john999

I just experienced a prime example: I had called my pain doctor at the VA to tell him the fentanly patches were not working. The VA waited four days to call me back saying that I had recently been to the VA where I reported zero pain. What the dumb SOB did not know was it was a dental appointment where the dental aide asked me if my teeth hurt. How the pain clinic can get my chronic pain disorder mixed up with a dental appointment and use that to justify not responding to my complaint about my pain meds I don't know. If I had not called them I would have run out of pain meds in July and the pain clinic had no appointment for me until September because I had zero pain. I fell right through the cracks and did not even know it. My civilian psychologist told me to call the VA about the fact the fentanly was not working. I just assumed I would see the pain doctor the first of August as usual and could discuss it with them then. Boy, was I wrong. I would have been twisted up in a knot due to VA's crazy system of automatic screens and bizarre communications. The pain doctor gave me an extension to call about my pain meds and asked me not to tell any other vet since it is secret. The pain doctors don't want to be bothered by patients except for the most persistent I guess. I have been in the pain management program for almost ten years and I finally get the secret to contacting my doctor.

Pete You got that right! If you don't know enough to ask for IU and fill out the forms the VA will never do it unless you hit the percentage under 4.16A. Thus years of TDIU can be lost. Knowledge is power at the VA. When I got 70% it was a DAV NSO who told me not to appeal the denial of TDIU. I had filed for it when I was 30% becauses I was on SSD. I got help here at Hadit and from private doctors. I got no help from the VA or DAV. They discouraged me. I never even heard the phrase TDIU until I came to Hadit. All those years of unemployment and underemployment and neither the VA or any of the VSO's I talked to every even mentioned a plan to get me TDIU. The VA hid it from me, and the VSO's just processed paperwork like the clerks they are. The only good service officer I ever met was the guy from the Red Cross who helped me with my discharge upgrade back in the 70's.

If you believe what your records say the VA gives you a comprehensive exam every time you see you PCP. This is just computer generated nonsense. You have to make a point of complaining about every condition you have when you see your doctor and nurse. I think many vets just assume that their issues are being addressed when they see their doctor. What is happening is CYA by the VA medical staff so it appears they are doing their jobs. When I see my private internist if he sees something he acts on it and informs me I have a problem. The VA just notes it and moves on to the next patient. I told them I had DMII. They never told me even though the lab results were in their faces. The care is so poor I wonder why I even bother except to get my licks in to support my worsenig disabilites. When you to to the VA for medical care it is good to have an agenda.

I use the Tampa VAMC. I was there today. What a cess pool. You must also use the St. Petersburg VARO. They are pretty awful. If you have PTSD and agoraphobia how can you work. This might rate a 100% rating and housebound. The St. Pete VARO is difficult to deal with since they don't give anything away. You want medical evidence that you have PTSD and other problems. You need that PTSD DX in your records from a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. Get a copy of your C&P exam. If the exam doctor says you have PTSD then you should be in like Flynn.

Wolf I would also file a claim for chronic pain disorder and depression due to your disability and pain. I am thinking a claim for housebound due to these conditions might help you get 100% rating. I say this because if you are housebound then you should be 100%. It does sound like you should have 100%, but I would file for IU anyway. If you get 100% the IU will be moot, but if you don't get 100% then the IU claim would be good. How do you get around with those conditions? Have you asked for a scooter? A rating of 40% is just way too low for your level of disability.

Bob You know if the symptoms of your "Anxiety" are similar to PTSD symptoms I think you have something. You were not anxious before service, but after Vietnam you were anxious. I would try and find a lawyer to take my case because the VA is going to beat around the bush, and you will end up at the BVA and beyond. You have the verifiable stressor. Those old decisions are so poor and have so little descriptive narrative about symptoms. How long was this rating decision. Mine in 1973 was just two pages long. It included a DX and a rating and that was it. Were you getting treatment for anxiety at the VA or did the VA have any other medical records describing the anxiety you had? I think you have some kind of case. I don't think a misdiagnosis is basis for a CUE, but there may be some other factor that Phil is aware of.

Remember 4.16B which states if a vet is unemployable due to a SC condition they he/she is entitled to IU. I interpret that to mean if you have evidence of being unemployable due to SC condition that is an inferred claim for IU. The VA may not infer IU unless you are 70%, but that is not what the regulation actually says. VBM notes a hypothetical case where vet has bad smell from SC foot condition. Social worker notes this is a bar to employment. This is an inferred claim for IU. This according to VBM.

So VA doctors who do not help vets control chronic pain are giving us a death sentence. Nice to know they care.

The Vet Center I went to DX'ed me with severe and chronic PTSD. The VA rated me 70% for schizophrenia because of a DX 40 years earlier. Three private shrinks said bi-polar. I had so much evidence I think the VA just threw my claim up in the air. Four doctors said I could not work and the VA denied my TDIU. I fought them via vet centers and shrinks for every little thing so I don't know what works except they worship the C&P exam. Just choak them with evidence and get the rating. If it is for brain damage or paranoia as long as you get the IU or 100% "there it is".

Credit wise it is better to use a credit card and pay if off each month. You get certain protection for your purchases using a credit card. If you can't use a credit card without paying the whole thing off each month then pay by check or cash. I don't like debit cards. If you just buy your gas with a credit card and pay it off each month for a few years you will have a shinning credit rating. Using a debit card does nothing for your credit. Having a good credit rating saves you money on everything from insurance to buying a car or house. If you have a good credit rating when you need a loan you can get it without going to a loan shark. Get a secured credit card if you have to get anything.

