john999

I was in this thing called the opioid clinic where I sent in a form every month and got narcotics certified mail. Then I complained about miserable side effects of the morphine they were giving me. Now I am in damned pain clinic. I have to go every month and see some new xxxxxxx doctor and fight for my drugs. If I could buy them cheap enough I would just use one of these back door pain clinics and get oxycontin. The public and the VA have deemed some narcotics as bad and some as not so bad. Be it fentanyl patch or the killer drug oxycodone or oxycontin they are all narcotics. What is the difference if it works for you. Oxycodone is the drug of choice to hold up as the drug from hell in Florida where I live. It is responsible for social breakdown of western society according to the newspapers and law makers.

Larry I see the high lighted sections and this is bad news for vets. I think there will be a great increase in the number of "adjustment reaction" and "personality disorder" DX'es if PTSD finding is left up to the VA. This is a ticking and hidden time bomb.

How do you show nexus of your obesity as secondary to PTSD? Is there medical literature that explains how this happens? Have you actually filed such a claim? Obesity is not compensable as far as I know. PTSD vets drink and take drugs but those things are not compensable. Does the VA admit there is a link between obesity and PTSD?

If you have chronic pain you can get compensated for that. Also chronic pain and depression go hand in hand. You can get compensated for that.

Larry Are you sure that only VA shrinks can make PTSD DX. If this is true they can DX every vet with a personality disorder and you can't fight it via an IMO or IME. Please guide me to where it says only VA doctors can make the PTSD DX. They have a very significant dog in the fight. A vet could have spent five years in Vietnam and dream about Nam every night and see NVA crawling on his roof at night, but his VA shrink may say "Aw, just vivid imagination" and you are screwed. If I have been getting treatment from a private doctor for 30 years for symptoms of PTSD and my VA C&P doctor says no PTSD, but pre-existing anxiety disorder I am in the toilet. If what you say is true this is a horrible blow to PTSD vets.

Ranger That personality disorder DX on your problem list is a problem. Who hung this DX on you and why is it still hanging around on your VA problem list. Any time you file for a mental health disorder as SC the VA will try and point to the PD diagnosis to try and explain all your emotional/occupational/personal problems. They never forget that crap. When I filed my CUE the VA went back 25 years into my C-File to find a C&P exam saying I was a personality disorder. Too bad they could not use this in my CUE since it was not in the record at the time of my erroneous rating, but they tried. Ask the VA why they say you have a PD and what is the evidence for this?

You need to hire your own psychiatrist if you want them to say what you want them to say. This is called an IMO or IME. You get what you pay for in the medical world.

I am in the market for a laptop. What are minimum requirements my system should have? I think I will get a Dell. I can customize it online. Any suggestions? I am not a geek, but I am thinking about putting music on my desktop and running via my laptop.

RSG A CUE must be very specific and based on a final and unappealed decision. For instance, the VA has your SMR's but they ignore them in your decision, and deny a claim that is documented in your SMR's. The denial becomes final. That is what I think the level of a CUE would be but others here know more. Look at the decision you got in 1969. What was the evidence that was in the VA's hands or should have been in their hands and what was the exact decision? This is what your CUE will address if you want a CUE going back to 1969.

Gee, I had a bunch of AR-15's. It meant nothing to me. Do they throw you out for getting an AR-15 these days? They threw me out because they did not want to treat my MH problems. Much easier to cast a person out than to spend money treating what they broke.

The law is that the VA must bill your private insurance for NSC treatments as John said. If you are over 50% you don't pay co-pays. I think this is morally wrong, but it is the law. The problem is when they just bill your insurance for everything. How does your company know what is and is not SC? The VA billed my private insurance for a C&P exam and for all the tests including two stress tests. I told them this was bogus. The idea that the VA shifts costs onto the backs of private insurance is disgusting. The least they could do is pay for the entire health care costs of 100% vets. The more well off vets are subsidizing poorer vets even if the poor vet is totally NSC and the richer vet is 100% service connected. I know a trial ballon was sent up to bill even service connected vets insurance. The day this happens is the day I never set foot in a VAMC again. The hypocrisy of praising vets and at the same time shifting the cost of their care to private insurance is a disgrace. I do vote for giving us all a card like a medicare or champva card and burning the VAMC's to the ground. Throw the doctors and staff on the flames as well. The VA's ultra cheap drug formulary gets praise from politicians, but this is another slap in the face. The VA does not believe that I as a veteran deserve the most effective drugs if they cost more than a generic drug. I could not get prilosec when it was still under patent even though it was effective for me. I could not get any of the new drugs like celebrex a few years ago, but they would give me morphine because it is cheap. That was their entire rational for giving me morphine that I had pain and it was cheap. Now I get the fentanyl patch it is a struggle every month because it costs more than morphine or methadone. When I asked for oxycontin they said no because it was a bad drug when in fact it is the cost. It costs more than morphine or methadone. The good or bad effect on me does not matter. Just the cost matters.

