john999

10% for a anxiety disorder means you get nervous every once in a while. Almost nobody has a 10% nervous condition. If you are taking meds for it then it should be more than 10%. Just from your description of med trials you probably ought to aim at 30-50%. You need IMO to help you I think when you file for increase.

If you can't work due to any condition you should file for SSD. The best case is where your file for SSD for SC reason and file for TDIU as soon as you are unable to work. I would start saving my money for the day that I cannot work due to these conditions. Then you can cruise over the rough spots while you wait because you can't continue to work full time while you are waiting for TDIU and SSD. You are looking at 6 months for SSD and possibly as long for TDIU claim to be successful. I went five months without a paycheck myself, but had some money from other sources. It was still uncomfortable to say the least. Ask others how they felt waiting for TDIU or 100%? If you know it is coming prepare for it. I kept working when I should have retired and made things worse for myself.

If SSA is going out as usual I doubt the USA is going to delay VA payments. We are not active duty here. I don't think we need to scare ourselves up a tree over this. Most of this shutdown business is just political gamesmanship. Whoever shorts active duty in combat zone their pay and gets blamed for it will soon be out of a job.

Vetinpa If you are this nervous about your present claim you will be really nervous when and if you file for TDIU. There are no set time limits for deciding these claims. If you are not working and waiting for TDIU that means you need an alternative source of income. When you get ready to claim TDIU get your finances in order for the long haul, so you don't run out of money before your TDIU award. All this talk about 16-27 days for this or that is just BS. You need to be able to go without a check for 6-12 months after you file for TDIU. You don't want to end up losing everything you own because you take the word of someone at the VA that your claim will be awarded any day now. You should also file for SSD when you file for TDIU.

Bear Vets have come here with claims that were just so difficult and complex and old that I thought there was no chance for them. Through persistence they proved they could move mountains. You are SC for something. That means you have the lever to move the mountain. A 10% rating can become a 100%. I did it and so can you.

What I think you want to show with medical evidence is that the conditions you have now are premanent. You don't want to reinvent the wheel with this new PTSD DX. You don't need that. This will just confuse the issues.

This is sickening considering felons who have stolen millions with Wall Street scams and they never served a day in uniform. No one deports them and they usually don't even go to jail. The worst crime you can commit in the USA is to be poor.

If government shuts down how will you be able to tell? Will we get mail? Will checks go out? Will congressmen still take bribes?

VA hospitals should be the light on the hill for all other medical in our country. The VA should set the standard instead of cutting corners and trying to get by the cheap way.

If c&p doctor used the phrase "less likely than not" this is not good. The doctor is saying right thigh pain is probably not related to back condition. Now you need your own IMO's to rebutt this conclusion. The doctor says your back is a mess but unrelated to thigh pain. Don't give up!

Show your C&P to your regular therapist. Maybe he/she can write notes to rebutt the BS the C&P doctor wrote. Getting independent medical opinion is the best way to rebutt a C&P. You must show by weight of evidence that your condition is truly worse than what the A-&^^% doctor has stated. Getting a decent rating is not usually a quick and easy thing. It takes time and appeals and work to build a case for yourself. I was once hosed by a VA C&P exam. The doctor said because I had a degree in psychology he suspected fraud. These things happen. It can be overcome.

I volunteered twice during my so-called army career. I was sorry both times. Funny thing I get along very well with lifers I meet at the VA. I understand the sacrifice to their families they made and how little they got paid for 20-30 years of service. I did not get along with lifers when I was a 20 year old PFC. I admit that I hated them. I regret that now.

I hope you win something Allan.

It looks good to me for a 30-50% rating since you still work. The thing is to get the rating so if you can't work at some time in the future you can apply for TDIU. The report says moderate impairment but a GAF of 55 is on the low end of moderate. You might get a 70% rating but this is guess work. I think you will get SC'ed which is most important.

Do you have other insurance?

16-27 days is a joke. Nobody knows how long it will take. It won't take five years but it may take five months or 10 months.

