john999

If you have any sort of problem like agent orange DMII then I would file even if only for 10%. File for things that might kill you so your spouse can get all benefits of direct service connected death.

The VA just takes all your mental health claims and throws them at the wall and sees what sticks. If you have more than one clear cut disorder I don't think they know what to do with you. Schizophrenia, PTSD, Bi-polar it all amounts to the same thing when it comes to compensation. If you can't work and function you get IU or maybe 100%. If you are less drastically screwed up you get something between 10% and 70%. Your shrink may have some idea of what is wrong with you but the VBA and VARO just rate you for one single disorder. You can get 100% for anxiety or full blown psychosis.

I have seen some of the after action and morning reports from Vietnam and I could not read them. Every military base in Vietnam was hit with rockets or mortars. If you hear the first one come in you are feeling fear. If a firefight erupts in the rubber plantation out in front of your bunker you are in fear. If a flare pops and you see movement your $#@hole puckers and your mouth goes dry. It is not the same as an infantry troop engaged in a firefight at close range, but there is fear. Some people react differently to this than others. I agree with others who say if you are diagnosed with PTSD and there are not other obvious stressors besides having been in a combat zone this should be presumptive for service related PTSD. There is an epidemic of PTSD and TBI and the VA is very late in dealing with this problem. 30% of current vets who have been to Iraq or Afghanistan are being dx'ed with mental health problems including PTSD. This is hundreds of thousands of vets. It may never happen, but I do think the day is not far off when PTSD will be presumptive for any vet who is diagnosed with it who has served in a combat zone. 2+2=4

I think the VA has limited resources, and when you go there for psychiatric treatment you are competeing with many other vets for time. You have to really ignore all the roadblocks they throw in your way and insist on treatment. The idea that they only have group therapy is a laugh. They just want to herd vets into these groups to stretch the personnel over a larger group of vets. The VA has a hard time retaining shrinks because they treat them like crap. All this talk about how seriously they take PTSD means they are undertreating every other mental health areas. It is like the VA has focused all their attention on TBI/PTSD from OIF/OEF and everything that does not fall into that category does not exist. My VAMC makes that very plain. You call them and you get the "welcome home OIF/OEF combat vets". Does that mean all the other vets are not welcome? I tell you I don't see lots of 20 something vets flocking to my VAMC. What I see is older, poorer and sicker vets.

Under the new rule proposed by Shinseki for PTSD about every Vietnam vet would be able to relate some incident that scared them out of their wits during their tour. If you are in any combat zone there is fear of hostile action. It may never come to hand to hand combat, but you fear being shot or blown up. That is why they give you live ammo and an M-16. I know why the VA insists that the stressor be verified. They believe that given a chance every vet who ever served in a combat zone will claim PTSD just for the money. If you relate something that happened to you they are saying "We don't trust you. Prove it". If that were true every infantry soldier with a CIB would have already claimed PTSD and that has not happened. The VA is always there to try and pull the rug out from under you.

I have heard bad things about the VA in Manila. If you are going to do a CUE in that place I would try and find a lawyer. I have never met a VSO who even understands the meaning of a CUE.

I think it is malpractice and should be a firing offense for a VA doctor to turn away a vet who is either suicidal or showing signs of great distress. I read constantly how the military is trying to prevent suicide. Did the VA not get the message?? I think soldiers have the public's eye, but vets can be forgotten. There was one here that Carlie mentioned who treatened to blow up the local VARO. The VA made a federal case out of it. He was off his meds. Half the vets in Florida probably have thought about blowing up that joint except then never called them up and said it.

Probably the copy process, but you might have missing pages.

According to the VA's logic anyone who developes any emotional disorder probably has a congenital factor that is triggered by the stress of military service. By this standard no one with flat feet would ever get compensation. They took you into the service as being medically fit. The VA does use the congenital excuse every time they misdiagnose a person with PTSD, depression or anxiety disorder as a personality disorder. The personality disorder is congentital disorder they say. Before the hubbub about PTSD the Army was kicking out 100's of soldiers suffering from PTSD as personality disorders so they would not have to pay. If you are marching and humping for hours and days that would aggravate a back problem that otherwise may never have hurt you.

Go to the VAMC ER and tell them that you are going to kill yourself. They have a duty to admit you. If they won't admit you then sit yourself down and don't move until they arrest you or admit you some place. Then sue the bastards for malpractice. They MUST take care of suicidal vets. They lied to you. They divert vets all the time to private hospitals under fee base.

It is apples and oranges if your lawyer is representing you through the entire VA claims process. If they win in this situation they get a percentage of your retro award. Even if you lose at the BVA I would hope your claim is in good enough shape so that when it gets to the Court there is not some fatal defect in it. To my mind this is why you hire a lawyer. He can't make the VA work faster, but he is supposed to be an expert in VA law. He should be able to use the law to give you every advantage. He should recognize the fatal mistakes in your claim and help you correct them before your claim gets to the BVA or the Court. The lawyers are dealing with the same monsterous system we deal with but they are supposed to know how that system works and all the loopholes.

I have a tens unit. It is the same thing except sort of messy. It gives me minimal relief. I wish the VA would prescribe heroin. That is the worlds best pain killer. Heroin was invented as a cure for morphine addiction. Methadone was invented as a cure for heroin addiction. What is the cure for methadone addiction?

