john999

The only thing better would be to get retro for all those past years of denials considering he filed his claim in 1982. If a vet or his helper does not know the formula for winning an increase you can be frustrated for years and years. I would never have gotten my P&T without using a couple of IMO doctors that were willing to stick their necks out for me. These doctors are retired now. Many doctors will not give you the ^%%$# of their &^^% if you ask them to just say that it is as likely as not that your condition is service connected and that you meet 70%-100% requirement. No VA doctor will do that I ever knew. Did your brother have schizophrenic episodes while in the service? When I was in the army you really had to be determined and troubled to even see a shrink. To get a decent rating for something like schizophrenia without indecent delays you probably must be hospitalized and discharged for it.

Are you taking psychiatric meds for your PTSD? To get a rating of 50% or more you must be taking meds for anxiety, depression, sleep disorder etc. The VA thinks that if you are not taking loads of psychiatric meds you are not suffering from a mental health condition. I know that most PTSD vets self-medicate with alcohol. When you go for a VA pension exam you need to be well fortified with evidence that you are taking meds and experiencing most if not all of the classic PTSD symptoms. I think the VA reluctantly diagnoses PTSD these days. They know that a vet with severe PTSD is probably going to be disabled for the rest of his/her life. They want to DX you with Adjustment Disorder or some mild for of anxiety or depressive disorder. Look at what is required to get a rating of 70%. Those are severe symptoms. You must represent those symptoms when you go for your VA C&P exam. Everyone is right that VA must DX PTSD for it to be valid. However, other diagnosed conditions that can get you 100% or IU such as MDD or Schizophrenia don't require a just a VA DX. It does not matter how you get your 50%-100%. Just get it. The more time between the ending of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the harder it will be to get higher ratings for PTSD etc. in my opinion. Everyone forgets especially the VA and the public. If you have combat awards it will be much easier to get PTSD DX. It is almost a given but still the VA is tricky.

When I got back from Vietnam I was having problems and I ended up spending about two months in a military mental ward. When I got out of the service I spent a few weeks in a VA hospital mental ward. This is basically how I got my disability. I would strongly advise you to see a base psychiatrist and go into the military hospital if that is what he/she advises. This will be your nexus to an in-service component for any VA disability claim later. You might even get a medical discharge based on your mental/emotional problems. It is hard for the VA to deny your mental health problems are service connected if you spend time in a military mental ward. If you do see a military shrink be very careful of what you say to these guys. The best line to take is that you were fine before the military and now after military service you have emotional problems. Don't let them lead you down the garden path to try and find a non-service connected cause for your problems. Focus on problems arising from your actual exposures and military duty. Don't get into your childhood problems, family problems or anything before military service. If you have combat service focus on that. If you suffered hardships due to your service focus on those. The military and VA still like to find that vets have personality disorders which are non-compensable. I would educate myself about personality disorder versus actual medical mental disorders. Back during Vietnam era the VA and military just loved to DX PTSD vets with a PD instead of actual PTSD which did not even exist until the 80's.

Are you getting treatment for your heart? I hope you are not depending on the VA. The VA diagnosed me with a 60% rated heart condition and I never was referred to a cardiologist once in ten years. I use my own private doctor. The VA also ignored my high blood pressure as well. I would not trust these VA guys with anything that might kill you. Going to the VA is like seeing the "Doc in a Box". We get very basic care IMO.

You ever notice when you approach a VA clerk they usually don't look up at you. You have to stand there until they finish talking to their girl or boy friend on the phone. I am not saying that private doctor's offices don't have rude clerks but the VA is in a world of their own. Don't be nasty to them because they will cause you more trouble than a doctor. I never get mean with the clerks because they can lose your paperwork.

Since I have pretty good but expensive private insurance there is absolutely no incentive for me to have to hike 20 miles to my VAMC to get poor specialty care that I can get within 5 miles of my house. The VA offers many programs that might help me but the drive through congestion and dangerous traffic makes it not worthwhile for me to attempt the hike. Just driving to my local VAMC is the most dangerous thing I do these days.

