john999

VYNC You know if you find some other vet's stuff in your file then some of your stuff is probably in some other vet's file. Comforting thought is it not?

I filed for IU when I was 30%. It took another year and a half to get to 70% and my award of IU but it went back to the date I filed when I was just 30%. When I lost my job due to my disability I knew I would never be able to work again so I filed everything including SSD and IU. I threw it all at the wall. I had disability retirement because I was a federal worker and I even had long term disability insurance that I had had for 17 years and which I thought I would never use. I used it.

Appeal!

If you file for conditions within one year of discharge some are considered presumptive. In general, if you don't file for a condition the VA does not grant it. On secondary conditions you have to file a claim based on medical report that makes the link between the secondary and primary SC condition. The VA will not do it on their own. Even if you have an obvious secondary condition the VA will do nothing until you file a claim even on a presumptive condition like agent orange.

If you take sleep meds and stop taking them you get rebound insomnia so be prepared for that situation. Have you had a sleep study done?

The rule is that you have one year to file a NOD after you receive your rating decision. That rule has not changed. I would not accept any other BS as long as you filed a NOD within one year of your rating. You served in jungle boot army so you can beat this thing.

I do know that civilian federal employees who retire on disability pay have to pay tax on their annuity. I bet it is the same for military.

What it is is that when you declare any earned income I think you will get the hairy eyeball from SSD. There is a back to work program, but that might affect your 100% from the VA. Do you think you will ever be able to earn enough to support yourself? If the answer is "no" I would leave all that alone. There is always some way to beat the game but is it worth the risk?

I think the limit of earned income for SSD is around 800 bucks a month. However, if you are 100% from the VA and get SSD I agree with Pete that it is not worth the risk. SSD can get your IRS records and then you have to go through hell if they decide you can work. I know people who have earned tiny money and have been hauled before SSD to explain. There was a guy here who had P&T and wanted to go work as a contractor in Afghanistan. That is what I call really pushing the envelope.

One thing to remember is that if you get 100% for a mental condition it does not matter if they say you have depression or hoof and mouth disease as long as you get your money. They misdiagnosed me but I got my P&T and that is what matters. You get the same crummy treatment regardless.

If you SSDI records are only for SC conditions I would sent it to VA. If there are NSC reasons why you can't work I would not send it. The VA can pluck the NSC stuff from your SSDI records and say that is why you can't work. This kills your IU claim. The VA will often go over this information with microscope to find NSC conditions to justify denying IU or 100%. I know from past experience. You don't want to give the VA a string to pull on or your claim can unravel.

The fact your refused meds is no valid reason for changing a DX of schizophrenia to a borderline PD. Many people with schizophrenia refuse meds because they think that they are perfectly OK and that the meds are poison or some kind of mind control. If you had schizophrenia what justification would there be to keep you in service if you took meds or not. How could you deploy with schizophrenia? If the VA continues to deny you I would hire me a lawyer. As Hoppy says the VA is expert at kicking up dust and blowing smoke to delay and/or deny a claim. Your claim is stronger than mine was and I got 70%. Did you file a claim within one year of discharge? I was hospitalized and got DX of depression and anxiety. I, too, went back to duty. Big mistake if I could have gotten medical discharge, but the army is sneaky. They will tell you all sorts of tales about taking that general discharge and it will be all straightened out when the VA gets your claim. Untrue as you see. If the military can get you out on a PD as opposed to medical board for a mental condition they sure will do it. This is a ongoing problem even today with PTSD cases. Did the military kick you out because you got in trouble, or just because you could not function?

One way to do this is to apply for housebound and if the VA grants it they will bump you up to 100% schedular most likely. The VA usually insists on a vet being 100% schedular for a single disability in order to get HB. I have heard different here at hadit that you can get it if you are IU. I would just apply for the HB based on agrophobia. That would be the definition of being HB.

When you get the immediate fixed you need to get your service medical records to see if an attempted suicide is in your records. How was this resolved? Service members who try to kill themselves are usually locked up for a while, and then discharged. Was there a coverup?

