john999

Chemdogg You should request to be made P&T. You do this by getting a letter from your doctor that says after reviewing your medical records and examining you it is his/her medical opinion that your condition is static and will not improve. In his/her opinion you are permanently and totally disabled. 100% schedulara or TDIU does not automatically become P&T even after 10 years. Get a Statement in Support of Claim and send it to the RO with your evidence and your request to be made P&T. Send it certified mail return receipt.

This just means the claim is ready to rate. It could sit there for quite a while and it would not be abnormal. There is no set time line for these things. Your claim is not even a year old yet. Claims often take 12-18 months. Appeals can take 24 months. Are you working? What are you claiming? I have a claim that is 5 years old.

I am in the St Pete RO. There is nothing you can do really to speed them up. Do you have a lawyer on the case? Why were you denied the first time if you meet the criteria for PTSD? The way I did it with St Pete was I got a new medical opinion every time I was denied for anything. I never went for an appeal without new evidence to rebutt exactly what I had been denied for the first time. So the VA has DX'ed you with PTSD? The DRO is quicker than the BVA in my experience. What are you basing your PTSD claim on? I know the criteria for PTSD has changed in the last few years. You must have a VA diagnosis of PTSD. You don't need the verifiable stressor, but I bet if you have combat badge or PH it would help.

Do you have diabetes?

I worked for the post office as well. I retired on disability 2001. I got SSD. You must be CSRS. You will have your retirement so when you get TDIU you will be OK. Since the retirement bonus you are getting is not actual earned income I don't think it will be a problem. Keep the paperwork that explains the source of the money. I was on administrative leave for about four months before I retired. The VA will use your actual retirement date on the Form 50.

10% for IHD? That sounds very low. Did you have a heart attack?

VA ratings and records from the 1970's are a joke. My rating decision was two pages long. There was no discussion. No reasons and basis. No listing of evidence. It was just some letters and a rating percentage and a DX. They based my rating on military hospital records and VA hospital records. My private doctor did an actual evaluation and the VA just ignored it. I filed a CUE on this and it sits at the court right now. The VA gets away with murder. I got no exit physical. I got no appeal rights on my rating.

The people serving in Afghanistan have gotten so little attention. Maybe one or two movies made about them and a few books. One of the guys who co-produced "Restrepo" was blown away in Lybia. Now you got wannabees trying to take credit. The people in Iraq and Afghanistan are pretty much forgotten and the wars are not even over yet. That does not bode well for these young vet's futures. Do you notice the fascination with the Second World War on the military channel? Arm chair warriors love the dog fights,U-boats and tank battles. That is not modern warfare in the 21st century.

Do you work for the feds?

I have been in therapy for 40 years. I still need help from time to time coping. I got into a private group therapy back in the 1970's. It was not for just PTSD. It saved my life. The psychologist who ran the group screened new members carefully. He did not just fill vacant slots in the group with warm bodies. The max size of the group was about 6-8 because larger than that and it is too big to really hear everyone. The VA just uses a cookie cutter. I go to the VA to see a shrink and hear a few jokes.

I don't think many know about the "one year after discharge rule" for chronic diseases. This is sort of how I got SC'ed since the army said I was discharged for a PD, but the VA said I had a chronic mental disorder. I bet tens of thousands if not hundrends of thousands of vets are screwed because they don't show symptoms within a year, or don't file within a year. What if the vet shows symptoms within 13 months of discharge? What if the vet does not file for 2 years after discharge? I bet they get screwed if they don't have a history of symptoms in service.

You are going to need a doctor's statement that you are retiring due to your service connected disability since you are not retiring on disability but early retirement to get a bonus.

You can make a claim for chronic pain disorder if it includes depression as one of the symptoms. Chronic pain disorder is a psychological as well as physical disorder. If you have chronic pain and depression you will get a rating for one or the other but not both. If you have claims for bipolar, schizophrenia, depression and PTSD you will only be rated on one of those conditions.

Are you working or not working due to PTSD. Not being able to work is usually the difference between a 50% rating and a 70-100% rating regardless of all the other symptoms. If you are not working due to PTSD you should have gotten a higher rating.

Hire an attorney.

We have to take an oath that each one of us will do our best to live to 100 and if on our own at that point marry an 18 year old so they can collect DIC for the next 80 years. This happened after Civil War vets got pensions. I read where a 14 year old girl married a 90 year old vet. She collected into the 1960's.

What does your lawyer say? Stay put until your claim is finalized. Don't move again.

With the NOD ask specifically for a Personal Hearing with the DRO. Then you can present all your evidence as Bergie suggests. This gives you a chance to look the DRO in the eye and he/she gets to look at you and see you as a person. With your evidence you want to use the doctors to connect all the dots regarding the nexus. You must have the doctor really spell it out for the VA. If that doctor won't do it get one who will.

Has the VA diagnosed you with PTSD? That is important now. Do you have combat medal, ribbons or badges? As long as you have proof you were in Vietnam your heart claim should be approved. If you have PTSD DX from the VA with your combat history you should be approved for that condition as well. There have been recent rule changes for PTSD. You must get a PTSD DX from the VA. This is my understanding. Our man here, Larry, has a very good grasp of this rule change. It used to be that you had to verify a stressor for PTSD. I think now if VA says you have PTSD then that is all you need.

Tlaf I think I would go for TDIU if I were you. The jobs you do probably aggravate your condition. TDIU takes some time and one day you are going to be flat on your back with no income. Whose talking about bogus claims? If you are in as much pain as you say then maybe living a different kind of life style would be good. Do you think you are going to get the perfect job in an economy so bad that even illegals are staying home. Get as much as you can now before the VA decides they have been too easy on vets and make things harder. They can do that at the drop of a hat or election.

Grent Did you not say you are 100% P&T?

Are you in the pain clinic. If they prescribed narcotics I would take the scripts. I would try and maximize the depression claim. Are you working now? If you are prescribed a powerful narcotic this will testify to the extent of the pain you are in and will also add a layer of medication symptoms. If you are 30% now you need at least 70% to easily get TDIU without a fight. All the 0% and 10% claims are not worth one 70% claim. Concentrate on the big stuff. You can pick the other stuff up later. What is your goal? Do you just want a higher rating or are you seeing being unemployable on the horizon?

Bill Do you have TDIU? Did you hire a lawyer for the SSD? If you are 90% from the VA there can't be much you can do. Maybe a greeter at Walmart if they let you sit in a wheelchair.

No, I hired on in 1985 just after the switch to FERS. I made it 20 years before I had to retire on disability. If not for the VA I would be much more concerned about my finances. I would be OK, but not due to my OPM and SSD.

You should file for TDIU if your SC conditions forced you to retire early. A C&P exam is very different from an exam by a regular orthopod at the VA. After you get your condition SC'ed then file for IU. How do you live on just SSD? You are a vet. If you can't work due to injuries suffered in service the VA is supposed to take care of you. You have to prove it, but there it is.