john999

If the VA has any brains at all they will help you in every way to finish your school and get a good job so you can become a tax payer rather than a tax eater. If you were 60 years old it would be different.

How long has it been since you retired from Govt service? If you have enough quarters you should be able to apply for SSD. Are you FERS or CSRS?

My doctor told me that most of the people who have operations to cure apnea end up on the CPAP anyway. There is a lot of BS in the medical field. Some of these guys will sell you the Golden Gate Bridge without the gold. If you have a chronic problem watch out for the magic cure. I don't thing the CPAP falls into that category.

We could get rich if we could start a company that makes custom fitted face masks.

I think this is why when you have chronic back pain or any chronic pain condition get to a psychiatrist and discuss depression. If the VA only wants to give you 20% for a bad back you may be able to get an extra 50% for the depression the chronic pain has caused in your life. I have chronic back pain, foot pain and shoulder and neck pain. Game over for most things including work.

Comp Tech I have deviated septum and can't breath through my nose very well.

If you were in the infantry in Vietnam in a hot area you probably have about 300 stressor events. If you were in Army aviation gunships you probably have about that many stressors as well or more. If you got a PH or got shot down that could be the primary stressor if you have to pick one.

71M10 I am on the full face mask but I still get dry. I have a humidifier built into the cpap and I have a separate humidifier that goes full blast all night and yet I still get dry. I do find that If I get the mask pretty loose I do better. If it is real tight it hurts my face and drys me out so bad I can even speak. Many people I talk to throw they mask away because of problems but that is not the answer. I have TMJ also. The snoring is bad but I worry about my heart. John

Mmmmmm.....something does not sound right in VA logic. If you cannot sleep at all with the Cpap I wonder if you have tried sleeping pills with it? The thing is with the copd and other problems there is a lot of stress on your heart and lungs. I would find the best doctor in your city who has a connection to a sleep lab and do the whole thing again. The waking up and snoring from apnea is bad and a pain,but the strain on your heart is the real danger since you already have copd. You need to see if the cpap is even working for you and the only way is for you to fall asleep with it on for a few hours. I am wearing my cpap but I am very sleeping when I wake up in the morning and I wake up many times at night. John

No, the VA just does not give a damn. They are not alone since most large governmental and business institutions in our nation don't give a damn either.

I think I would just send a Statement in Support of Claim and just state that you have been TDIU for at least 5 years with no improvement and you request P&T. You could send a copy of the SSDI if it is solely for your service connected conditions. To me the whole ball of wax is that you have been total for 5-6 years with no signs of improvement. You are not working and no indication of being able to work. I got P&T within one year of getting TDIU. John

Have you taken any anti-pyschotic drugs? The army gave me something called stelazine. It caused me to have muscle spasms that included my neck that were very painful.

If would be nice if we could all get our apnea SC'ed but that is not the main thing. The main thing is to get it treated. I am having a pretty hard time with mine. With my Cpap I wake up pretty frequently. I get very dry even with humidifier. It seems when I get a good seal it makes my face very sore the next day. When I get it loose enough to not pinch I have a lot of leakage and I still wake up about 5-7 times a night. I am often very sleepy during the day. I want this to work so I will continue to see the doctor. I see both private and VA doctor. When I wear the mask I don't snore my wife tells me. I may have had apnea for a long time since I have had sleep problems for years and I did have sleep problems in the army. There is a particular instance where I went sort of wild from lack of sleep one time in the army and it is documented. I got no treatment, of course. John

Teac I can't understand why they have not granted you "S" since at least 2008 when Bradley was decided. The VA's argument as far as I understand it is that there is no retro on Bradley before 2008. That I don't buy, but it needs to be tested in court. I can see that the VA is never going to grant any money for "S" under Bradley before 2008 at the VARO level until they get the word from the courts. This is just the VA in stall mode. If they can stall for five years a certain percentage of vets are going to die and they save money.

