john999

xanax is very addictive just like valium and even clonazepam. If you stop taking it suddenly you will have some mean withdrawal symptoms. These include, for me, insomnia and being anxious as hell. If I could I would get a secondary source of the xanax. Just don't tell the VA.

The VA is not evil. They just don't care and that is why you have to take it to them. You have to prove your case.

If the VA schedules you for a C&P and you don't show up for whatever reason (unless you are sick and reschedule your exam) you really are dead meat. Even if you have a great claim you must show up for the C&P exam.

Retired If you just ask BVA to review the VARO decision you get the decision from BVA in about 2 years. If you ask for a hearing you get the hearing date and location before the decision.

Navy SSD is the lawyer and SSA court employment security act. Hang in there.

Why not TDIU and use vocational rehab via the VA to educate yourself. Then when you have the right education you can try working. You can get your SSDI and TDIU and get yourself together until you can get a good professional type job. The VA will pay for it since they want you off TDIU. I was really disabled and it took me twice as long to get through school. If I had had TDIU or 100% and SSD I would have had a much easier life. Both SSA and VA should want a claimant to become a taxpayer instead of a tax eater especially if you are just 24. They should bend over backwards to help you since many never work again if they are on SSD and TDIU.

You have a lawyer, right?

I think the C&P doctor meant you well. When you are able get a copy of your C&P exam. If you can't work put in for TDIU.

Pete It is probably due to the holiday. My meds were actually 7 days late. I did have a hell of a time getting my pain meds via private doctors because Florida has reputation as prescription drug depot for drug dealers. All this means is that if you are honest it makes it harder and more expensive to get pain meds. My pain meds in August were filled on August 3rd. In September they were not filled until September 7th plus two days to get them to me. What is the excuse for that? They are just lazy and incompetent idiots. In Florida you can't just go to your favorite pharmacy and get xanax or percoset. Last time I could not get a private pharmacy to fill my percoset script. The ones that would fill it wanted cash. Perhaps I will go to pain pill mill I know about and just jump through the hoops so I don't have to depend on the VA.

The best defense against the horrible or biased C&P is an IMO. I have had a lot of C&P exams for various things over the years and most have been poor and some have been so bad they were almost criminal.

I got my SMC within weeks of the call. I think if the St. Pete VA called you about IU they mean to grant it.

The Tampa VAMC is poor. The place looks dirty to me. I worry about lice when I sit in the seats waiting for blood work etc. I have received pretty poor care. Of course, I have received poor care in civilian world as well. Our medical system in the U.S. is chaotic.

Hedgey Yes, if he has just be filed for PTSD it is a good idea to stay in the loop. DH can see the VA shrink, but get his real treatment from your doctor, perhaps. What the VA does is they cut you down to seeing the VA shrink once every three months for a medcheck. They don't do psychotherapy. DH could join a PTSD group therapy via the VA. I know DH wants to document his PTSD as much as possible through the VA.

Did you appeal the 2004 claim decision? How did the VA decide to ignore your C&P exam where the doctor said you were unemployable? They rated you 50% instead of IU. Did the VA infer a claim for IU and then deny it? The C&P doctor's statement that you were unemployable should have triggered a TDIU claim. What was the evidence the VA used to rebutt the C&P that you were unemployable?

Your SMC should go back to the date you filed for the conditions that led to your getting service connected. The C&P exams were part of claims process. You are not supposed to have to file for a SMC.

If you awarded 100% and these two condtions are getting worse I don't think you will be reduced.

Iceturkey The VA was asking you if you wanted IU. If you did say "yes" I think you will have it pretty soon because the VA has made up their mind. I use the St. Pete VARO. If they called you all they want to know is should they go ahead and award TDIU or not. I would not look that gift horse in the mouth. I got a call like that about SMC.

The only real difference between a 30% rating for a MH condition and a 70-100% rating is your ability to work.

Does DH have any private insurance? If so I would find a real doctor. Nobody should be treated with disrespect.

VBM says a 100% vet who is reduced should be considered for IU before they lose the 100% pay rating.

So far having high cholesterol is not a disease. It may be a symptom of a disease process. If you have HBP and high cholesterol don't smoke whatever you do. It is a potentially fatal combination. If you have evidence of heart disease and HBP in your SMR's you file a NOD on the denial.

Go for the exam and don't worry about it. I never heard of anyone with PTSD that is not also depressed.

Hey, the VA cancelled my appointment for a C&P exam. I got a decision a month later saying I had been AWOL from my exam. This is not the first time something like this has happened. I called the VAMC and told them the facts. I got another exam, but it delayed my claim. I have also been denied based on missing an exam when I was never even notificed that I was supposed to have an exam. I got the exam eventually, but it just shows what clowns they are.

Retired I get the fentanyl patches. The dosage is really not high enough. The reason the VA uses to keep me at such a low and basically ineffective dose is because I also take clonazepam. The VA assumes I will OD if given half a chance. I have taken this stuff for years. I have never OD'ed on a narcotic. Over the last few years they have reduced the oxycodone dose I get by one half with no substitute. In Florida if you get oxycodone from a regular doctor you are more or less assumed to be a drug addict. I have taken all the pain meds the VA has to offer. I have chronic pain. Nothing works like narcotics regardlesss of what the so-called experts say. The public and medical community has a prejudice against opiates. I am sure if I had doctors who were free to really treat my pain without regard to the moral and legal bias I would not suffer so much.

Because of the holiday and being FUBAR the VAMC was 5 days late writing my pain med scripts. It then took an extra day to get them delivered via certified mail. If I had used the pain meds exactly as prescribed I would have been in a world of hurt. I use as little as I can just so if the VA does make a mess of things(which they have done countless times) I won't be up a tree. I have been over this ground with the VA about ten times. They never change. I just have no faith in the VA at all.