john999

Did the doctor who did the registry exam make an opinion about which medical problems are as likely as not connected to Gulf War presumptive conditions. When I got the AO registry exam the doctor did opine about three conditions I had that were likely related to AO exposure. This is what encouraged me to file claims on these issues. The VA ignored the AO registry exam, but I did get the conditions SC'ed. I had to go for C&P exams on all the issues identified by the AO exam. I question why they have such exams if the VA ignores the results to all ends.

While I was waiting for my IU I had some serious dental work done. I paid out of my pocket, of course. After I got IU I filed a claim for unauthorized medical expense with the fee base office. After a bunch of runaround the VA paid about 70% of the cost of the dental work. This was due to the fact that if I had been granted IU without being denied the first time I would have been eligible for VA dental care. I am sure the VA would tell most that you can't get this reimbursement. The VA hides a bunch of facts from vets. If you don't already know your rights they will never volunteer to tell you. A felon gets his rights read to him. Veterans must play hide and seek with the VA. I always believed we were treated with less respect than criminals.

Why did it take 9 years to get service connected for this problem from 1975-84. Did you file a claim in 1975 and get denied?

A GAF by a psychiatrist carries more weight than other type shrinks. The VA gives more weight to anyone with an MD by their name. In my state of Florida PH.D. clinical psychologists and psychiatrists have the same legal weight, but the VA tends to ignore this. In all the years I have gone to the VA I have never had psychological testing. Everything was determined by a 15 minute exam by a resident shrink or shrink-for-hire.

Raybob Unless you win all you are asking for in your claim be prepared to appeal. Everyone here has filed an appeal for a denied benefit at some point. Appeals are part of the process with the VA. Since you have an income you can afford to be very careful and fight smart. What you do in the next year may be the most important financial decisions you make for the rest of your life. I think you will get most of what you are asking for, but do not hesitate to appeal any negative or low ball decisions. After all your C&P exams are done I would get some job to pass the time away if I could work, so you are not waiting at the mailbox for VA decisions. The VA takes their sweet time. The post office has to hire disabled vets if you can pass the physical. VA hospitals have a program for hiring disabled vets as well. If you are not totally disabled you have quite a few options.

I have my CUE with the BVA Traveling Board member next Wednesday at the VARO in St. Petersburg. I have a lawyer who is doing a brief. Who knows if this thing will actually fly. The lawyer seems confident and stands to get a nice check. I am less confident knowing how slick the VA is in avoiding payment for past wrongs. I have to be at the VARO at 8:30 in the morning. Thank God, I can just shut up and let the lawyer do the talking. I have to get up early to drive from Tampa. The VA has tried to frame it as a case of attempting to weight the evidence both pro and con which rules out a CUE. My case is that the VARO did not weigh the evidence. They did not have the evidence before them even though the evidence was in the file. They have also attempted to claim that my service connected disability was not the reason I could not work. The reason, according to the VA, is a personality disorder(emotionally unstable personality) which incapacitated me and made me unable to work or to even relate to other people at the time of my original rating. My SMR's say depression and anxiety and the VA says schizophrenia in it original decision. For this I got a 10% rating. The report from my doctor which never saw the light of day at the VARO says unable to work or function at all in society due to chronic schizophrenia. What would reasonable minds make of this if they had seen all the facts of the case?

Billy2 I got turned down for IU when I was 70% and on SSD so don't give up. I would get the private shrink and get a medical report to shoot for 70% on the PTSD. I think you are on the right trail. Just be sure to get your appeals in on time. If your shrink says you are not working due to your PTSD that is what you need for IU. I would ask for a DRO Hearing on these matters and file for both IHD and the PN.

Ricky You have my sympathy since I also lost my mother. It is hard.

If you were dicharged due to a personality disorder that is non compensable. Did the VA disagree with that diagnosis and change it to adjustment disorder? If some doctor is saying that your PD was the cause of some other disorder that is a dangerous way of trying for service connection. What the VA doctor should do is say that you were misdiagnosed with a PD when, in fact, you have bipolar disorder that manifested itself in the service. I know that back in the day many emotionally ill service members were kicked out as personality disorders. You have to either refute that or show that you also had a compensable disorder that was either caused or aggravated by your service. Probably most service members with who had PTSD in-service were discharged as PD's or pre-existing mental disorders during the Vietnam era.

When you have a chronic physical condition that causes long term pain you enter into a vicious cycle. Pain often causes depression and the depression makes the pain worse. This is the essessence of chronic pain disorder. Throw in some narcotic medications to really increase the intensity of the depression/pain feedback loop. You have to have an accepted SC condition in order to have chronic pain disorder as secondary. Back pain is probably the most frequent chronic pain disorder source. Diabetic neuropathy is right up there as well.