Leadbelly said it better "Land of the Brave, home of the free. I don't want to be mistreated by no bourgeoise". You know in your heart that a government owned by special interests is not going to help citizens sue potential campaign contributors. If you don't have the money you have to get out of town. It was not until the 1940's or 50's I believe before destitute defendants were provided lawyers for free in criminal cases.

Larry That's a good one. Don't piss off ex-wife. Many is the guy who has learned the meaning of "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned or divorced".

Very difficult to go from TDIU to 100% schedular. I am 70%, 60%, 10%,10%,10%,10%, and 10% and still only 90% by VA math. If you can't work it does not matter about IU or 100%.

Right, if you are seeking compensation the paper trail is as important as the treatment. I don't remember ever applying for compensation in the early 70's but someone must have stuck a POA in front of my face and I signed it. This event is the difference between compensation now and no compensation. This started a crude paper trail.

By all means keep getting treatment for the PTSD. If they prescribe drugs take them. Like both Berta and TestVet say even if you are 100% you need to stay in treatment. Commit yourself to a life time of treatment at the VA.

If your private doctor knows the VA's format for a report get it from him. You can control this report. The VA doctor's report will go directly into your record. You want to be able to look it over to see if there are any booby traps in the report before it goes into your record. If the VA doctor really knows his stuff he could do a report, but it would not be an IMO. An IMO is an independent Medical opinion. Your private doctor can refer you to one of his buddies who will write you a good IMO. This is how I got a dynamite IMO. My doctor referred me to someone who used to work for the VA. She just hit that IMO out of the park. I came out of the exam with three new conditions that the VA granted SC for that I had not even asked for SC. The VA still refers to me as "the guy will all the conditions".

Bill Just be sure any information about your TDIU is solely based on your SC disabilites. If their is one shred on NSC medical reason why you might be unemployable the VA will latch onto that to deny your IU. Say you have severe PTSD but also have some minor NSC back problems. If the VA gets wind of the back thing they will often try to say that is the real reason you can't work. It happened to me. I was 70% and on SSD, but one of my medical reports mentioned a NSC thing and that was all the VA needed to deny me the first time I asked for TDIU.

Fosk It would take months of planning to get a 10 million vet march on Washington. Word has to be passed all around the vet community. All the vet actions in the past have failed because vets are all over the place politically. All the Vet Organizations would have to promote it unless it was an underground mass movement like Woodstock or something. Vets are taken out on Veteran's day and put back in the attic the day after even with a war going on 8 years. Vets getting discharged now will have no jobs so maybe there is enough discontent to get something going. If majority of vets really wanted radical change in the way they are treated I think it could happen. In general vets are not radicals or activists. The radicals and acitvists are the people who used to have money and status in our society but have lost it or are in fear of losing it. Poor and downtrodden people don't start revolutions.

Pigdriver You know one of the main symptoms of PTSD is denial, so don't feel too bad because you did not get treatment for years. It is hard for a guy who has survived the horror of war to admit he is not OK. This is why a lot of older guys with PTSD finally arrive at rock bottom and start to cry out for help. You have to be a strong individual to survive combat. In our day signs of emotional distress were looked on as weakness by the army, or even a conduct problem. Unless you were stark, raving mad any drinking or drug problems or other signs of PTSD would get you in trouble. The military psychiatrists were not sympathetic. They worked for Uncle Sam, and were eager for you to accept some kind of less than honorable discharge to get you out of their hair at behest of the command.

If you know that your long term prospects to be able to work again are dim you have to begin to treat your VA claims as a job. You have to get in treatment and stay in treatment. You have to begin to build a mountain of documentation and keep building until the day you die. You can't treat your disability as something you can just get, and then walk away from to get on with your life. It is your life now. It is going to pay you and your familiy the rest of their lives once you become P&T. You don't need to become obsessed with the VA, but you need to cultivate the doctors and play the game. If you are compliant and show up these guys at the VA will help you rather than hurt you. Your PCP and your psychiatrist are the ones who will do the most because they deal with people and not just with cutting people open and sewing them back up.

Delta You should see my original rating decision. It is about 1.5 pages long. It is a joke. There is no reasons or basis section. The VA just included my SMR's and hospital records and on that basis awarded me 10% rating. The old ratings are like that with just bare bones outline. My quest for a higher rating and EED for IU is based on excluded evidence that if it had been considered would have shown me to be way beyong a 10% disability.

I would bring the records with me and see if the doctor takes them. I don't think it is a red flag for denial. It is just SOP. They want to get a look at you.

I agree with what Larry is saying about claiming chronic pain disorder and depression. The VA can waive the 12 year thing regarding your Voc Rehab. However, if you want to get IU then the only reason you would want Voc Rehab is for them to say you are unemployable. Are you seeing a VA psychiatrist on a regular basis? Do you get your narcotics via the Pain Management at the VA? What is your overall rating? If you have been on vicodin for five years you have chronic pain, and are no doubt physically dependent. It is hard for other psychiatric meds to work when you are dealing with severe chronic pain. My VA shrink tells me the naroctics just overwhelm the other meds. The TDIU thing may take some time unless you are already rated at least 40% for one disability and 60% combined. However, you have to start some place and it might as well be right now. I would make the claim for IU as soon as I could fill out the form. You will no doubt be sent for C&P exams for all the conditions you claim, so it will take time. Is your knee injury a service connected problem? You might need a IMO for the psychiatric problems to get a higher rating. The SSD may be a problem because of your age, but you have to file to find out.