john999

I don't think if will a major factor in getting a federal job. Where do you plan to try and get hired? I have seen some employees of the VA with very major disabilites. They guy who interviewed me for one of the rehab programs was in a wheelchair and needed specialized devices to even use the computer. He was 200% disabled and yet he got a job. I don't think he was even a disabled vet. I was a mere 10% disabled and I could not get a job at the VA, so other factors besides disability are usually more important. I think knowing someone in the federal government is the main thing. Upper levels of the feds are ruled by good old boy network.

There is no way to push them into a decision. Have you sent an IRIS to ask what the status of your claim is now? When did you have your DRO Hearing?

If the exam was done by QTC you probably have to get it from the VARO. If a VA doctor did it you can get if from the VAMC records dept.

The VA can't require you to have any medical treatment. That is up to you. I think you should file for IU and SSD. Like Berta says you need a doctor to say you are IU because of your SC conditions. If you have been on vicodin for 5 years you also have a drug dependency . You find this out when you try and stop taking it. The dose you are taking is probably just enough for you to stay normal. Pain relief went out the window years ago unless you have been constantly increasing your dose. If you take the vicodin as the doctor prescribes every eight hours you become dependent in a matter of months. If the VA suddenly decided they would not prescribe narcotics to out patients the street price of drugs like vicodin would soar. They have created tens of thousands of vets with drug dependency. They need to take responsibility for that. If you take the drug exactly as prescribed you will become dependent (physically addicted). This is just a chemical fact.

I think that if your records don't include ischemic heart disease the VA won't SC you as presumptive for AO heart disease. When money is involved the VA sticks to the letter of the law. The VA said ischemia on my stress test, but I am not SC'ed for ischemic heart disease.

You probably need to wait for your rating, or at least until you get a copy of the exam to start to worry. If the C&P guys says your bi-polar is SC and that and your other conditions keep you from working your IU claim should be good.

The Government can always find billions to prop up rotten banks or build a new aircraft carrier. They really have to squeeze to come up with 4 new BVA judges. You see what the priorites are! We get scraps from the table and we are supposed to jump for joy. It used to be even worse. Can you imagine?

It sounds like a good IU claim to me.

Stillhere The way to find out is to file a claim. I think you might especially if you were hospitalized in a VA hospital.

Can you imagine the payouts for AO DMII and Ischemic Heart disease and prostate cancer if Blue Water Nave RVN vets are included as presumptive? Can the VA and congress really do the right thing if it costs money? When it comes to weapons programs the sky is the limit, but paying vets usually cost too much. The human vet is the ultimate weapons delivery system.

You may be a hero to the public, but to the VA you are just a bum! Don't call us. We'll call you.

You might try for a chronic pain disorder rating on the back and hip. You have a lot better chance of that than of connecting the neck to the lower back.

Your psychological C&P exam may turn out to the the one that will put you over the top. If you get a rating of 30% for depression due to medical conditions you will be in percentage range for TDIU. You should file for unemployability now. What you need is for your shrink to say that you are unemployable due to your physical injuries and due to your depression. The shrink can tie up all the conditions and determine that due to chronic pain and depression you can't work. He should use conditions that are already service connected to base his opinion on about your unemployability. You already have 50%, so a 70% rating with IU is within reach.

Ryan With the drugs in me just driving a car is a death match. When I drive I have to be 100% alert.

I would not pull on the lion's tail regarding the letter of the law for the amount you can earn on SSD. If they find out you are working they can always reexamine you. Who knows if they will decide you have been rehabilitated. You sure as heck don't want the VA dragging you in for an exam because they thing you are gaming them. Many of the VA honchos think disabled vets are scam artists anyway. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Bob The best way to become unpopular at the VA is to ask for something. When you go forward with a claim for compensation you go from being a hero to undeserving burden on society.

I don't think you want to file for 100% for PTSD while working full time. 70% is about the maximun you can get for a mental disorder while working. You should read the criteria for rating PTSD. You may end up getting reduced when the C&P doctor learns you are working full time. The first thing the VA asks PTSD vets is "Are you working" since that is the main factor in awarding a higher rating. Really, the best thing you can do is to keep working and keep getting treatment for your PTSD. The day you are unable to work is the day to ask for 100% or IU.

USMC I would call or send an IRIS about once a month to make sure your claim is not being help up because the VA is waiting on something you can provide. Just check on your claim about once a month to see what is happening. Once your appeal is in there is nothing you can do to make it go faster. It works its way through the python.

First, shoot your VSO. Then follow the advice you got here from Pete and 12R3G. Just kidding about the VSO, but that is poor advice. Does the VA believe you developed sleep apnea within 89 days of discharge?

My advice at the exam is to tell the doctor that everything in your life was fine before Iraq. Since Iraq you have become non-functional. Do you have combat awards from Iraq? Is so then you still need to have your stressor letter, but the VA concedes your stressor if it is plausible. Just do not let the examiner steer you through a trip through your childhood and family life prior to Iraq. When the VA looks for alternatives to PTSD they often try and show you have a personality disorder. For them to show this they have to show a life long pattern of maladaptive behavior that usually starts in childhood and continues into adulthood. You defense is that you did not have problems as a child, in school, with the law, with your parents before Iraq. You have problems now because of the stress you suffered in Iraq in the combat zone. Just tell the C&P guy the truth about your symptoms, but remember before Iraq life was good. Now prior to Iraq life sucks. You had no symptoms before the war and now you have PTSD symptoms. If the doctor wants you to describe blood and guts then tell him what you saw,smelled, heard and did while holding nothing back. If you burst out in tears so much the better.

I would hand carry your stressor material and any claim material to the VARO and get a date stamped copy. You can hire the DAV to help you, but if you want to win the claim you need to work it yourself. If you send information to the DAV also send or carry it to the VARO on your own. These VSO's are notorius for letting deadlines go by and not filing paperwork on time. Just like the VA.

If you are P&T then your TDIU decision letter should state you are eligible for Chapter 35. They never come out and say you are P&T. They either grant Chapter 35 or deny it. I had Chapter 35 for years and tried to get the VA to send me a letter stating I was P&T to send to my disability insurance company, but the VA would not do it. I do have a letter from the VA saying I am P&T but it includes a bunch of medical information I don't want to spread around to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

When you review your file at my VARO you sit at a table with the C-File and a rep from the VA stays in the room with you to make sure you neither add or subtract anything from the file. If you need a few copies they will make them for you, but won't copy you whole file on the spot.

You got to ask for a personal hearing with the DRO, or they are likely to just do a review, and that can be just a cut and paste job. It happened to me, and I learned to always ask for a personal hearing.

Stillhere It seems logical to me that you could claim an EED under Nehmer for ischemic heart disease if you had that DX before you got the SC for heart disease as secondary to DMII. I presume the DMII was due to AO? I would sure want to get a copy of your informal claim. I think in order for Nehmer to apply you have to have made a claim, but I could be wrong on that. Berta would know. If you claimed a heart condition prior to your getting SC'ed secondary to DMII then I think that would be good under Nehmer since you are an AO vet. You know if you were hospitalized for heart pains that could be an informal claim for SC and/or an EED.