john999

If you are on TDIU and you pay SSA, file taxes and run a store I wonder what you tell the VA when they send you that employment questionaire? You get SSD and TDIU and you manage a store? Is this something you do at a flea market on weekends I hope? About how much money did you earn last year? You are on the chickenshit verge of a big problem.

I don't see any place where the VA mentions your buddy statements that place you in Vietnam. Can you scan the buddy letters for us? I think the VA is really using a meat ax on AO claims. If Vietnam is not stamped all over your records they don't want to admit RVN service because of AO liability. They would let a thousand RVN vets die rather than service connect a single one.

Brokensoldier I would ask for a DRO Hearing rather than a Review. The VA is famous for doing "cut and paste" reviews. At a hearing at least you get to look the SOB in the eye. I would not get too hung up on the reconsideration vs NOD thing. There is no short cut. You usually still have to find some more evidence or a better argument to win your claim if the VA denies it the first time. They don't self-correct on the basis of the same evidence. They "cut and paste" on the basis of the same evidence. If you lose at the DRO level and you find some new evidence you can ask for a personal hearing with somebody at the VA locally and keep trying. I have had two hearings on the same claim at the RO. If all else fails then you go to the BVA. If that fails you go to the Court. The NOD is the very basis of the appeal process and should protect your effective date. If you ask for a reconsideration I would type in Bold Print across the top "RECONSIDERATION REQUEST". The VA often gets NOD's and reconsiderations confused. Every poster is right and I tthink we are giving insight into the process. Just remember that the VA is really dumb.

A good therapist is worth a ton of drugs.

My private orthopod did an MRI of my neck and found stenosis at C-5 and C-6. I have been complaining for years to the VA about the pain at the base of my neck and they told me there was nothing wrong. Nice! Now I go for a course of steroids. They misdiagnosed it as a rotator cuff injury for years. It is not something that requires surgery but a shot in the neck is next. When your neck starts with degerative disease it is just downhill. It has gotten worse for years.

You know I was diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia within one year of discharge in 1971. I got 10% rating. The VA just ignored my evidence and relied on evidence of a worker in a mental ward that said I got on well with other mental patients. This was the bad old days and this is the VA in its glory. They did not even send me appeal rights. I did not even know I could appeal and that is not grounds for a CUE. I still have a CUE but not on duty to assist.

My mother died in a nursing home waiting for A&A. The county VSO said the VA did it on purpose. They know that these ailing people will probably die soon so they delay the process to save a buck. I got my aunt A&A before she died. If I had to wait 11 years for benefits I would be mad as hell. I am waiting three years for a CUE that would award me an increase retro to 1971. I have heard the most incredible denials. My lawyer can't believe the bogus reasons for denial but he keeps on plugging.

If social phobia or agoraphobia is part of your PTSD then that should help you get HB. I think many PTSD vets are housebound to a great extent. I don't think it is unusual at all. If you have severe PTSD you may be afraid of many things outside your safe zone.

Well, you have a lawyer who believes in your claim. I think you will win in the end. Lawyers don't take claims they don't think they can win.

Old man they are really giving you hell. I never heard of Stars and I thought I had heard of every way the VA could delay a claim. I had my awards deferred before for no logical reason.

Mike S Was making your appointments at the VA the only reason they denied housebound? It is a bogus reason. I don't even think many at the VA understand the concept of HB. I don't even know why they consider someone with total plus 60% to be housebound.

What would the minimum amout of SSD a vet could get if he is 20 years old and is totally disabled SC? It is based on income and quarters worked. You have to have 40 quarters to get SSD as far as I know. Younger vets who become totally disabled for SC reasons are at a gross disadvantage than a guy who is able to work for 20 years and becomes total with time. I see those guys with TBI at my VAMC and they have lost their futures. It is upsetting. You are really doing great work Pete992. You really dig deep.

It is calculated for each limb and VA math is used. I got 10% for each limb and it does not amount to much since I had 70% already. I think it bummped me up to 80% including a rating for DMII. You are a victim of vanishing percentages as you get close to 100%.

That was a fast turnaround for the VA!

Yes, you can ask for the DRO. You should get proof that you submitted the DRO request on time. You don't want something getting lost at the VA and you not have proof they got it on time. I would get a date stamped copy of my DRO request if possible. After the DRO if you lose you can still go to the BVA but lets hope you win at your DRO Hearing. I would ask for a personal hearing with the DRO so you can explain all this to a person.

If you are 100% the VA is supposed to do your dental work anyway. They are great at pulling teeth. I am using a private dentist after they screwed up a filing three times and would not do an implant for me. I guess if I ever need dentures I might go back. As long as I have the money I am staying away from them.

If the VA does not address evidence in its decision that is grounds for an appeal. It depends what the VA said about the buddy letters. For instance, if you had an IMO and the VA just totally ignored it then that is grounds for an appeal. If, however, they addressed it and found some reason why they discounted it that could still be appealed if it is not a valid reason for discounting it. Forget about suing or CUE at this point. You got to win this claim and if I were you I would keep looking for some evidence of the documentary kind to show you were in Vietnam.

If you are taking xanax and clonazepam the VA won't like it. If you get pain meds from them they will have a cow. I see nothing wrong with xanax. The VA constantly tells me they think the fact I take clonazepam and narcotic pain meds is dangerous. Yeah, it is if you increase the dose way above and beyond what you should take.

Can you imagine the number of WWII vets who died from alcoholism that was actually untreated PTSD? My neighbor was an aviator in WWII and flew many missions. He was a hero to everyone, but his wife and kids who had to live with him and his PTSD.

Hey, you can become dependent on clonazepam and it is a very benign drug of that class. I can't sleep without it. It is a slow acting anxiety drug, but if you stop taking it suddenly you will have unhappy experience. I did it before and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't abuse it but I use it. You have to taper off very slowly if you decide to do that. It makes me snore because it relaxes throat muscles. That is why I want off of it, but what is there to replace it. Ambien gives me amnesia. Prozac makes me impotent. Thank God for medical science.

Yes, he said I quote "Don't let anyone operate on your neck". This was about ten years ago for what it is worth.

Prozac familiy of drugs (and it is huge) do often cause ED of some sort. Those who the Gods want to punish they first make mad and then give prozac.

I don't think they are saying adjustment disorer is a PD, but maybe that it is not as serious or permanent as PTSD. When they see a sunami of PTSD claims coming at the it is the VA way to try and minimize that wave.

When I got my colonoscopy I chose a guy to do it that had done about 10,000 of them. The procedure has some risks. If a medical student does it he/she could rupture your bowel. This does happen in a very small number of cases. I don't want the VA doing that for me. If I were to get hep C or HIV from dirty equipment you might be reading about me in the newspaper (insane vet goes on rampage). I would pay the difference. That is why if you are 100% or TDIU you should get SSD and medicare.

You know, Pete, another friend who has panic disorder has so many similar symptoms to PTSD that the doctor who saw both of us said he believed that PTSD and Panic are just different names for the same thing. The thing about panic it seems to often come out of the blue. It might come from accumulation of stressful events that just suddenly explode into symptoms. This chopping emotional disorders into this or that disease is really just voodoo. People with extream combat fatigue are often psychotic. Does that make them schizophrenic or is it PTSD or something else. The only thing I noticed that the VA and military are good at is finding a NSC reason for a person's problems.