If you have medical evidence that you are unemployable and rated 80% I don't think you are going to need a C&P exam. You may get one anyway, but all you really need to show is that you are unemployable. If your doctors at the VA will state that they believe that you are unemployable due solely to your SC conditions this is enough evidence. I filed for TDIU when I was 30%. My effective date went back to the time I filed and not to the time I got 70%.

Most doctors at the VA don't have any idea about the presumptive AO diseases. I have never met a private doctor who knows that AO is a risk factor for DMII. No cardiologist I know is aware of AO and IHD connection. I don't know any that know that AO and prostate cancer have strong connection. I don't believe doctors inside and outside the VA know about AO presumptives. Not one has ever asked me if I was exposed to AO even those who know I was in Vietnam during the war. Only C&P doctors have asked and verified that I was in Vietnam when I filed a claim.

Did you file out the official TDIU form from the VA and send it back to them? I never had a TDIU C&P exam. I got 70% and was unemployed, so I sent in my TDIU form and got a few IMO's to back it up. What can a TDIU exam determine? If you are not able to work due to the SC condition that is crux of the matter. The exam cannot determine if you are unemployed.

Carlie Imagine if you were discharged before seizures and had a car wreck or something. The VA would have had twenty C&P doctors swear the seizures were all due to the wreck. I wonder how often such things happen? I think that many, many vets are owed money for such things but due to circumstances get zip. I had history of in-service psychiatric care. If I did not I would have waited 40 years to get SC'ed.

No dental, the cheap ^^%^%$. I have heard talk about the VA giving all vets dental at some time in the future. How can the VA or any health plan say they provide complete care if they leave out dental exams. You don't get an oral exam as champva patient, so how does the doctor know you don't have some oral cyst or cancer? I know because about 30 years ago a dentist discovered a cyst in my gum by accident during routine exam. I would have lost all my upper teeth if it had not been removed. Have you seen the teeth of 80% of VA patients? Most Vietnam era don't even have teeth. It is just about cost and nothing more. A person on welfare and medicade gets better dental coverage than 95% of VA and ChampVA patients if that is the only resource they have. They say dental infections can aggravate damage to heart and DMII and yet most are not treated for dental. If you have gum disease you have an active infection draining into your blood stream which goes to heart and lungs. This can't be good. I know that is more than you asked but I feel strongly about dental care. I have spent thousands on my teeth due to gum disease. I still have my teeth.

You can have injuries to frontal lobes of the brain that control emotion and impulse control. This can be invisible even to a CT scan. Head injuries can cause all sorts of problems down the line with behavior. The VA has misunderstood these factors in their favor for decades. I don't think this problem has been studied as it should have been after Vietnam. The tools were there but the will was lacking. Longitudinal studies of those with TBI could have been done to see outcomes. Is this even being done today by VA. Look at the vet 20 years after head injury and compare to those without these injuries.

I don't think you have to worry. Did you pay SSA or file IRS Forms on the money you earned or was it just off the books?

You can appeal the denial of Chapter 35 to get P&T that will be retro to your date of 100% rating. You need a doctor to say you are permanently and totally disabled.

The biggest factor in my experience between a 50% rating for a mental health disorder and a 70-100% rating is if the disabilility keeps you from working. You have to talk about Vietnam experience and how it affects you today. There is no way the doctor can understand exactly what happened in Vietnam, but you can tell him in detail about what you saw, heard, felt and touched in the combat zone. Of course, he is going to look at your condition now during the 15-30 minutes you see him. This is why it is important to get a private shrink to also look at you and write a report. You get what you pay for. C&P exams are just a brief snapshot of your life. You need to create the papertrail like others have said. You don't have to prove your PTSD claim. All you have to prove is you are worse. Medical evidence is the best way to do this.

If your records say you were treated for depression in-service I think you have a claim.

If you have DX of PTSD and have some reasonable story to tell you don't even have to have your stressors verified anymore.

You have to ask St. Louis to send your records to you. You need to ask the VA to determine if you are eligible for VA benefits. Do that before you try and get your discharge upgraded. Apply for VA benefits at your local VAMC and see what they say. In order to file a claim you have to see if the VA will determine your eligibility. Take your DD214 and go apply for VA benefits.

Yes, and if they find even a trace of alcohol, or any illegal drug you are dead meat at my VAMC. I signed the contract for pain treatment with the VA. How long does a drug stay in your urine? I can't even have a sip of beer on my birthday if I have a appointment at the VA pain clinic or my regular doctor within a day I know for sure.

I don't think the VA would give you dilaudid even if you were dying from cancer. If your private doctor is doing it for you stick with him/her. The VA in my experience gives three drugs for severe pain: morphine long acting, methadone, or fentanyl patches. I guess if you were dying from cancer they would hook you up to a morphine pump. Cost is a factor and morphine is cheap.

When I have to see a new idiot pain management doctor at the VA the first thing they do is say that I have been on narcotic pain killers too long. Well, the VA prescribed these drugs for me for years and now it is too much according to the same group of doctors. I think they feel political pressure because some people abuse and sell prescription medications, so we are suspects and have to suffer. I am now on fentanly patch I guess because I can't shoot it, or snort it, or smoke it, and nobody wants to buy it. It has given me minimal relief so far. I agree that if we are not P&T who cares if we are addicted to meds. We are not going anywhere. Why can't our lives at least be comfortable in our disabled condition until we kick the bucket. I don't need a lecture from some 25 year old resident about the morality of drug addiction. Isn't it there job to relieve suffering. I thought that was part of their oath.