What kills me is that the government is opposing awarding Blue Water Navy vets AO presumptive due entirely to the cost of the benefits. This is their entire justification for denying these benefits for the last 40 years. How many Blue Water vets have died from AO conditions in the last decades?

Towards the end of the Vietnam war there were hundreds if not thousands of drug addicted vets who became addicted in Vietnam. At first the military tried to treat the soldiers. Then they decided it was cheaper to just give them bad conduct discharges. I think their addiction problems were not service connected at that time. They probably never would have become addicted if they were serving stateside. Cheaper to blame the victims. I think the military still treats drug addiction as misconduct. This is medieval in thinking.

For the VA it is just about money. The political appointees who rule the VA must get on their knees to their bosses in the administration who don't mind giving vast tax cut to cronies and rich corporations, but balk at giving sick veterans a break. For generations the VA has opposed giving dental benefits to non-service connected vets. The health issues are clear, but the money is the issue.

David No, this monitor is a blood pressure cup that tightens up every half hour or hour all day long. It is not an EKG. It is really an easy and not very complicated deal. There is a device hooked up to the cup that records your BP and then the doctor can download it and see what your pressure was over the day and night. I would bet anything that your heart is enlarged at least partly due to your high blood pressure. It is strange to me that the VA has not hooked you up to a monitor like me. Every time you change BP medications the VA should do this to see if your new med is working. When you revealed what your BP was untreated I was thinking how in hell could they reduce your rating. I do think the VA may systematically under reporting high blood pressure among us vets. If the VA does definitely connected AO to high blood pressure it will cost them millions if not billions. This is why they stall on all these presumptive conditions and why they under report High Blood Pressure IMO.

What is the current situation with AO and High Blood Pressure? Is HBP presumptive now for AO exposure? Too early to file a claim?

Under the older claim systems once you had your C&P exam the rating happened pretty fast. The C&P was the last step almost. Having to wait six months after the exam for a decision seems awfully long. I have no idea if RAMP has made this decision longer. It is wise to never exaggerate your symptoms at an exam. These VA doctors all believe we are faking anyway so they are happy to catch someone faking symptoms.

I went to a private cardiologist and he put a BP monitor on me for 24 hours. My BP was high on average even with meds 158/80. VA was completely inadequate in their treatment. Cardiologist said that the wall of my heart was getting a little thicker due to the HBP. Now this is tangible proof of what HBP does over time. If my heart were to continue to enlarge I would start to have heart failure at some time in the future. The VA has not treated this as they should. I do understand that VA has made the connection between HBP and Agent Orange? If so I will be filing a claim. I notice that VA does keep taking my BP to find a reading that is normal. They cherry pick my numbers and settle on the best one. They are screwing me and probably many other vets to try and get lowest BP readings. They just want to save money. Buck says truly that VA cannot reduce you because your BP is half way controlled due to meds. They should not have reduced you , David Dupe, based on your meds.

You blood pressure is very high without your meds. I cannot believe they reduced you to 10%. You should fight that IMO. Even if your meds loser the HBP that is a dangerous level. If you forgot to take your meds for a few days you might be making up the heavenly choir.

Yes, there is no shame in telling the doctor the truth. If you were not there for an increase what would you be there for? One exam doctor assumed that I was there to protect what I had. I set him straight on that. The VA doc was debating with himself as to my being entitled to 30% current rating and I was asking for 100%.

Maybe the doctor was fishing around to see if you were making a TDIU claim or a non-service connected pension claim.

Back in around 1975 I was getting a mere 10% check when I received a check in my name for 100%. I knew something was not right, so I called the VA and told them to check on this mistake. Next month I got the same 100% check. I called again and told them they made a mistake. I put the check in the bank thinking they would catch on quick. Months went by and I kept getting the check for 100%. Then one month the checks for 100% just stopped. I never heard another word. I kept the money in the bank for six months waiting to have to pay it back but it never happened. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut. Not believing the VA could screw up that bad I did the right/wrong thing.