Does anyone proof read these decision? The answer is "NO" of course. I bet the BVA is under so much pressure to get these decisions out they don't even look back. I would bang on every drum to get this fixed as Berta says. It is obvious what they meant to say but someone screwed it up. This should not require an appeal.

Colon cancer is not presumptive for AO exposure. If you have prostate cancer and it spreads to the colon then it would be covered, but the SC would still be for prostate cancer. A cancer that spreads to other parts of the body has to start in a body part that is presumptive for AO. If you have lung cancer and you get brain cancer which kills you it is the presumptive lung cancer you get SC'ed for by the VA. What the VA will do is sometimes say that a presumptive cancer is the result of a non presumptive cancer spreading. This is bad.

If the VA won't increase your dose it is probably the only way to get relief when your body winds down to the lower dose. My VA is so worried about accidental OD that they want to step me down from the lousey 6 oxycodones I take a day which does not help me anymore. My VA does not give oxycontin unless you have cancer. I tried the morphine and it turned my colon into concrete. The methadone made me itch like crazy. That is their whole bag of tricks. The VA worries about addiction, but the quality of life of people in pain is secondary. You got to believe there must be alternative treatments for pain besides opiates that have been around for 4000 years. But, yes, stepping down very gradually is probably the answer.

I don't know if the VA does methadone maintance for drug abuse. I doubt it since drug abuse is not considered a service connected disability. They have programs to help you kick. That would not be fun, but that is probably about it. They better get it cranked up because there will be lots of addicts coming back from the opium growing capital of the world...Afghanistan. Really, I just don't know if the VA does methadone for those who are just addicted. I think they would want you off it as in kicking it as in permanent. Call them VAMC up and ask them!

Maybe you need to go inside the pain clinic and let them take you down from your doses while being monitored. The VA is responsible for your dependence on opiates. It is hard as hell to take youself down while you hurt, and are sitting at home thinking about it. I am in somewhat the same situation. The idiots at the VA just say to get PT. The VA addicts us and then wants to wash their hands.

Are you waiting for a hearing now or is your appeal at the BVA? The thing is to keep your appeal alive so you can get the earliest effective date.

If you skip the C&P exam the VA will find some reason to deny your claims. Go for the exam and tell them in no uncertan terms that your knee hurts like hell. Don't let them manipulate your knee past the point you feel pain. As soon as it hurts tell them! If it hurts at all don't try to be tough. Holler, yell, scream if they hurt you. If you use a cane or walker take it with you and use it from the time you park until the time you are in the doctor's office.

Do you see a psychiatrist? Probably the opiates don't work anymore because you have become tolerant to the dose. These pain doctors are afraid you will OD and they will get sued.

Did you appeal the denial? I think you have a chance of winning this on appeal. If you let your appeal drop then it will be harder for sure. If you could get a private doctor to state your foot problems are due to duty over long period of time that would help. I filed within one year of discharge but I had records of treatment in service. I was low balled and let it drop. That was a mistake.

Kelly I am running vast network of police state resisters from my humble home in Tampa, Florida. I wear a disguise when I go to the grocery store. It is not easy having all this power at my fingertips, but I continue to resist temptation to remind America that "The Revolution will not be Televised". The People United can Never be Defeated!!!! Can I be a revolutionary and still get VA compensation, or will I be whacked by Ninjas working for CIA? I might go north later this summer to my undergroud HQ as Florida gets hot. I will be wearing my usual fake nose and glasses. The Ninjas are on my trail, but my superb disguise will fake them out.

The VA is clinging to the Personality Disorder DX in hopes of being able to deny SC. If you have SMR's that state a DX of schizoprenia, and your C&P doctor agrees I think you have a very good chance of getting SC'ed. I was kicked out on a PD discharge. The VA said it was schizophrenia even though I never got a C&P exam. I got rated for schizoprenia. Your position is stonger than mine was I think. Are you in treatment for your mental health problems at the VA? This is important long term. Are you taking meds. I think your claim can be won. Don't give up whatever you do. I was in a military nuthouse for about two months. I did not want a mental health discharge being crazy at the time. The Army then discharged me as a PD. They wanted me out and they got me out.