john999

I would say for younger vets with PTSD the ultimate goal is to recover and be able to have a life. You don't want to spend the next 40 years suffering with a chronic condition. For most so-called mental conditions there is no magic cure, but you can learn to deal with symptoms. However, in the meantime if you can't work you get TDIU.

To give you an idea of the variability of ratings I got rated 0% for CAD. How is that possible you ask? I asked the same question and got more tests and appealed the rating. I then got 60% rating for CAD. So I went from the VA saying you have a heart condition that is not a disability to one with a pretty severe disability. How could they make such a mistake? I had a very poor C&P exam. Some ratings for certain conditions on the schedule are more elastic. They all have certain benchmarks for rating percentages. For mental conditions like depression you can go from 10% to 100% with three or four levels inbetween depending on your symptoms and your documentation from a good doctor. I would suggest appealing all your ratings if their is slightest doubt in your mind about it. Unless you get maximum rating I would appeal. If you are able to work and carry on life the main thing is to get service connected. 30 years from now you may really be disabled from those conditions.

If you have any combat awards your stressor is conceded. You can get the TMJ secondary, but the main thing is to get the PTSD approved since that is the where the bulk of your compensation will probably come from. The TMJ will probably add 10% unless it is really bad. I think they measure how wide you can open your mouth. You know in advanced TMJ your jaw will stop popping and clicking because the tissue holding the jaw in place just wears out and your jaw will occasionally just pop out of the socket. They you take your hand and put it back in place. Be very careful about letting anyone do surgery to fix it. It is major surgery to get it fixed and if some clown dentist/surgeon does it you can really suffer. How bad is your TMJ? Do you have to take opiate pain killers? I would claim it now, and claim chronic pain as well.

Berta Since I qualify under Bradley vs Peake for the housebound SMC due to being TDIU and having 60 plus extra disability shouldn't the VA just infer this? They are obviously not doing it since I don't have it. Do I just need to send in something quoting the abover referrenced case to get my SMC? I was granted IU based on a 70% rating and after that I got five 10% ratings and one 60% rating. How should I word my claim for this Housebound since they were supposed to infer it. They owe me for at least a years worth of SMC as I see it. If I don't ask for it I will never get it.

Ratings for SC conditions are based on degree of disability caused by a service connected condition. You will just have to wait to get the rating from your VARO. It depends on exactly what your disability is and how disabling it is to figure a rating. It is just guess work until the VA rates you. If the rating is too low according to schedule for rating your disability then you can appeal.

That 1989 regulation was changed. Now those with a mental condition where they can't work may get 100%, or may get TDIU depending on symptoms. I am 70% for mental disorder and I can't work and I ended up with IU. There are a whole bunch of vets who are 70% for PTSD who can't work. They then have to apply for TDIU if they want 100% benefits.

If the VA is asking about your married status they must have awarded you at least 30% for you to get money for your spouse.

What you need is a doctor to say your back pain is secondary to some SC conditions. Then if they deny it you appeal and get more evidence. If you have good enough evidence you don't have to try and second guess what the VA may do.

Hire a lawyer and forget it. At least with SSD their is a rational system to deal with including lawyers and judges. With the VA it is the wild west. Not many SSD claims go missing for ten years like the VA.

The computer geeks say "garbage in, garbage out". If the VA has a DD214 and the vet's claim for some AO disease the VA should just set up the C&P exam and then make the rating. All this talk about automating the claims process will probably mean that claims will get rejected based on some code or a box that is not checked. The vet will get a computer generated denial letter, and then off to the unautomated appeals process. The VA cannot just buy computers to save money on employing qualified rating officers. It is always about the money with the VA. They swallow a camel and chock on a gnat. They decide to grant SC for three new conditions and then try to save a nickle on processing the claims. I don't really see how computers will speed up a evaluation process that still depends on someone putting facts together and applying the law to make a rating.

I started at 10% and am now IU P&T. You have your foot in the door. You need to hire your own medical gunslingers now to help bump it up.

Good luck in getting your complete file. When I compared my copy of my file with the BVA's copy theirs was three times as large.

Ask for referral to pain clinic. Your PCP is probably one of many doctors who believe that any pain med that is an opiate is bad. Get a new PCP if this one won't refer you to the pain clinic. Everyone will try and talk you out of using narcotic pain meds, but if it is keeping you up at night then that is when you need something.

Are you trying for SMC housebound? Is that why you want 100% for PTSD? If you were 100% for mood disorder and then DX'ed as being 70% only for PTSD that makes no sense. The criteria for 100% for MMD and for PTSD is the same. Total social and occupational impairment.

