john999

I do breath better with the mask. I don't love the mask but I can sure tell when I don't wear it. I got one that fits pretty well at last. You have to be persistent. I have a good doctor and he is no VA hack. John

My lawyer took my case because he thinks there will be a big payoff in the end. He is not thinking about EAJA. He has been on the case for about 5 years. I think his ego is involved as well by now. I know mine is after reading BVA denials.

If you have certain percentages the VA will often infer possible TDIU. If you have any SC condition that keeps you from being able to work you are eligible for TDIU, but you have to really prove it. I know a guy who was rated 50% by the VA and had been on SSD for about ten years. He was obvious candidate for IU, so why had not the VA inferred it? Because he was not 60% or 70% combined is why. He still worked off the books but he was unemployable at any regular job. He finally filed for IU and got 100% schedular instead plus housebound. Me and him had a regular competition about who could get total and permanent first. He won! john

When my lawyer presented my bried for CUE and retro to 1971 at a DRO Hearing the DRO was scared to make any such decision except to deny it. It has gone right up the chain because what VA pension-seeking employee is going to award a vet possible 6-7 figure award on their own head? So 6 years go by as the can is kicked up and down the road.

Lawyers don't make real money on Eaja fees. I think it is hardly worth their while. What they want is a share of big retro. Bronco, I think you are right about the fee structure for the lawyers. Remands that are terminal the lawyer gets Eaja. Claims where there is a big award the lawyer gets his/her 20%. I am not sure of that but it sound logical. I think it is unusual that lawyers who are unsucessful get paid anything. I wonder what the going rate is for Eaja fees? I got a remand from CAVC to the BVA and my lawyer did not ask for Eaja because I believe he thinks we have a good shot at a very big payday.

That is a very long time to wait on a claim that you were MEB/PEB for since there is no dispute that you have severe sleep apnea. How long were you in the service? I am not sure it would hurt to have your senator look into the delay.

If you have to resubmit this stuff do it via certified mail/ return receipt. I am sure you already know this but waiting while the VA seems to lose your stuff does tend to drive a person crazy. I have been through it as have about most of the people here I bet. This process of waiting and dealing with the VA separates those with urgent claims from those who just are trying for a few extra bucks. No one would go through this being unemployed for months if they were not sincere. I picked up most of the information from employers, SSD and even St. Louis and sent it myself to them. John

I agree with you, Phil. You need to get married so you have a reason to live to pass on your benefits.

I agree with John about the VA being dead lazy. They don't look into your C-File except to find some reason to try and deny your claim. The VA often creates a temporary C-file when you file for an increase. If it is not in the temp file they are often too lazy to look beyond. How far is the VARO from your house? I might just take copies of evidence and hand carry it to them and then speak to a counselor. Sometimes you can just tell the VA to make their rating with the evidence they have if you are sure they have it all. The VA has asked for the same information many times. It is not unusual and it is not personal. The VA is a big meat grinder and our claims are the meat. John

If you have a DX from a VA doctor that you have PTSD I would file a claim now. There is no point in waiting since it may take years to even get a C&P exam. You will have plenty of records by then. Are you able to work?

My lawyer is telling me he will represent me at the court and beyond regardless. I hope he means that and I hope I live that long. My case has already been to the court twice. If the lawyer thinks he has a chance and there is a lot of retro that is a good motivator. Phil, having a case against the VA will motivate you to live to 100. John

I think vets today have the internet and are much smarter than other generations. They know to go looking on the internet for information. However, these multiple deployments are like dropping a cluster bomb on a marriage. Let's say a young marine enlists for 4 years. If he has to spend almost three years in combat zone that is just too much. Why would anyone want to re-enlist knowing they may be going back? Your luck is going to run out and you will be getting hurt or driven crazy, so maybe that is why there are more vets seeking disability. I don't think these wars are less violent than Vietnam, Korea or WWII. My father got disability for skin disease because he had to wear the same uniform for weeks/months living in dirt. John

If your treating doctor gave you a GAF of 40 my question would be "why are you not in the hospital?". If your regular treating doctor gives you a really low GAF I think he/she would have a responsibility to admit you to the hospital because you would be psychotic. If you read the schedule for rating mental disabilites anthing under a GAF of 40 means you are really not in full contact with reality. When I went to the VA hospital ER I was admitted and given a GAF of 40. This was ten years ago, but still if a doctor gives you a GAF of much below 50 you may find youself involuntarily admitted because if you leave the hospital and kill yourself in the parking lot the doctor's ass is in deep $#@#. John

It is all about the money and how the army can get out of its liability.

I think they refer to it as a "nexus" between the injury in-service and the current disability. This is what you have to prove with medical evidence in many cases. I have heard of cases where the vet's claim of injury from shrapnel that was still embedded in the vets body and military service was denied. The VA did not even attempt to explain how the shrapnel got into the vet's body.

Was this a C&P exam?

Memories are very short. The fact that more vets are claiming disabilites just makes for all the vets from previous wars who never filed. Probably every vet who was in combat in WWII and Korea could have filed for PTSD if the DX had existed at the time. Instead they just drank themselves to death and beat their wives and kids. Same for Korea and Vietnam before PTSD was recognized and treatment was offered.

What good is it to have the VA for health care when most of us are afraid to use them on anything besides a flu shot. These back surgeries and cervical surgeries are tricky by even the best and nothing is fool proof. The surgery may be successful and you may still have pain. I am afraid to let the VA fix my ingrown toenail. John

Yes, I had the same type reaction.

Don't imagine that just winning your claim is going to be enough. You have to find it in yourself to find a reason to keep living. I don't have a great answer except I want my wife to collect with no complications. When I had a job and pretty good health I had structure. Now it is just day to day. Nobody can tell me how to use my time. I am the one who has to find that answer. I know that if I am doing something that really interests me the pain fades. I don't believe in the Sweet Hereafter, so this is it. John

I think regardless of Ebenefits Status you get your claim completed and you get your decision when you get it. Ebenefits is not reducing a million claim backlog. You got to have good evidence, a nexus and current disability. If any of those things are lacking it does not matter about the rest. Certain groups want to take an ax to the federal budget. That means getting rid of employees. Unless the VA can do claims without human input it will be slow, slow and slower. John

All pain management doctors in my area want to do is injections into the spine or neck. They are paranoid about scripts for narcotic meds since Florida was the capital of dopers paradise and pill mills and probably still is except maybe Kentucky or W.Virginia.

They send you to a combat zone and as an extra bonus the VA, and government spits in your face and cheats you on nickles and dimes. All existing governments and administrations are the same only some are worse.

John I could not get a pharmacy to fill my oxy script. They took one look at me and at the script and said "we don't carry it". Lots of robberies of this drug and just major scandal in Florida.

The only way to get anything out of the VA is for thousands of vets to surround the place and just have a sit-in and let them drag us off to jail. Present a list of demands and damn the consequences. None of them give a damn about us. The Vietnam era generation is already dead as far as they are concerned.