Pete You talk the most sense of just about anyone here. You are steady as a rock. You do a great job here at Hadit. John King

The only thing different between any total rating is being permanant and total. Then you get more benefits for being P&T. I think if you are 100% schedular it is easier to claim SMC for housebound. We debated this point here a while ago.

IU and TDIU are the same thing. It means you are getting 100% compensation for disability rated less than 100% schedular.

If the VA re-evaluates your Personality Disorder thing and decides you have an acutal psychiatric disorder you can get compensation. The thing is what they decide will be your effective date. You get tagged with a PD and then ten years later they change your DX to PTSD they will give you a ED of the date they dx PTSD. To get the EED you have do some work. I was DX'ed with a PD and discharged, but lucky for me the VA did DX me with a compensable psychiatric disorder that that an effective date back to my date of discharge. That was the luckiest break I ever got even though they low balled me.

Chnonic pain disorder is considered a psychiatric disorder. What you need is your own shrink to write you a report. You cannot depend on the VA to do the right thing.I am SC'ed for chronic pain. They will lump it in with any other emotional disorders you have for one rating.

I would not go back to the same people that hurt me the first time to correct their mistake. You have Tricare. I would get my own doctor/expert opinion. If three surgeries did not correct the problems then I would go slow about getting something else done. I would shop around for the best expert in my local. You might be able to get what you need here to do your own claim. Anytime a BVA Hearing is cancelled it can take years to get it back on track. I think I would try and go ahead with the BVA Hearing if you have a decent case. Evidence is what wins claims. If you have good evidence then you should win.

Talking about your feelings is much safer than hiding them until they explode. As long as you don't plan to kill yourself or someone else I don't think you have a problem discussing hostile feelings.

This would probably the worst time possible to lose your IU. There are no jobs out there anyway. We may not get back to full employment for years. Those getting IU or 100% are lucky. If you are over 50 and getting IU you may be the only guy or gal on your block who actually knows they will be getting a check every month.

DAV-Marine How would you get to work every day? If you drive you are taking a hell of a chance. Your wife seems unable to understand your situation. She seems to be using emotional blackmail on you. 100% disabled people don't go out and party like it is 1999. Stress may be causing you problems and aggravating your pain. Have you seen a shrink? If my wife started complaining about my situation of being disabled and on IU I would bid her farewell. I mean that. If she seriously brought up the topic of divorce I would consult my lawyer. My wife knows I suffer and she trys to help. If I could do the things I did before IU I would not be on IU. Neither of us asked for our disabilites. If your mate can't understand that then she must have forgot her vows...."In sickness and in health til death do us part".

You know the VA can do anything, but I don't think it is probable. If you qualified for DIC I don't know how they could take that away. Did you get it for 10 years total disability or direct service connected death? To mess with your DIC the VA would have to show that your husband did not die for SC condition or that you were not married for 10 years to 100% vet. CUE's are very specific. They are based on errors that only involve the records and laws at the time of the CUE.

Collecting rent for yourself is not earned income. Property management probably is earned income. I think it can be a fine point. If you are buying, fixing up and selling property that might be considered earned income if you do the work yourself. If you buy a house for investment purpose and then hire others to fix it up and then you sell it I don't know exactly what that is considered. If you have questions ask a CPA, or someone here can probably tell you for free.

You should get your legs checked by a vasucular surgeon. You should probably get a CT scan of your legs as well. If you have blockages in your legs you may have them in your heart and brain as well. I have DMII. I had a CT scan done on my leg and they found artery disease. You have to really watch this kind of thing because if you have poor circulation in your legs it can lead to amputations for those with DMII. I am betting you can get at leasat 10% per leg for this condition and maybe a diagnosis of CAD. When you have those warning signs of trouble with the legs I would try and get the VA to do an echocardiogram on me. That is what I did. The VA does a very poor job of following up on these things. You have to push you PCP. If they won't do it get it done by a private vascular surgeon. They have a pretty simple of way testing to see your blood flow to your legs.

If class members get 100 dollars out of this case I would be surprised. At some point you may have to prove you were harmed to get extra benefits. The ones who benefit in class action suits are the lawyers and perhaps the first couple of guys who filed the suit. I was in a class action suit against the post office where I worked. It took 12 years to settle. The lawyers got a few million dollars. Two guys who first filed the EEOC case got about 70,000 bucks and the other class members got a few thousands dollars.

The VA is always quick to DX a personality disorder, or alcoholism because they think it gets them off the hook for compensation. If they find an illegal drug in your system you become a drug addict. They will use any NSC condition that can explain disability as an alternative to SC conditions. If you are obese then all your problems are due to that factor. If you take illegal drugs, smoke, or drink more than two drinks a day then your problems are due to those factors.

I think you should get the IMO from a neuro or orthopedist. This way the VA can't top your expert. If you use a internist and the VA uses a neuro or orthopod at the C&P exam that will top your doctor. You don't want to bring a knife to a gunfight.