john999

You need evidence of some type to back a PTSD claim. You need a DX of PTSD from a VA doctor. If you were treated or DX'ed with anxiety disorder in the service you don't need a PTSD DX. I think the new regulation could help you if you get a PTSD DX.

VAMC's have special deal for hiring disabled vets. Maybe you could get a job doing some sort of low physical stress. There are a lot of people I see standing around at the VA doing almost nothing. They are not straining themselves. In fact you must hold a mirror to their face to see if they are even breathing but they take home a paycheck. However, if Voc Rehab feels you are too disabled to be rehabilitated that would look good as evidence for either IU or 100%. The post office hires janitors that are severely disabled vets. They make good money and do almost nothing.

I would take the 100% or IU and then fight the designation of incompetence. You have to show that you can handle your own money. You don't want to do this until you get 100%. You want to appear as a basket case until you get the 100% P&T. I know others have been through this deal. Except for the humiliation part it is good news since they thing you are really nuts and incompetent. That is good from view point of claimant with the VA. Just wait until you get the 100% P&T. Then you can fight the other thing. You must have scared someone. See, in the world of the VA everything is upsidedown. Good is bad and sick is good. The worse you appear the better off you are. A sick system.

How many people that are truly 100% can work? The only ones I know work for DAV. When I say "work" I mean they draw a paycheck. If I had 100% and was able to work I could never earn my living. I might be able to do something a few hours a day. I would like that, but it won't happen since I am IU. By the time most get 100% they can't work and have a hard time just living.

As broken down as some of us are we veterans really need to take things in hand somehow. Nobody is going to do it for us. Trading information here at Hadit is really great. There are 22 million vets and yet we have to stand still for this crap?

Do like Pete said and get a lawyer. Your claim is way above the pay grade of the American Legion. You do the NOD and then get a lawyer. This is the best advice any of us can give you along with what Berta said.

Now you can expect your cardiac or brain tumor to be examined by a PA who does not know his/her ass from a hole in the ground. Thus the VA is prostituting good exams to save money and speed up denial process. What pigs! Congress sits by and the VSO's cheer them on! Disgusting.

You don't need to show any incident that set off your anxiety disorder or depression. You just have to show that it started in the military and continues to this day. If you were treated for anxiety or depression in the military or within one year after discharge that is usually enough.

Living in Florida I can't get a nationally known insurance company to insure my house. State Farm dumped me and the others won't even talk to me. I never filed a claim in 15 years but they dumped me anyway. I have some company called Royal Palm Insurance. My brother had Citizens. He pays 3300 bucks a year for house insurance for a house that is unimproved and 90 years old.

Yes, this is the kind of claim where a lawyer earns their money. When the VA just digs in their heels and decides to keep denying a claim even when you have good evidence then hire the lawyer. I got my ratings by just taking what I got in my SOC's and working with various private doctors to rebutt each issue. I would concentrate on the rating that is going to get you IU or 100% on its own merits. Good lawyers who do this kind of work often know doctors who can write a report that hits all the buzzers and bells on the VA pinball machine. It is a game. Some of these VA doctors or QTC doctors just hate veterans. They think it is their divine mission to defend the US treasury from greedy veterans.

Sometimes they keep you waiting to observe you. They did that to me one time.

They rate you on each limb. I got 10% on hands and feet. The truth is there is no objective test for PN that is conclusive. It is subjective to some extent. If you have more than 10% from the VA then you have it bad. It starts hands and feet and moves toward the trunk. Most people get it from DMII, but some get idiopathic type which means they don't know why you have it.

If you have a depression DX in your military records you should file for compensation if you still suffer from depression. The best way to get back at them is to get into the VA's pocket. The VA was the dumping ground for all the guys suffering mental or emotional problems from military service.

There was a guy here who worked for the feds for 30 years and then retired and filed for IU. After many fights he got it. The point is that just because you retire from one job does not mean that in a year you don't want to go back to work and your symptoms now prevent that. Myself I did 20 years for the feds but took disability retirement. I will have my 30 year credit in in two years and will then get regular retirement which is not much. People thing federal retirement is great but it is poor for those under FERS. My crummy pension is fully taxable even as a disability retirement.

I think you should get at least 30% for the depression with a GAF of 60 which means moderate depression. When you get to 70% it gets harder and harder to really increase your overall rating. I was 70% and got IU. Then I got five ratings for 10% and one for 60% and all I got was a 90% rating. It is good to get all these conditions service connected so that the day you pull the plug on employment there won't be much question about IU.

Hughie One good thing about topomax is that it can help with weight loss. Nobody knows why. I was put on topomax recently by pain management.

Bergie and Larry you are both right!

You can get a NSC pension, but it is need based like SSI. It is very small money and you have to be really poor to get it.

You must file a claim first. If you are denied or lowballed then you file a NOD. That is when you can hire a lawyer. I think if you have congnitive problems hire the lawyer. You can find one in Atlanta I am sure. I live in Florida and hired a lawyer from New Jersey. You have a much better chance with a lawyer who knows his business than on your own if you don't want to become a VA lawyer yourself. Most of us learned the hard way and it takes years of denials. You will have the money to get the medical opinions you need. With that and a good lawyer you could cut years off the process. This is what I believe. The lawyer gets paid out of your retro just like SSD.

Anyone who actually volunteers to fight in one of these dirty wars like Vietnam or Afghanistan has to be crazy. If anyone saw and experienced how the combat troops actually live they would run and not walk for the exit. My father did not bath for so long in WWII he got a skin disease and actually got 10% disability. This was the Good War. Remember Catch 22 where the hero is told by the shrink that anyone who would want to fly missions has to be crazy. Therefore since he does not want to fight anymore he is not crazy. Catch 22.

The military discharged thousands during and after Vietnam as PD's. Now over 40 years later they do the same thing. If a soldier comes back from a combat zone PTSD should be ruled out first. It is just about the money. Nothing else. The military dumps the mentall ill on the VA and then the vet must fight for years to overcome the PD DX. It is just a tactic to avoid liability. Military psychiatry is a joke. Most could not make it as real doctors except maybe at the VA.

Can you walk it over to the VARO and get date stamped copies of your evidence? I don't trust the VA as far as I can throw them.

I think you will get your IU now. If you got a GAF of 50 that means you have serious depression. With the combination of your back and the depression I don't know anyone who would hire you. Maybe the VA will hire you to greet people as they walk in the door. What was the VA's reason for not granting IU? I was on methadone and morphine and it just takes away your ability to think. If you have chronic pain that is going to require you to be on methadone long term there is little chance of you even being safe to drive.

Take this decision to your private doctor to rebutt each point the VA used to deny your claim. This would be new evidence. This is how you win these claims that are all based on the medical evidence. Don't ship it off to the BVA without gettting new medical evidence. Every time I got denied I went right back to my doctor and had him review the denial "reasons and basis" and rebutt it. I would ask for a personal hearing after I get the new evidence.

You might want to challange your discharge if it was a general under honorable conditions. You should have gotten a medical discharge. The military has been using the personality disorder discharge for 40 years to avoid paying medical pensions. The military knows exactly what they are doing. It is a disgrace but they continue to do it.