I would say this is your chance to get P&T. I got P&T within one year. If you are TDIU and don't have a job then that is proof that you have not improved in the last year and your condition is static. When I was denied P&T when I got TDIU I was so mad I appealed the denial of Chapter 35 and got an IMO. I got a DRO Hearing and got my P&T within a year. I should have got 100%, but because the damn VA had me DX'ed as being schizophrenic and I was not actively psychotic they would only give me 70%. I got a rating for a "nervous condition" way back in 1971 which was probably PTSD, but they had no name for it then so they just slapped schizophrenia on it. I have thought about that a lot since then. There is a condition called "dissociative disorder" and I fit the bill for that completely at the time I filed in 1972. The VA and the Army are just very, very dumb.

I think to be retired on a pension you have to be at least 30%. If you are retired from wounds or injuries in line of duty it would be honorable, but maybe not a military retirement depending on the extent of wounds or injuries. Do you get Tricare?

Request P&T ASAP. You have been total for about 6 years. If that ain't permanent I don't know what is.

I had to file a claim to get my SMC since I was total plus 60% since 2008. The VA had no intention of ever granting me SMC. They rung it up as a CUE at the VARO so they were saying is was an error not to grant it to me as soon as I was eligible. I think they are bluffing when they say you can't get retro for total plus 60% to get "S". Someone will probably have to go back to court if they can live that long.

How can one be a teacher is they have hallucinations, delusions, constants threat of suicide or homocide, grossly inappropriate behavior etc. I know we have a lot of vets here who get 100% for PTSD but none of them have those kinds of symptoms who still post here. 100% in strick interpretation means you are psychotic.

Pete If I have a serious problem I go private because I am not prepared to wait months for care.

Your DX of severe, chronic depression if it is service connected could be 100% all by itself. I would say not to rush and be ready to appeal the VA's first rating.

I do have some mental health and agent orange conditions. I go to the VA for treatment for these conditions. If any secondary AO conditions are identified I want lots of VA records because I am going to probably file a claim. The fact the army sent me into a situation where they knew I would be exposed to AO burns me and I want them to compensate me if I get any disease and there is any way for me to be compensated. It is a matter of hitting them where it hurts since if it kills me it all gets swept under the rug. I am not really looking for compensation except my CUE but if someone drops in my lap I will take it. I think using the VA just makes it a little easier to gather your records and harder for them to impeach your doctors. Besides, the owe me medical care even if it is just some pills and a physical exam twice a year. I get little enough as it is. John

I was in the army. I cannot imgine talking to my CO, Ist SGt or XO about any mental health problems. I am a male and if I had been sexually attacked they would have laughed at me. I did talk to a shrink one time in Vietnam because of a black out I had. He recommended to my CO that I be immediately discharged due to being emotionally unstable....black out....unstable...due....! The CO just ignored it. I did every day of my tour. The shrink did also say that I had dissociative state due to personality disorder. Dissociative disorder is a mental health disorder that is compensable and I suffered from it and other conditions for years after Vietnam.

I think a vet who is 100% schedular for PTSD probably can get away with working a low profile job as long as he does not tell the VA that he works. You get your P&T and just keep your mouth shut about working. For instance, if you had a lawn cutting job I think you could stay under the radar and it might even be good for you. That is not true for TDIU. If you have TDIU you can't work and if you do you are asking for it.

When you don't get sleepy until 5 am you might as well stay up until the regular time to go to bed and reset your clock. Your clock is now set to go to sleep at 5am and wake up at 1pm. You want to reset it. It is hard. I have had horrible sleep problems for years and I fight to try and stay on schedule even if I am half dead. If you sleep schedule gets switched from days to nights it is hard to get it switched back. My other advice is to try and get some sun and talk a walk during the day. That helps to set you clock. We are animals that existed in nature by hunting during the day and hiding in caves at night. Our biology has not changed that much. Up until a few hundred years ago 99% of the population went to sleep when it got dark and woke up at dawn. John