john999

Having a lawyer on my claim did help advance my CUE to the BVA I think. I got a pretty quick decision and a quick appeal to the court. However, the BVA made an error and the claim had to be shipped back to the BVA to fix the error and then back to the court. Years have gone by since I file the CUE. It spent at least 3 years at the RO and another two bouncing around the BVA. Now it is back at the court for round 2. How would a hardship have helped me? I would be dead by now because of mistakes.

Vadds Veterans rated as totally disabled are eligible to receive complete dental care at the expense of the VA. Maybe you better read those regulations before you say someone does not know what they are talking about since you aim your barbs at me. When I need an implant I go to someone who knows what they are doing and not to some idiot who can't even fill a tooth. In the last couple of years I have paid for two crowns and an implant out of my own pocket due to the fact that I don't feel my VA dentists are competent to do the job right. They filed the same tooth twice before I gave up and went to a private dentist to get it done right. The only teeth I ever had pulled were by army and VA dentists. The VA dentist pulled the wrong tooth. I would really hate to believe the VA is full of cheap bastards that consider saving a buck more important than a veteran's health. I know the individual doctors have guidelines. If VA medical care is the future of government health care that is the example that scares people. VA medical and dental care should be the light on a hill for all health care. I am afraid it is no light at all. John King

Not for both, but if together these conditions make you more emotionally disabled then you should ask for an increase. You can only get compensation for one mental illness unless one is physical in origin like a TBI. Often times depression is just another symptom of PTSD and is co-morbib in that it makes the PTSD worse. John

PD's don't cause bipolar conditions. A shrink just cannot talk to a person and determine if they are a PD or not. It is really based on a long standing pattern of behavior. A person who always manages to end up in the gutter know matter what they attempt and not matter what help they get is probably a PD. The guy or gal who is a career criminal and endes their days in prison is a certain type of PD. It is their behavior and not their words that determine their DX. I really don't accept the idea of personality disorder as a means to kick people out of the military. It is just a cheap way to get rid of people.

Every few years some doctor comes up with a magical medical cure for mental illness of one sort or another. It has never worked yet, but they can sometimes deal with symptoms but at a cost. I think with the VA the way to protect or even increase a rating is to stay in treatment. If you really want help take your compensation money and pay a good private therapist to help you. You can use their notes as evidence as well if you are static or get worse over time. The VA wants to see you in treatment. This is just how they think. John

Warren Buffet at age 85 got prostate cancer and the entire world is alarmed and weeping. He seems like an all right guy for a billionaire, but where is the pity for the thousands of RVN vets who have died from prostate cancer or who have it now? I don't see a flash on the news where it says " John Doe, Vietnam Vet, has agent orange related prostate cancer. John Doe risked his life many times in Vietnam and was wounded. Now he is too sick with prostate cancer to work. Everybody please send this patriot 100 dollars express mail before his family starves". Do you think you will ever see that on NBC, ABC or CBS nightly news?

One way to protect your rating is to go to the VA for treatment of PTSD. You don't have to love it. You don't have to really believe in it, but just go. Take the meds. If you don't like them then throw them out. Until the day you have 100% over 20 like Phil you are vulnerable. Consider you can also have a therapist of your own privately that you have more confidence in and see both. That is what I do. I have seen the same clinical psychologist for many years. He helped me, and not the VA, but I have gone to the VA for the last 15 years and I am TDIU for the last ten years I still see the VA and I complain and get my meds changed etc. This is my real job now. I am building a mountain of documentation. Phil sees his group and that is documented in some fashion. I saw a group for many years and that was a great way for me to progress. When the VA responds to some congressman or someone else about me that start off say "This veteran is a severely disabled veteran with multiple conditions blah, blah" That is what I want them to say because they are not likely to reduce a "severely disabled vet". I don't mean to fake it either. I mean to document it every chance you get.

Your best shot is to get these conditions service connected within a year or two after discharge so go for it now. The more time goes by the less your chances.

MP You have very good proof for TDIU since you have SSDI and OPM. You have definite date and awards from feds saying you are unemployable. Most don't have that kind of evidence. Also, you are not starving while you wait for TDIU since you have 80% VA.

So you have TDIU, SSDI and OPM now? When you reach age 62 the SSDI offset to your OPM goes away. So in the end you will have you TSP, OPM, TDIU, and SSDI. I think it you handle this right you will be OK.