A lot of times neurosurgeons will not operate until you are in dire shape. This is because of the risk involved. One mistake and you are may be much worse off than your original problem. I remember the baseball playear, Tim Wakefield the Red Sox, had a herniated disc. They operated because his leg was affected. Just because you have pain and herniated or bulging disc is not always a reason for surgery. My doctor explained what a fusion would mean for me when I told him about my lower back pain. I suffer, but fusion is major surgery. It scared me. I have had poor luck with surgeries including staff infection. Everyone says they can fix your back is this or that new surgery. I don't believe it. If the only took you have is a hammer everything starts to look like a nail.

Papa That's right. My pain doctor was fired for taking too much time with his patients and prescribing drugs the VA thought were too expensive. When the doctor harms the patient he/she gets transferred or promoted. When the doctor harms VA's bottom line they get fired.

I did think that combat vets where supposed to be given the benefit of doubt on their claims of combat injury.

Unless you are missing a limb and it is visible most people don't think of a vet as being disabled. I watch Judge Judy for laughs. However, she often makes fun of people who are on disability with "bad backs" and/or mental problems. I wonder if she would make fun of a PTSD vet if he/she were willing to admit it. How can I show "chronic pain" disorder? How can I show "anxiety/ptsd"? If you consider a 100% disability for a 22 year old that is very small money for a life that has been changed so drastically. There is no amount of money to compensate someone for a severe TBI or mental illness. If someone asks me about my military disability I say I was poisoned by agent orange. That shuts them up usually since they don't know what that is anyway.

I had to have my recent VA dental work redone by private dentist because they made a mess of it. It cost me about $200 bucks. Three trips to the VA to get a chipped tooth fixed and they got it wrong, and stood me up on an appointment.

The fact you did not get a SOC does not mean you won your claim. You have been sick a long time. Keep going to the VA for care. I think you will win something in the end. As you know it takes time. You are doing OK. I have had a number of DRO Hearings. It usually took me 3-6 months for a decision after the hearing. As you know guessing time frame is hopeless. If you refuse to give up and continue to ask your questions here you will win. Don't lose your cool or give up. All the moderators and elders here have been through the mill and beaten about the head and body by the VA. They feel your pain. Chemical exposure cases are really hard. 45 years after exposure AO vets are still winning claims. That is a long time to wait.

I was a postal employee. I know the postal inspectors used to investigate people claiming workers compensation. If you have a worker's compensation claim companies will often hire investigators to try and catch a claimant doing work they claim they cannot do. I don't think the VA has time or money to be running around with a "we don't need no stinking badges" officer. I have been on WC,SSD,disability insurance, VA and OPM. No one has ever investigated me except through very formal method of checking medical records or IRS/SSA match. This whole thing sounds fishy, very fishy. It could be a shake down type scam.

I filed a CUE claim that goes back to 1971. If I win my original rating will be changed. My rating will probably be staged over a number of years. How can a VSO or lawyer (which I have) make a judgement about what my rating should be if they don't have my complete file. That is what I am talking about. I think Pete does not mean you should depend on a VSO or reject all VSO's. I can see that if you file a claim your VSO may not need your complete file. In my case the VA did go over my whole file to find a reason to reject my CUE. Not legal I know, but they did it anyway, and my lawyer will need my whole file to make sense of my ratings over the last 4 decades. If you have an old claim your file is probably huge. Unless you are filing a CUE or a claim that challanges an effective date from the way back your file can probably sleep in peace. The first thing my lawyer asked for was my entire C-File. Autumn, I see where you are coming from with your frustration and distrust of the VA. I don't trust them either and not wild about the VSO's I have had dealings with in the past.

I got the insurance and SMC by filing claims after I was TDIU. I don't mean file for a hang nail but if it is something that might kill then file. If you have SC high blood pressure, for instance, file a claim. If I die it will be from a SC condition unless I get hit by a beer truck. That means DIC for spouse. All old single vets should marry just to insure someone gets DIC. This is our only revenge besides a long life.