john999

When you fill out the IU form it will establish an effective date. I filed for IU when I was 30% and when my rating was raised to 70% I eventually got the IU effective to the date I filed. I got a 60% rating for heart disease secondary to DMII. Do you have a doctor who says that your heart problem is secondary to the DMII? I got the VA to do a lot of testing on me via my PCP. I won the 60% on appeal.

What other benefits did you get? You might be P&T.

Ask your PCP to refer you to a psychiatrist.

That is very good advice USMCGirl. I don't like the way SCscrewed's DAV rep talks about him or the process. I would dump that guy quick. Get a rep who supports you and understands your issues.

If you ask for P&T they will take a look at your claim to see if you have improved or remained static. You might want a letter from a doctor saying your conditions are static.

You have your foot in the door with the 30%. I started off with just 10% and now I got TDIU and SMC. I was told all along the way by the VA and various VSO's that I would never get more when I was just 10%.

I am not sure you are getting good advice, but it is your claim.

See if you can get 100% for depression or the adjustment disorder then you would be able to get SMC housebound at least. You could reopen your claim and provide evidence of your servere depresssion/adjustment disorder. Maybe talk to a VA lawyer about it.

How long have you been rated 100%? Is your entire 100% for adjustment disorder? What kind of home care do you get from the VA?

I do believe you should have gotten a medical discharge. There is no mention of a personality disorder in your fitness for duty. I believe the military just discharged you as "unsuitable" to save money. I don't know that much about the reserves or NG but if your breakdown occurred on active duty your depression is service connected without a doubt. The PD discharge hurts you with the VA since they are liable to use that to attempt to deny service connection. That fitness for duty exam should be enough to get you service connection with the VA for MDD. The marines took advantage of you because you were sick. This is SOP for the military. Things have not changed that much in 40 years. If your claim is denied I would get a lawyer. Everything about the way you were treated by the military stinks.

Your PCP can send you for the tests, but if my life depended on it I would pay for the private care. I am 60% for heart and I have never seen a cardiologist. My experience with the VA was that they gave me tests that contradicted each other and they never followed up on it. My other experience is that the VA will wait until you have a heart attack before they even talk to you about your heart. I know we all get screwed to an extent because the VA is so cheap, but you have to protect yourself since they won't. I mean if you are 100% vet the VA is just waiting for you to die so they can take you off the ledger. We are dead men walking to them.

The Marines discharged you for a personality disorder which could not be Major Depressive Disorder. A personality disorder is a non-compensable condition. MDD is compensabe up to 100%. Did the VA agree that you have a personality disorder as well as MDD/PTSD? Often you have to rebutt the PD diagnosis. There must be more to the story. I know because I was discharged as a personality disorder but the VA changed that to schizophrenia. My doctor rebutted that PD diagnosis. You might even be able to get your discharge changed since it has been such a short time since you were discharged. How long did you serve? Did you get a medical evaluation before discharge and what did it say?

I would not describe the VA as agile.

Getting a honorable discharge changed to a medical discharge even with a long military psychiatric history is very hard. I tried it. You are doing the right thing by having a lawyer do it for you. How much will it cost? I am not sure it is worth it unless you get some tangible benefit. I would say the lawyer's fee is going to be a key factor to seeing if it is worth it. They win about 5% of these cases where there is a benefit involved.

Federal employees from all over the US go to Ellis for Schedule Award evaluations. I heard that they are the best at getting money for people.

Did you actually get a general discharge for MDD? You should have gotten a medical discharge if that was the only reason for your discharge or if you had that diagnosis upon discharge. Have you ever tried to get your discharge changed to a medical discharge? Was the military saying you were medically unfit for service?

While you hold gold or silver it makes no interest and then you must have a ultra safe place to keep it which is another expense. Maybe I should fill up a safe deposit box with gold but I am not quite ready for that. If there is hyperinflation the government here would do "anything" to stop it in its tracks. If they had to raise interest rates to 50% they would do it. If they had to occupy S.Arabia they would do that.

Walt These c&p doctors and VA doctors can put a hurting on you if they get a mind to do it. Then you have to spend thousands of bucks getting IMO's to rebutt them. They will lead you down the garden path to a DX that ends up as some congenital or pre-existing condition. I had one do that to me when I was a very young claimant.

I would not tell a VA doctor I want to help me that they "Must" do anything. They may put the screws to you for life.

Justlurk Do you have sleep apnea? I know when you come off pills you will have nightmares. You need REM sleep and you will get it even if it is bad. I have some very vivid nightmares. The only good thing is I am young in my dreams and have no trouble fighting for my life.

Back in the 70's and 80's I remember filing claims at St Pete VARO and it would be two year minimum, and then two more years on appeal to the BVA. You just filed it and forgot it.

I think the true greeting that sums up the VA's attitude is "Welcome home veteran! Please don't file a claim."

Ienovo is not bad. It is a IMO clone from China but you get a lot of bang for the buck. Satellite is also and cheap. You can get a lot for 600 dollars. Of course you need wireless router.

On a lighter note this reminds me of the woman who is asked by a judge if she has any children and replies "Not as far as I know".

I agree with that referral to a lawyer. A lot of these sharp lawyers know doctors who will do IMO's for you. If a claim gets into appeals and starts to go round and round I think it is time to get a lawyer. You have a TBI so the very fact that you can do the heavy lifting of an appeal weighs against you. I am not saying you can't, but why stress yourself.