john999

I have been taking Ambien for a few weeks. That stuff is starting to depress me. I noticed that I sleep but don't feel rested. I think that stuff interrupts REM sleep. I feel really cranky. My poor wife is catching it. I am going to stop and just stay awake all night. All that sleeping med is really bad news as are tranquilizers. Addictive and they mess with your mind.

In my neighborhood in Tampa housing prices have exploded. In five years housing costs have doubled. Some of these people must be paying $20 thousand in taxes. It is insane. Where will it end.....crash!

Can you get an IMO to say due to your PTSD you can't work? This is when your own shrink can work wonders. You can't depend on the VA since not one of their shrinks is ever going to say you can't work or you are totally disabled. You have enough to get TDIU, but you must convince them you cannot work solely due to your SC conditions. You do this with medical evidence.

Oh, yes, if you have chronic pain start to see a shrink. Depression and disability go together. Even your half-ass VA shrink might make that connection. As Dr. Who says stay in treatment. Put on the full court press. You have nothing to lose.

If you have TDIU and you are 80 years old and go back to some type of job is the VA going to reduce you?

I think the caregiver program is a hoax. You have to be bedridden to get the program. I tried to get it for my wife and the program people were hostile and dismissive. Me and the wife can be pretty ornery at times. We both felt insulted.

I agree with Whodat. File for everything that you think you can get. Times are going to get very tough for disabled vets.

Tammie In my experience you almost always need a letter from a doctor to make the connection between your primary disability and any secondary condition. The VA often just disregards the science and insists on a doctor saying that your secondary is at least as likely as not the result of the primary condition. I have DMII. VA found clots in my legs. My doctor wrote a letter saying why this was most likely a result of DMII. I got 60% for heart disease. I have PN from the DMII. VA granted 10%. I got my doctor to write a letter and I got 40% for each limb. The VA won't just do this for you. In your case bad knees could affect your gait. This could cause hip problems as well as back trouble in time. If you can make the connection you could get a higher rating. This is my opinion based on my own experience. I have two primary and 7 secondary ones. You might get lucky and your C&P doctor might make the connections.

Dusty Do you have the name and address of this doctor. I have mental condition, DMII and high blood. I also have OSA and I really struggle with it. I don't mind a reasonable fee.

Each state is different. Florida has total property tax exemption for 100% P&T vets. We get DL free and almost free tags. We represent a tiny minority now days so why not?

The Caregiver program is a hoax. The people running the program called my wife a liar and she got mad and told them to shove it. After that it was a lost cause. If not for my spouse I would probably be dead due to the DMII. She makes sure I take my insulin. Half the time I forget but she never does. I just hate the MF'ing VA. Bunch of pricks. I am 100% HB and yet I am not bad enough off to have my wife get some help. She is also disabled.

Dee What a great post. I have medicare and private insurance, so I don't even think about getting the VA to pay, but I should. Next time I need to go to the ER I will ask them to bill the VA. Like I say I did go to the VA for an emergency about 2 years ago. It was the worst experience I ever had in a hospital. They kept me there so the med students could observe me twice a day. Most of the VAMC's are also teaching hospitals so young doctors can experiment on old vets. If I had gone to a regular hospital I probably would have been out in two days, but this was when Covid-19 was running wild. The VA did treat me but what a horrible experience.

If you get 10% for high blood that is good. You don't want it higher no matter how much they compensate you. High blood is the silent killer. I have it too.

He does worker's compensation cases as well. You have to travel to see him, but he gets you the money.

If you are getting TDIU and you are over the age of 70 and return to some kind of employment are you still in danger of losing TDIU? If you are getting SSD and return to gainful employment you will get slammed most likely but not so sure about TDIU. I have read that they check on those under the age of 65 for TDIU. I would not take a chance unless I knew more but many need income and might be tempted. TDIU is really small money these days.

Buck Glad you had a decent experience. I won't use the VA as long as I have funds.

