john999

There really is no way to tell if going fast or slow is a good or bad sign. It is like reading tea leaves. I know we all want some clue as to how things are going but best to wait for the letter.

OTH is not necessarily dishonorable discharge. It could be bad conduct discharge. There is a big difference.

You can make all the passive income you like just not earned income if you are 100% for a mental condition like PTSD. If you have to pay SSA it is not passive income. Investment income like buying and selling stock is not affected by VA compensation. I have been doing it for 11 years with no problems. I am TDIU so I get checked I assume. The best thing to do is just to be smart with your money. Live debt free and build and keep an emergency fund and won't get an ulcer. John

Now you probably have a very nice emergency fund. Is that 6 years of retro at 100%? I wonder if you can get tax benefits from your property tax made retroactive as well.

The "reasons and basis" for a denial gives you the exact hints as to what it takes to win your claim. The VA serves it up to you on a silver platter. Considering how the often the VA denies claims the first time they do give you a roadmap on how to win it the second time around the game.

Apply for social security disability.

I think I would try and go back to some school at your age. You can do vocational rehab and maybe get some kind of skill where you can set your own hours and be your own boss. You can always file for IU. You can get OPM disability and maybe get schooling. I got OPM easy, but it took over a year to get TDIU. I was 52 years old, so my job future was bleak. John

Pete What kind of dental insurance are you thinking about getting? Most of it is pretty lame.

If you file for an increase for a SC injury and you also file for OWCP for the same injury you will have to choose between OWCP and VA. You may also end up owing OWCP or VA some money. Read up on this via ELM and OWCP manuels. It gets complicated. If you get OWCP then your SSDI will be reduced and your opm is stopped.

When I hired my lawyer for my CUE I sent him the decision and evidence for the CUE. He read that and then agreed to represent me. He also asked for a copy of my C-File. It only took a week or two to have him agree to represent me because the evidence and decision were just a few pages long.

If you have some medical proof that those other conditions were caused by depression or if you had them in service then Yes.

Maybe sleep apnea but you have to show a medical connection. A doctor has to say and explain how your depression caused your apnea.

Pete You bet! Methadone is one of the worst and they prescribed it to me as well as morphine, and fentynal. The pain clinic doctors at my VAMC were the ones who hated all the benzodiazepines. There is nothing wrong with Xanax. I have been getting clonazepam and valium and narcotics from my VA for years. I am not dead yet. I am careful with them because they make my apnea worse. Also, I hate rebound insomnia when I start to taper down if it start to hit the maximum dose. There is a difference between dependence and addiction. Most of us are dependent but not addicts.

Jumpmaster I have a CUE at the CAVC right now. It has been to the BVA twice and the CAVC twice. I started at the VARO where the CUE happened about 6 years ago. I am asking 100% back to 1971. I am 100% now for 11 years. I have been SC'ed for 41 years. I have done a heap of waiting. I went from 10% to 100% over that period. I did not really wise up until I was about 50 years old.

Depending on his rating that is a nice parcel of money. It shows not to give up if you know or even think you are right. Of course, it took 9 years to get it right. This guy is probably in his late 60's or early 70's. How long can an old vet wait?

The VA would probably see noise aversion as part of your PTSD.

From my experience the VA is afraid of this class of drugs because of OD's in the past. My pain management doctor was dead set against my use of clonazepam. They believe that I will kill myself by accident. If I asked for xanax along with clonazepam they would slap my face because I take pain meds as well. I can understand why you want to take xanax for panic. I would never tell them I take four clonazepam at one time. In their minds they see you mixing the two drugs and ending up dead. Then they see their jobs in jepardy which is what they care about in reality. No drug is evil. It is the abuse of the drug that causes problems. The VA sees us all as drug abusers who are only being restrained by VA doctor's eagle eyes.

I would not start popping corks until I got something in writing from the VA. I had an issue around a SMC deferred for no good reason. I finally got mad and sent them a NOD with their decision to defer my award. That probably did not amount to anything but I soon got a call asking me if I had any other information regarding the SMC. I got the award a week later. If they are waiting for some document that you can provide them try and find out. It may be like Phil says and they want a new C&P even though they created the delay. They try you patience hoping you will just give up. John

If you are working 80 hours a week you are lucky to get 10% much less 30%. I think you stand a good chance of being reduced as long as you are able to work such hours. Do as others say and stay in treatment building your documentation for the day you are unable to keep a job. Employment is the biggest factor in rating mental disorders because the VA awards compensation for what you have lost. If you have lost a leg that is visible and has a rating. For the emtional/mental disorders they have to go by your behavior and how it affects your ability to relate to others and to work. If you are able to work and have relationships of any kind you will never get to 100% for PTSD or any other mental disorder. I was denied once because the VA said I got on well with other mental patients on a locked ward.

Don't stop taking xanax or clonazepam suddenly! You risk convulsions.

I got a BVA hearing and decision in about 15 months, but I had a lawyer and it was a CUE.

Try to get more medical evidence and appeal. I did this for a heart condition and went from 0% to 60%. I was pretty shocked at this.I got this from a DRO. I would always try to get new evidence for an appeal or it can go against you, but not that often. So far I have got all my serious awards via appeals.

There is often a pretty long wait to get the VARO to certify a claim to the BVA, and for the VARO to implement a BVA decision. It takes the BVA pretty long to do remands from CAVC as well. It has been one year since my CUE was remanded back to the BVA from the CAVC. There are strict time limits for us to appeal a decision to the BVA and CAVC and even to file an NOD. There are no time limits for the VA to act on anything. If you are one day late for most appeals in the VA they throw your claim out the window.

You know thousands of WWII vets were treated like this where they got a rating on discharge and a few years later the VA decided they had improved and just sent them a letter reducing them with or without an exam. Many just let the appeal date go by and carried on with their lives.

If an exam said you were able to work when, in fact, you are unable to work then your rating would hand on the word able/unable.