john999

Paxil is good for warding off panic attacks for me. It destroys any sex life you might have left. For those the God's wish to destroy they first make mad.

I would hire a lawyer if I was you. When you are really hurt it is hard to presecute a claim. Remember if you don't ask for something from the VA you don't get it. They turn down people for SC who are dying and in wheelchairs all the time. They are bastards. My mother died while waiting for A&A. I have a bad, bad feeling about the VA.

I think he wants to reach out to you. Reach back to him. You don't get many brothers or sisters issued to you in life.

I think as long as the VA is bringing you in for C&P exams you have a chance of getting service connected or your increase. It is not a bad sign.

TestVet It is always about saving a buck with the VA. All the talk about the nation's debt to veterans always boils down to a handshake and a kick in the pants. What can you expect when the generation in power mostly were draft dodgers? You can cut through all the flowery talk, and find that the VA and the government probably thinks we are overpaid for the benefits we get.

I can tell you that a severe panic attack can mimic the syptoms of a heart attack. I went to the ER a few times where I thought I was have some kind of stroke or heart attack. It was anxiety because of not sleeping for days. Suddenly the anxiety breaks through and you have physical symptoms.

You got to be careful with those fentanyl patches since I have heard it is easy to OD. I doubt a doctor will prescribe dilaudid in my home state except for post op. I got it post op for my foot and it took severe pain away instantly. I got it via the IV. Their is mass hysteria now about oxycodone and oxycontin in the Tampa Bay area because of addicts driving from all over the country to buy dope from crooked doctors. Now I think getting it from above board pain clinics will be difficult. Every day there is a new headline about pain clinics in the local newspaper. This has got to be reaching my local VAMC.

Hoppy Since me, you and half a dozen hadit members were DX'ed with PD's you have a very good analysis of how to defeat that gimmick. Lots of people with PD's work and are able to function. Half the people that propelled us into financial meltdown have anti-social personality disorders and they run hedge funds.

What I really hate is when a C&P examiner asks those leading questions that point a DX in the direction of a PD. If a vet is not experienced they may answer some of these leading questions in a way that can be interpreted to sound like a PD. For instance, if exam doctor asks if you ever experimented with drugs or got into a fight in high school. Did you ever argue with your parents? The kiss of death is have you ever been arrested for anything. You just bought yourself a PD diagnosis of "sociopathic personality disorder".

The VA saved thousands of bucks by not informing your husband that he had an AO claim. I think that is criminal. Did you ever talk to a VSO? I would look at my C-file to see what is in it. There might be some sort of informal claim in there. Anything that might be interpreted as a claim could mean Nehmer.

You know a doctor signs off on the PA's exam. Attacking the qualifications of the PA is not as good as attacking the findings of the exam. I had a PA do an exam on me for a heart condition. It was an awful exam. I looked up the schedule for the type of exam I was supposed to have and the PA left out major things, so I appealed and got more evidence and got 0% raised to 60%. If you want to win you should get new evidence. Get your PCP to send you for testing. If a specialist at the VA will say your problem is most likely secondary to an SC condition you win. I got my PCP to send me for some more heart tests and this is how I won over the PA's miserable exam and the VA's 0% rating.

You should treat it as a denial. If you let it go it will be treated as an unappealed denial. Whatever is not mentioned in a decision should be treated as a denied claim. When you got your VCAA letter did it mention the arm?

There are severe cases of agrophobia where the person has not been out of their house for years. That is a form of phobic disorder that can totally disable a person. When the person's phobia is triggered they have a panic attack.

I got a 60% rating for CAD as secondary to DMII. I think most get such a rating. The 100% rating means you are one step away from the graveyard. In other words, the 100% rating for IHD means you are totally incapacitated due to heart condition.

Is disturbs me when I see vets who are mentally ill being discharged for non-medical reasons like PD's. It makes it harder for the vet to get SC'ed and it is a way for the military to save money at the expense of the vet. Basically, a PD discharge is a slander if it is not true. Now that it has been over 15 years since discharge it is harder to get the discharge changed to what it should have been even with good evidence. You should have been getting benefits from the day you were discharged. I bet many thousands of Vietnam era vets were discharged as personality disorders who had PTSD and other mental health problems. Now that is real fraud.

I think you will win your claim. Too bad you missed out on all that retro pay for the last 15 years. Your discharge should have been attacked long ago when you might have gotten it changed to a medical discharge. It is still possible if the facts are there. How long were you out before you filed a claim?

The ticks and problems you are having with the drugs for schizophrenia are serious. They can become permanent. Many, many people being treated long term for severe psychotic disorders get these problems. You need to address this with your shrink. These ticks can get much worse. I have seen people with advanced T.D. and it is not pretty. Filing for the ticks is not as important as doing whatever you can to relieve these symptoms. If tardive dyskenisia becomes a permanent condition I would file a claim since it has been a big problem since anti-psychotic drurgs were first used in the 1950's. This is nothing new and doctors know how bad it can be. What you have is involuntary muscle movements. It can be painful and make you look like a freak. These powerful anti-psychotic drugs have a host of side effects. I got a dose of those drugs early on and I had to go to a hospital due to cramping of my muscles. My jaw locked up and I was in agony.

SC ratings don't become permanent for 20 years. If you are total for five years the VA can't just reduce you based on a single C&P exam. They have to examine your entire medical history to show a marked improvement. This does not mean they will never try to reduce you even if you are 70 years old and have been total for 19 years. After 10 years they cannot sever service connection. After 20 they cannot reduce a rating even IU. Technically, you could go back to work even on IU, and they could not reduce it after 20 years of being IU. This is my understanding.

If a totally disabled vet who has been total for ten years dies does the VA contact the spouse and inform him/her that they are entitled to DIC? I bet they do not. If a vet dies from an SC condition does VA automatically inform spouse that they should not only get, DIC but some funeral expense? I bet they do not? You go for an AO exam and the doctor says you have DMII. Does VA file a claim on your behalf or even tell you that you should file a claim? They do not. It is a big fraud on the vets. These things should be automatic. They VA saves billions based on keeping the vet or spouse in the dark.

Do you work? I know that back in the bad old days you had to be stark, raving mad to get much over 10% for a mental condition from the VA. I think 10% for major depression is way too low regardless of your injuries from attempted suicide. 10% implies a mild form of mental condition. People with mild depression don't shoot themselves. Did you ever request an increase in your 10% rating? What is PCS?

TestVet I think you are pretty safe. You do get some extra protection after age 55 and after you have been total for 5 years. It is not like the 20 year rule, but the VA has to have some strong evidence you are improved, and it can't just be one C&P exam.

The thing that really matters once you get SC'ed for a mental condition is how it disables you. I got a whacky DX of schizophrenia, residual type, in my original rating. The DX has changed many times over the last 40 years, but the key issue if how it affect me in regards working and ability to function. If you have five different MH DX'es the VA will rate you under the most severe according to their understanding.

What you need is a letter from a shrink saying that because of your PTSD you cannot work. This is how you get rated at the 70-100% rate. Have you applied for SSD due to your PTSD? The VA does throw the 30-50% rating around alot because they know if they rate you 70% you will file for TDIU.

Just keep checking out the facts here before you believe the VA.

Send in your request for TDIU via the official form. You have 80% so there should be no big fight.