john999

You know when I went for a MH exam about ten years ago at the VA the doctor asked me if I had a college degree. When I told him I had a BA in psycology he used that in his report to say that I knew enough to fake my symptoms. I hit the roof and so did my VSO. I appealed, but what really helped me were the IMO's I got.

If you are not working I would apply for TDIU based on combined problems and IHD percentage which might get you to 70% or more. Get the heart SC'ed by all means. You can work on the percentage. If you get SC'ed for the heart it will probably be at least 60%. That is what I got as secondary to DMII.

Your VA counselor is putting the screws to you if she gives you a dx of anti-social PD. This is poison. You must show that your pre-existing depression got worse in service. I am aghast that the military would take you in knowing of a severe depression via lithium treatments (usually for bipolar disorder). How did they think that you were not going to have trouble and need constant care in service for this major disorder? Often people with bipolar disorder get dx of anti-social PD because while manic they do crazy things. I got dx of pseudopsychopathic schizophrenia PD because of schizophrenia which drove me to do some crazy things but nothing criminal. A dx of anti-social PD is about the worst thing a shrink can tell you. Have you ever been in jail or prison? This is the dx prisoners in maximum security get often including gang bangers, murderers and habitual criminals. You should not be talking about your childhood. You should be talking about military experience only. This counselor is your enemy not your friend. Get a new one and don't talk about your childhood.

I think a PTSD compensation claim is problematic unless you saw combat in Iraq. I say this because the depression/anxiety problem don't have to be PTSD to get compensation. Did you get a DX of depression/anxiety or treatment for same while in service? If you did then you should claim those problems and skip PTSD. The military is obsessed with PTSD claims. These are hard claims to prove unless you have combat awards. Not only do you have to show you have PTSD but you must show stressor. If you have chronic SC pain that could be the basis of a secondary depression claim. If you try to claim PTSD due to stress of courts martial you will lose and it will mess up your claim. You don't want that in your record for compensation. Who told you that you have PTSD and what is the basis of it?

Do you have an FMLA form on file with your employer? I think if your employer has more than a very small work force they have to abide by FMLA. This gives you up to 12 weeks of paid or unpaid leave for chronic illness for yourself or immediate family. I think it is 12 weeks but it could be more or less. You can google it. I use the VA pain clinic for my back and foot pain which are SC. I find them inadequate in every way. I am looking around for a private pain clinic that will prescribe without the ordeal of the VA. If you decide to have something done surgically about your back get the best doctor in town. Don't use the VA just because it is free. Your back may hurt now but if they screw up the surgery you may be in agony for life. The VA should do the MRI. Are you SC for your back?

Bronco I hope this is his one and only tour in the desert. How long does he have to go on his enlistment? Of course, there being no jobs for young people does not help.

Bob I see the moon but where are the vets? You are a joker, heh, heh. Does that represent once in a blue moon or blue moon over old Kentuck.

But what if it is a federal agency that wants the money? If VA decides to take back money from a direct deposit they just do it, or am I mistaken? If you owe VA they will take you SSA money and vice-versa if you lose appeals or don't appeal.

Vets are becoming rare and exotic creatures. The vast majority will be dead in 20 years.

No matter how you look at it if the VA did not get SMR's then the vet could not get due process . The VA will not even accept those records directly from the vet, so it is their mistake. How can it be otherwise? It may not have been in front of the adjudicator but it should have been, so the eed should be protected. If you lined up all the vets who have been cheated on EED it would be a line to the moon and back. '

Nothing is more dangerous than a red blooded American boy with an M-16.

James If in a 40 year old decision on a presumptive condition like psychosis the VA did not provide appeal rights is this a CUE. If you don't know that you have appeal rights then how can you appeal. In my own case I looked at my C-File and I had no appeal rights from my original claim 40 years ago where I got just 10% effective to day after discharge. I don't remember even making a claim. For old decisions I would advise those to check to see if they ever got their appeal rights. My decision was two pages long with letters denoting parts of the claim.

I remember the 11th AC at BearCat. They lived in their tracks. I guess it was better to ride than walk but I don't know about being inside those tracks in that heat and danger of mines.

The thing is you have to prove negligence. I think the pod was negligent in not following the post-op infection. He told me it was a rash and not an infection. This is where he dropped the ball. It was done by civilian pod as VA does not do this state of the art type procedure. I just want my foot to heal and then I will think about something more. I can only get possible pain and suffering. This goes to show that even the most minor surgical procedure has risks. No patient is aware of these risks.....a horrendous staff infection. Who suspects that this will be the outcome of some simple procedure that does not even involve a stitch to close the opening in your skin?

