CT scan the VA said I had hardening of the arteries. I got that problem SC'ed as secondary to DMII. I got 60% for that via stress tests and appeals (CAD). Were you a combat marine? If so I bet you can get a decent rating for the PTSD. You may need an IMO/IME once you are SC'ed for PTSD to bump up the rating. Have you filed for SSDI? John

I have a private long term care policy because I wanted an option if I one day lived long enough to need assisted living care or even nursing home care. I know the VA provides nursing home care but my question is the quality of care? Anybody know anything about this matter? John

I got denied the first time I asked for TDIU and I was 70% and on SSDI just like you. I would get an independent medical opinion on my back and possibly on the depression if you can. You need to appeal, of course. I used an IME/IMO to get my TDIU. This is a game the VA plays. For me they took a single sentence fragment out of a three page initial medical report to deny my TDIU. I had to get another opinion to fix that tiny flaw to get TDIU. If you are on SSDI solely for your SC conditions the VA should have granted TDIU. 10% for depression is really a rock bottom evaluation meaning you have a very mild case, according to the VA. A private shrink could probably write a report to get it up considerably higher. I was rated 30% for mental health conditions and my private shrink got it up to 70% the first time. I was rated 10% back in the day and I could not even leave the house to wash my car. VA ratings can be very unfair and biased as any Vietnam vet can tell you. John

Considering the length of time DIC may take I created a special account for my wife for her to draw on if I croak suddenly. There is other money should could get at but it requires legal actions. You figure your spouse has got to handle your burial, pay bills and get hold of the financial strings of your ex-life. She/he "may" be in grief so make it easy for them I say. My wife has to get survivor benefit from my civil service job, SSA and the VA which is what pays the bills right now. That all stops when I turn up my toes. My father was a vet who died suddenly. My mother had to make a big adjustment in a hurry. The VA insurance helped a lot back in the 1950's. The SSA and VA did pitch in with money. She did not get DIC, but the VA did pay something to her on a monthly basis since she had three kids and he was a disabled vet from WWII. Without SSA and VA, including insurance, we would have been destitute. John

You know I had almost the same DX about 40 years ago when I got out of the army. The difference was I had no job and I had a substance abuse history. I got 10% rating. I think when you were committed to the VA hospital all those times you should have gotten 100%. By staying away from the VA and working for 15 years this has hurt your chances of getting a higher rating. Usually, the difference between the schizophrenic who is 100% and 50% or less is your ability to work. You probably did yourself a favor by staying away from the VA since you have a life and are not institutionalized or living under a bridge.

If the VA knows a vet is on SSDI they are supposed to infer possible TDIU. They almost never do it. If the VA has any evidence the vet has a serious employment handicap or roadblock to employment they are supposed to consider TDIU. My experience is that if you don't apply for it, you don't get it. 42 years ago my private doctor said I was unable to work. I never applied for TDIU since I did not even know what it was at the time. I was never considered for TDIU, nor was I ever asked about it for the next 40 years until I put in the paperwork for it. In my original claim I was not even asked if I was employed. John

If your condition is getting worse and you have medical evidence to prove that you cannot work full time solely due to SC conditions I would put in for IU. I ask about your age because if you are over 40 and can only work part time you probably will never be able to find and hold a decent job in this economy. Unless you want to try vocational rehabilitation decent jobs are hard to find for the disabled.

I had heard on NPR that football players who had TBI's in their 20's find that they have severe memory problems and other problems in 40's and 50's. The damage is cumulative. Every time they see stars they are getting more damage. My father-in-law had a TBI in the Marines in WWII and he was half crazy the rest of his life. He could appear totally normal and then set the house on fire the next day.

You know people who worked as civilians for Uncle Sam get to keep insurance in retirement. You must keep your spouse on a family plan, however, or in the case of your death she/he will not be able to keep the insurance if spouse has suspended it for any reason. Just a word to the wise for the many postal and other federal retirees here.

Yes, it is about $300 bucks. It means your cola will increase as well.

The TBI issue is just getting the attention it deserves. Now football players are suing the NFL over TBI issues.