I filed an AO claim many years after I was SC'ed for my original claim. The VA held my claim up. I called and asked what was holding up my claim. The VA said they did not have a certified copy of my DD214. What BS? I had a couple of them in my file, so I sent them a certified copy of the DD214 and knocked off about 6 months of claim time. My DD214 was right on top of my C-file but they were too lazy to get it. In the past they have shredded my claims, hidden evidence, ignored evidence, lied about evidence and even denied I was ever in the army, or Vietnam. I have a DD214 in a safe deposit box. All the evidence is right there in that lock box in a bank. John

MPsgt Now I understand your situation better. I hired a lawyer to do my VA CUE claim while others here would be able to do that themselves. If you feel you are in over your head then get the lawyer! I had very good doctors who were advocates for me so that helped a lot. I got OWCP for mental condition thanks to doctors who really knew how to sock it to the OWCP. If you have PTSD I think it is very important to get special relationship with a therapist. You need someone you can trust. It does not have to be at the VA.

I go along with that Coot! If I am filing for depression and on the day of the exam I am feeling pretty good should I tell the doctor I feel good, or should I tell him about the day before when I wanted to jump out the window? If you tell him you feel good you won't be getting that increase just because one day you are OK and the next day you are not able to get out of the chair. John

KK I had a VA C&P doctor back in early 1980's try and get my disability (10%) reconsidered as a personality disorder. (He failed) I was pretty trusting. He asked a group of leading questions, and then he put a spin on my answers to point to sociopathic PD. I think, for example, he asked if I had ever gotten into a fight in school. I said "yes, I had but it was just a scuffle". I think he asked if I ever got angry with my parents. It was stuff like that. He twisted that around to try and point towards some deviant personality that I had before I enlisted. That is why I say when they start to ask about childhood, or homelife say everything was great even if it wasn't. A lot of people have hard lives. They are abused. Their parents may be alcoholic. They may even get arrested a few times. That does not mean they are permanent deviants from society. If you told a VA exam doctor that you had been kicked out of school once, smoked pot once and stole a piece of candy when you were 5 years old they could hang you on that....Anti-Social Personality Disorder that is of long standing with no insight and little chance of every being productive member of society". That DX would have fit half the guys in my Basic Training School since 90% were drafted off the streets of Chicago by a judge. I think most went on became heros in Vietnam. Just don't leave your watch near anyone of them. John

If I was going to get it done I think I would get it done before I got out of the service. However, I would get some opinions even if I had to pay myself to make sure these surgeries are going to help long term. If it means you will need more surgeries in the coming years because of increased stress of the connecting discs I would just look at all alternatives. I was told just 6 months ago I needed to have a disc in my neck removed and fused. The second opinion said I didn't. What the heck! It is my neck they are talking about not the payment on their new BMW. I lot of guys here know a lot about back surgery. The pain does not always go away even when the operation is a complete success. John

I think to get SSD you must have worked a certain number of quarters within the last ten years. You can have enough quarters for regular SSA but not for SSD. Also, when can a spouse get half of what her spouse gets in SSD or SSA. When my wife retires at age 62 she will get much less than half of what I get from SSD. She wants it now so she won't delay collecting it. John

You don't need a lawyer for OPM retirement. I did it all myself and got check it about 4 months. OPM is just about 100% medical. Where do you live? For SSD and VA it may be different since there is standard appeal process.

If the VA sends you for a c&p exam for the bipolar just remember that all these symptoms started in the military. What evidence do they have that you have a personality disorder? Don't let them go back into your childhood and teenage years before the military to go on a fishing trip. You are axis one bipolar. Stick to that. You were fine before the AF and now you are sick. That is the line to take with the VA. John

I would file for everything since you have medical documentation and will preserve your effective dates this way. The VA may work on the biggies and defer some of the other stuff but your EED will be preserved.

If the war in Afghanistan winds down faster than is planned I think one of the first things over the side will be improved veterans care. War will be out of the headlines. I did read that survey in Parade mag that said one of the worst five jobs in the nation is enlisted military. Where does that put vets? John

I would NOD the decision to defer your claims before a year from the date of your award just to play it safe.

I believe that if you could show that not having implants was a definite barrior to employment they might do it. If you are missing all your front teeth it is harder to get a job especially if you are a woman. I think with 100% vets in many VAMC's the feeling may be "why spend thousands on this guy who just collects a check?" The VA's policy on many dental procedures is just a sham.

Phil Have you considered every other option. Knee replacement is no small thing. Are you going to have plenty of help? You probably need plenty of strong pain meds for a while. Probably the P.T. will be the hard part. I had shoulder surgery and the PT was hell. I used to take large dose of pain meds before PT. It did not do me any good the surgery. John

The big thing in your case is to get retirement which means at least 30% as opposed to disability separation for 20% or less. You may find it impossible to believe the military could get rid of you with less than 30% disability medical retirement but that is really their goal. John

Look around and find a lawyer who does VA claims for a living.