I don't think you are totally off on this. If the VA had significant evidence in their file that they ignored during a rating then this may be a CUE. That is what I am contending myself. For instance, if you submitted a medical report from a private doctor and the VA excluded this from the record and made a decision without referrence to this strong evidence then I think this is a possible CUE. In my own case the VA had the same evidence for 20 years and then suddenly decided I had jumped from a 10% to a 30% rate for a bipolar condition. Ten years later I went from 30% to 70% with the same basic evidence. The difference was that I got private doctors to elaborate so perhaps they considered that new evidence. Evidence in my original rating the VA ignored would have made me 100% for the last 40 years. The VA buries such evidence so when you ask for an increase it is never referrenced again.

Nice to know since I have had TMJ for over forty years. It is in the worn out stage where my jaw just slips out sometimes and I push it back into joint. The VA denied me because the army dentist who examined me faked the exam and refused to give a DX. I was on my way to Vietnam and why worry about a dental problem when I might get my head blown off and have no teeth.

Phil I went to a Vet's Center and got a DX of "PTSD, Chronic, Severe". The VARO ignored that DX and went with a DX made 40 years ago of schizophrenia by a VA doctor who could not tie his shoes. Can a DX made by a Vet Center counselor stand up to a DX made by some MD at a C&P exam? The VA insisted on sticking with the schizophrenia DX so my civilian doctor just said my schizophrenia was much worse and I got IU. I did not want to get into a pissing fight over DX with these VA institutional types. If you were discharged from service 40 years ago for a MH problem it would not be PTSD.

If you have to go to a civilian doctor to get the PTSD DX then do it. Tell the doctor what you are trying to accomplish. I have done this often in the past where the VA refused to make credible ratings. A combat vet who has insomnia sounds like someone who is suffering stress and anxiety. This is a no brainer. Insomnia and hypervigilence go together and that is PTSD along with flashbacks. The VA may be trying to avoid the DX because they know it will cost them.

If vets were allowed to tape or have counsel at these exams most of the exams would be found to be inadequate just on the basis of what was said and what was witnessed. I mean we all have had the ten minute exam from the hostile doctor. You know you are being screwed and disrepected in the first three minutes.

Have you applied for discharge upgrade or change of militray records board? What kind of discharge did you get and was it result of general court martial?

Service records are something the VA should have had before them when they made their rating. This is something that could affect the effective date and % rating of an old decision I think.

Babyray Stay in treatment and remember to never say you feel better. Every time you see the VA doctor complain about something related to your depression. You want to establish a long history of problems and symptoms. If the VA ever needs to cut the compensation budget it will be the guys who are not in treatment, or who gush about feeling so much better on those new antidepressants.

Papa Follow up on this AO exam. The VA might find something that could help you. They did for me.

I have talked about people with DMII being very careful about their feet, and now it happens to me. I feel like trying to sue that podiatrist who kept saying it was just a "rash" on my foot. Maybe if I had gotten the proper DX I would not have had to have my foot cut open to the bone, and be on IV antibiotivs for two weeks. These staff infections are becoming very common after any kind of surgery, and their are infections that are resistent to regular antibiotics. If the infection gets to the bone you are in serious trouble. We are talking losing a limb. When staff gets to the blood system you become septic and you can die. I had the infection for about three weeks before it exploded. All the time I was being treated with antibiotics, but I needed a major infusion of antibiotics. I am really pissed about this since it started in February and I just got surgery Monday before last. I can see the VA really missing something like this and a vet dying. I am surrounded by hospitals and doctors here in Tampa and have medicare. I finally went to the ER after my dermotologist said I was really sick and needed to go to the hospital. It started because I got cyrosurgery for foot pain. It was supposed to be minimally invasive and I was supposed to be cured in a week. The doctor made a small hole in my foot and injected a very cold substance deep into my foot. Beware this "new breakthrough" treatment.

I have been sick for about the last ten days with a severe staff infection in my foot. I had to go into the hospital for three days and have my foot opened up and drained. Now I am on an IV drip with antibiotics. This came from a very minor surgery to my foot. This is why I have not been around Hadit. I am on a damn walker. I got a hole in my foot and every day I have to have the dressing changed and the wound packed.....yeow, howl, groan!!!! The first time they repacked the wound I was howling and climbing the wall. That smarts.