Yes, you wait for the decision and then you hire your gunslingers to rebutt the VA decision. Meanwhile, the seasons change. You grow a long white beard. Ice ages come and go. This is the VA's way of fighting you with the Four Corners defense. They run down "your" clock. You are not immortal, but the VA is immortal.

I think we are talking about BVA and Court of Vet Appeals. It is possible to spend a decade in appeals and remands and appeals going from the VARO to the BVA and then to the Court and back to the BVA and back to the VARO and then right back up the chain again. New evidence is one way to short circut this, and the Writ of Mandamous is the other. I would say that you need to get a lawyer if you go beyond BVA on the way up the chain.

What is maximum loan value for a VA loan. I got one about 23 years ago. At that time if was a great deal. I could buy a house for just a little more than I would have paid in rent in my neighborhood. Then house prices went crazy and the VA loans did not keep up with market value of houses.

I tried and got my prescription history for the last 15 years. I found I have been on opiates since 2004. Pretty interesting.

If the claim is still at the VARO you might be able to ask for a personal hearing before it is shipped off to the BVA. You might be able to come to some decision even at this late moment in time. I would ask for a personal hearing with a traveling judge if the BVA is the only course open to you new. I would also hire a lawyer I think. Do you have any new evidence?

I remember going to an army dentist due to miserable pain in my jaw. He said you have TMJ. We will have to operate but you may end up with two bolts in your neck like Frankenstein. This is true. I said "well, let's wait". Years later when I tried to file a claim the dentist had just written in my chart "examination" but no DX. Who would think a doctor would not DX such a condition? He did that because he knew I was on a levy for Vietnam. He did not want anything to stop my trip to the south seas. My claim failed because my records were "silent" on TMJ. I got it after being struck in the face duing basic training when we wailed at each other with those pugle sticks.

The staff at your local VAMC may seem wonderful but to get compensation you must deal with the Veterans Benefits Administration. They are not wonderful. If you get a referral to a psychiatrist post here before you go and let's talk about do's and don'ts. One thing I would keep in mind when talking to anyone at the VA is that you were 100% healthy before the military and due to the military you are now not near 100%. Don't let them take you back to your childhood or discuss illness or injury before your service. You need to focus on your complaints and symptoms that you believe are service connected.

When you get assigned to a Team you will have a PCP. This is when you should tell them about your PTSD. Tell them every single complaint you have but especially the things you believe are service connected. You should get a referral to see a psychiatrist. You need to go at this thing step by step and think long term. Long term you want to get as much compensation as you can get. This requires care when dealing with the VA. I would stay in touch with Hadit and check with others about exams and your discussions with psychiatrists. You can also use Vet Centers. You should make a decision about filing for PTSD on what you think and not on what the VA tells you. If you have symptoms of PTSD then file a claim. Don't let someone tell you that you don't have it if you believe you do have it. Are you aware of the symptoms of PTSD? Why don't you google it.

What is the definition of an inferred claim? What is effective date of an inferred claim. Who infers the claim? For instance, you are rated at 10% for a mental condition. You are brought to the VA one day and are admitted to psychiatric ward and DX'ed as being psychotic and given a GAF of 40. This is grounds for a claim for increase, but who would infer it? Not the VAMC. They would never inform the VBA that they have a patient that is much sicker than a 10% rating. If the vet or the vet's POA files a claim for an increase he/she could use the date of hospitalization as a claim for increase. No one from the VBA ever visits VAMC's to determine if there are inferred claims for increase of patients. Why is this process not automatic? If there is evidence that a vet is much more disabled than his/her current rating why is it left up to the vet to make the claim? I know,of course, that it is to save a buck at the vet's expense. Why do vet's have to be lawyers to get service connection or increases? The VA's whole MO is to hold onto the money and hope the vet dies without ever filing a claim.

So if the vet died 20 years ago from IHD the widow only gets paid from the time she files the claim. You know this is basically unfair. The VA and the government know the vet died from AO exposure. If the widow never filed she would not get a dime. This should be automatic back to the day of death from service connected cause. This is the VA playing a dirty game with spouses which is called "how do we legally screw this spouse of a "fallen hero" out of DIC. The country holds the dead vet up as a hero on the one hand and screws the spouse on the other. This is just like all AO claims since the government knows darn well the exposure caused the disease. The AO was a ticking time bomb inside the vet but you only get compensated when the bomb explodes. Same with PTSD and all the rest of delayed action disease bombs caused by war. Did the vet not have PTSD until he filed for it? I know the law, but it is unfair and a disgrace to those who sacrifice. There is the law and there is justice. They are at opposite ends of the universe.

If a Vietnam vet died of IHD what would the effective date be for a spouse filing now for the first time for DIC? There must be a large number of vets who have died from heart disease in the last 40 odd years. Their spouses got nothing if they were not already SC'ed 100% for ten years or died from other SC condition.