That's right, it has to be on a final and unappealed decision. This is something we forget. Really, this is a pretty steep slope to climb. Your CUE can only be based on the facts that were with the VA at the time or should have been in the decision. Also, the regulations at the time control if it was a CUE or not. Today we have the VCAA. You can't file a CUE on not getting VCAA right 25 years ago. I suggest that vets look at their horrible old decisions from 30 or 40 years ago. The VA played fast and loose with the facts in those days. Review your two page decisions and see what you think.

Does anyone remember the knock down, drag out fight to just get an increase a few years ago. If it is not P&T would appeal the denial of chapter 35. I feel like filing a few new claims myself.

The list of problems you have does not mean anything regarding service connection. That is just a medical summery of your problems. That fight you had with your squad leader did it result in a courts martial? This could actually help your PTSD claim I think. Not for the assault but for the combat expose. This is behavior of someone who is suffering from PTSD. Did you ever file a claim within the first year of discharge for any mental disorder?

Blue Cross said they could not untangle what was SC from NSC in the bills the VA sent them so they just pay them all. They said it is cheaper than fighting with the VA. Hey, I told BC/BS they were being ripped off. I would just like the VA to tell me what part of my care is not related in some way to my SC disabilites. I will start a case with patient advocate.

I want to know how he got connected for hep c?

I have service connected DMII, CAD, PN and chronic pain disorder. Somehow the VA charges my insurance every time I see my PCP or pain doctor. My insurance gets billed for blood work, AIC, urine tests, office visit everything. The way I see it all my care at the VA is related somehow to the conditions I have that are SC. The VA has managed to shift the entire burden of my care to my insurance. I just don't think that is right. Plus they bill for all the heart and pain meds. I am IU P&T. Why should priority one vets get billed for anything just because they have insurance?

There are good VSO's and bad VSO's. After you get your rating and file a NOD you can even hire a lawyer. Just make sure you get to the exam on time. You will get a rating. It may or may not be all you want. If it is not then file a notice of disagreement. When you have done this you can hire a lawyer or get a VSO. VA is going to rate you on the evidence they have when the exam is done. The VA rep was trying to help in his warped sort of way. If you had a VSO like Larry you would be OK. But he only works in Texas or Oklahoma I think.

I would run your CUE by someone who knows exactly what a CUE is and then if the VA denies it get a lawyer. File your CUE, but expect a denial. Then you send in your NOD and hire a lawyer to fight this thing. If CUE's were cut and dried there would be no BVA and CAVA.

Get a CT scan of your legs. I got one and it showed calcification in the leg veins. I have PN mild in both feet, but the reason I got the CT scan was due to a bump on my leg. The CT scan led to a DX of vascular artery disease which led to a DX of CAD of 60%. A little string that is pulled can led to a big problem. Please don't wait a year for tests at the VA if you have some serious problem. If you have the means to get tested then get tested by private doctors. I can get a test in a few days or weeks that you waited a year to get. I think many vets are rotting in the ground that waited for the VA to get around to testing them. The tests I got for my heart at the VA were of awful quality. The doctor did not speak English and the test itself could have kille me.

Pete That is a good point and I bet that lack of a shield between VA health care information and private health care information will bite us all in the ass one day. This is really true for younger vets. The VA does illegally bill for SC conditions. I know because they have done it to me many times. I have complained to everyone who would listen at my VAMC and they just keep on billing. It may be the law that it is proper to bill vets insurance for NSC conditions, but I think that is morally wrong. Slavery was legal that didn't make it right. There is constant chatter about giving thanks and respect to our heros in the military and veterans (meaning after 9/11) but when it comes to the money they stick it to all of us. I know I beat up the VA a lot but it is because they have broken their promise to us. They are like the US government with the native Americans. They never made a promise they did not break. The VA steals from us by giving us substandard care and by delaying benefits. It is theft. They steal from taxpayers and they steal from vets. The hypocrisy of it all is what really aggravates me. I am going to go see my worthless congress person about the cost shifting at the VA. I will probably get the brush off there as well.

If Ranger was discharged due to a PD and let that discharge slide for 20 years it is going to be some trouble. We all know that many vets with PTSD have been discharged as personality disorders. No question in my mind that if you qualify for a PTSD claim by being in the Gulf War combat zone that would be the way to go. Trying to prove that an event happened in basic training 25 years ago is going to be almost impossible unless the event was reported. The non-combat PTSD claim is probably a loser while the combat PTSD claim under new regs is a winner. It took 40 years for this to open up so every vet who has PTSD symptoms and who was in a combat zone should file now before they change this rule again and make it harder. You don't get many gifts from the VA but this is one.

If I was you I would get my own private pay doctor to write me a report saying I am P&T. Have him do it up right and not just a note in your file.

Thanks all! I will check out the commission. I begin to wonder what the heck is wrong with me. Narcotics seem to have little effect on me anymore. Chronic pain eats at your soul. The doctors will tell you it is in your head or just suck it up and don't be a crybaby.

I got the stronger dose of fentanyl and my back still is hurting. I don't really know what is wrong with me, but the stress of dealing with these cheap, lying bastards at the VA is making my pain worse and is causing me to be depressed and paranoid. I really have to get away from VA people and their abuse. I can't sleep at night because I am so angry. I feel like a doormat or the world's toilet paper.