I think you should try and get the stroke SC because you have SC High Blood. You should try and connect any condition that is in any way related to your heart condition. Did you have OSA in service and can you prove it? I think you need your own private doctor to tie all these secondary conditions to your primary conditions (HBP and Heart Disease). I can't understand in a way why VA medical cannot understand the relationship between you high blood and your stroke. Nor can I understand them not connecting your other conditions as secondary to your heart condition. If you don't set it up for them so that even a moron could not miss then miss it they will.

Since all these appeal systems are flawed it just makes clear that you want your claim adjudicated at the lowest level possible. To me that means your claim should be as close to bullet proof when you first file it. If you file a claim you should probably have an IMO/IME for each and every condition claimed. You should not trust the VA C&P system as your only exam evidence. Back in 2001 I filed for an increase from 30% to TDIU. I was denied any increase. I used the DRO Hearing system plus an IMO, and in about 8 months I got a new rating of 70%, but was again denied TDIU. I asked for another DRO and with a new IMO and got my TDIU, but I was denied P&T Chapter 35. I went back to the DRO and got another IMO. This time I got all that I was asking for finally. If I had of gone to the BVA I would still be appealing the first denial. I have never used RAMP, but what ever appeal you use don't let that claim get out of the VARO if you can help it. I went to the BVA after a DRO Hearing for my CUE and 5 years later after going to the Court of Vet Appeals I lost. I even tried to get into federal court where I hoped there would be some justice. I was wrong. The more formal the setting the less likely a vet is to win IMO.

I couldn't read your decision letter very well, but since your pay is the same as TDIU or 100% scheduler I don't see the increase as being meaningful. You got your SMC L 1/2 so are you asking about the EED for the SMC or your 100% P&T. You can't get HB and L 1/2 at the same time. Just refresh what you said about the date you got 100% scheduler? Was it 2012 or 2018? I understand about getting "S" when you have a total rating and then another 60% regardless if you are TDIU or Scheduler. When I did try and read your decision I could not make heads or tails out of it.

VA considers Nam dogs as walking dead men. They are writing us off as we speak. Did the VA ever expand the Care Giver benefit to our spouses?

Would the VA consider being expose to burning feces smoke as being qualified for Burn Pit Registry? Every vet who went to Vietnam would have a case. First thing I smelled when I got to the air base was burning S**t and diesel.

Yes, get the last employer to submit the form requested. If they don't or there is a delay file the TDIU form ASAP. Did your last employer fire you for cause or did your resign? I think you want a good idea what your last employer is going to say. They could really screw you over if they don't say the right thing. Employers might be cautious about what they admit since if they say they fired you because of your disabilities they know they could be sued at the EEOC. In my case I took disability retirement because I worked for the feds. I knew what they were going to say since it was part of a lawsuit I filed against the employer. They had to be nice or the settlement would have back fired on them. If your employer said you were let go because you were drunk on duty or did not show up for work on time this could hurt you. I would want to see what they are going to send to the VA. Better nothing at all than something bad such as " John Doe came to work high on drugs".

If you had TDIU plus a 60% rating unrelated to the TDIU then you would be eligible for housebound. That is how I got it. I got TDIU in 2002 and a 60% rating a few years later and thus the "S". You don't need to be scheduler 100% but you need to be totally disabled as in TDIU.

I did not get a half dozen forms from past employers. What TDIU really means is that presently you are not able to sustain gainful employment solely due to your SC disability. This is what your doctor should say in his report. Perhaps the VA has made getting TDIU harder but if I had to get form from my past 7 employers I would have been screwed. I had a long time employer and I was getting SSDI and disability retirement so that should have been enough. I still had to appeal to get TDIU which pissed me off no end. Most of what the VA says is just BS. Better to get your info right here. Your do need to submit the TDIU form.