I worked for the USPS and eventually took disability retirement. I had also filed for federal worker's compensation benefits at the same time. You cannot get both WC and Fed. Disability at the same time, but you can switch from one to the other which ever benefits you the most. I was a shop steward and learned all this crap along the way. If you get Fed. Disability you get a much reduced retirement (30%-40% depending on if you also get SSD). I had WC for about two years and then when I got TDIU I switched to Fed. retirement so I could get SSD and VA at the same time. A lot of people don't want to file for WC because you will get some flack and it is a long road sometimes because both your employer and WC fight against granting you these benefits. Some of it is very technical especially when you file for a mental disorder aggravation like PTSD or MST. I waited until my last day on the job to file for WC for "stress" as they say. I knew the regs so I could craft my claim to fit those regs. This is not cheating but your claim must fit the regs especially with OWCP. They are experts at denying claims for stress and mental/emotional claims. If you think VA claims examiners are bad multiply that by ten and you get a WC claims examiner. They are nasty but if you get the claim accepted they pay for treatment, drugs and lost wages.

AngryA File for worker's compensation due to your employment conditions that are aggravating your PTSD. I did that and I got paid for two years until I got TDIU. All you need is a shrink to say that your current working conditions and duties are aggravating your pre-existing PTSD. That is what I did. It was a long shot at the time but it worked. You can't file a claim just because they won't accommodate you, but if they harass you about your disability that would qualify. You may have a hard time getting from 70% to 100% since you are 90% now. You should consider TDIU. If you get better you could go back to work some place else. I am 100% now but I got TDIU for years. How old are you? If you are over 40 you are probably unemployable anyway in this day and age. These are hard and unpleasant facts. I feel you. All the stress makes the PTSD worse.

When I worked for USPS I asked for reasonable accommodation and the USPS just fought it tooth and nail. I ended up going out on worker's compensation and it cost them plenty just for the lack of some change in my working conditions. I was hurt on the job and you would have thought the dumb asses would have worked with me, but no. They wanted to make an example of me.

I had a crown done by the VA some years ago. They put in a temporary crown and it took so long to get the actual crown that the tooth became infected and I had to get a damn root canal. The VA makes me wait 6 weeks to get a crown after they do the work. It takes a commercial dentist about four or five days. The VA seeks out the absolute lowest bidder to get work done for vets. Either that or somebody's brother-in-law is getting the work. I am very disappointed with VA medical care. It is a good place for destitute vets to go to die on clean sheets and that is about it. They squander billions of dollars and come out with a second rate product. The VA has been failing vets for decades because the system if screwed up and never will be right. The VA cares more for the janitor than a 100 sick vets. When I was in the VA hospital in an emergency about 2 years ago I was begging to get out after three days. I was in a tiny room with five other sick vets who farted and retched all night. Worst experience of my life. One more week in that place and I would have died.

Dusty I went to one of those private dentist the VA referred me to see. It was a disaster. The dentist had her assistant doing the work she should have done. They screwed it up so bad I got out of the chair and left. I don't trust VA dentist one bit. They pulled the wrong tooth one time. Their attitude seemed to be "oh you will never miss that tooth so let's just pull it." I will pay up for the real dentist next time.

Most of these sleep doctors feel the cpap is the gold standard and maybe it is for some. But if you cannot tolerate the cpap then what? The inspire system works pretty good for me. Not perfect but much better.

Vync I think it is a total crap shoot with the LHI doctors. I got a good one in that she gave me more than I asked for but this was a fluke. She really had no idea what she was doing. She could just as soon given me a bad exam. VA will ignore evidence from experts and rely on horse doctors for results they like better.

Don't feel too alone since I think every one of us has had a VA exam where the exam doctor lied or misrepresented the evidence. I have had some beauties along the way. This is why I have gotten IMO's and not worried too much about these rotten exams. There are VA docs who just hate vets and think they can rise in the system by screwing us.

If you and a spouse get SSA, pension or capital gains or dividends then you probably have to file. You don't want the Man sending you a letter three years later telling you that you owe IRS plus penalty and interest.