john999

I would keep your recent traffic accident and your existing VA claim completely separate. I agree with what Carlie said in her reply. If you bring up this accident in future requests for an increase you are cutting your throat. They will blame all your problems on the accident. I would not even tell the VA about the accident.

He might even consider filing a workers compensation claim. When the USPS fired me I filed a workers compensation claim. They fired me because of my disability, so I filed a claim saying that the events leading up to my firing aggravated my disability. I won the workers compensation claim. I lived off that until my VA TDIU claim was approved. Then I had to drop out of workers compensation and take the VA benefit.

I think the attorney should be the one to file the Form 9. If it is going to BVA the lawyer should write a brief.

It is probably hell on your digestive system. If it is extra-strength ibuprophen you better take it on a full stomache. My gut is pretty iron clad but ibuprophen in the 800mg pill bothers me after a few days. All those pills cause bleeding in your guts even aspirin.

He needs to talk to a lawyer. Even state civil service usually has rules and appeals if you get fired. However, this guy probably needs a lawyer in his corner. I don't know if MSPB gets involved in state civil service. When I got fired from the post office I hired a lawyer. It helped me at least get a disability retirement.

Terry I bet you have a better success rate than the local VSO's.

Berta Helping survivors of disabled vets is really a necessary thing. Many don't have any idea of how to navigate the VA. If the VA tells them they are not entitled to DIC they believe it. Often, as we all know, the VA gives out bad information. I told my wife not to accept "NO" for an answer for any benefit if I croak before her. If the VA lies to us vets you know they lie to spouses. I bet that unless a vet's spouse makes the request for insurance they never see it. There is probably a billion dollars in unclaimed insurance money. Someone needs to publish a small book on how survivors need to make their claims for benefits from the VA. Not just official list of benefits but how to apply for them and how to appeal if they are denied. No where does any VA handbook say that all spouses should request an autopsy even though we know it can be crucial for DIC purpose. Death certificates can be just two words done by some doctor who is in a hurry unless autopsy is done.

Paxil is a good anti-anxiety drug. However, you give up your sex life because it somehow inhibits the ability to have an orgasm in both males and females. Those who God wishes to punish he makes mad, or puts them on Paxil.

To be honest I think his Vietnam combat service is a figment of his mental illness. The only benefit to getting his DMII SC'ed because of Vietnam service would be that if he dies of secondary condition to DMII the VA would pay a small amount towards his funeral expenses. If there is nothing at all in his records about service in Vietnam chance are he was not there except in his mind. If all the guys who claim to have been on secret missions in Vietnam were actually there we would have won that war.

I can't take the morphine and methadone either. It does make me sick. I get by on oxycodone. It is not effective any more, so I am trying to reduce the amount I take to make it work again since that is all I get. I think Pete is right that doctors are afraid to prescribe the right amounts and kinds of pain meds. I know in Florida they are scared to death because DEA is breathing down their necks. I went to a private pain doctor and all I got was darvoset. That is like asprin to me. Oxycontin is long acting oxycodone. This would be great for me but I can't get it because I am not dying of cancer. I might shop around for a private doctor who would prescribe it but I forgot that is a crime in Florida.

I think I would go to the VA ER and tell them your back is hurting so bad that if you don't get your oxy script you are going to kill yourself. That should get their attention. The worst that can happen is the admit you. You should be able to get your pain meds then.

If he was in SOG there is a way to find out about his service. Believe it or not SOG has a association. From what I understand most of those in SOG were SF guys. However, if you contact the SOG association and you have a good story they will pass you around to various guys in the SOG or SF good old boy network, and you can probably find out if your husband was with them. I did it regarding a guy who I knew who claimed to be in SF and to have done three tours in Vietnam. I started checking with the SF association first. They referred me to someone else who referred me to a gatekeeper of the SOG retired files. These guys know who they are and they know who is a wannabee. I even asked if the person I was looking for could have been using an assumed name. The SOG association gatekeeper said they had their ways of checking out people. In the case I was working on the SF/SOG people said they never heard of the guy I was asking about. Maybe they were protecting for all I know, but it is an option. I think they don't want people claiming credit for what they did. What was your husband's MOS? A lot of SOG people worked at radar sites in remote places like Laos and Cambodia. As far as I know they did not go out on combat missions like grunts. They worked at remote sites doing "spy" work. The SF and SOG people are very sensitive to others claiming to be SF or SOG, so if you ask in a humble way you may get some good information. You need to know the answers to questions like where was your husband in Vietnam? What was the name of his unit. Where did he get his training. The more details you can come up with the more it might be possible to find someone who knew him or his unit history. What does his DD214 say? Why don't you post it without identifying information so we can look at it. It should have some kind of information that might help.

Think of it this way: If you are 60% disabled you are 40% able bodied. If you get an additional 30% for something is has to come out of the 40% you have let. That would be 30% of 40% which equals 12%. You would add 12% to 60%. You round off the 12% to 10% and you have a new rating of 70%.

I think most pain managment techniques are witchcraft. For instance, there is no proof that nerve blocks actually work. Pain doctors make big money doing these instead of just giving perscriptions. No money in just writing a prescription for an opiate.

Larry Just pace yourself and realized there are some people you just can't help. John

You have to ask for it. However, I think if you are entitled to a benefit the VA is supposed to consider a grant even if you don't ask for it because it is inferred by the reg that Phil parphrased. In reality you have to ask or 99% of the time you don't get, but this might be the basis of an appeal. For instance, if you can't work due to an SC condition the VA is supposed to consider IU even if you don't ask for it.

The online claim thing is for new claims I believe. For an increase all you have to do is write a letter to your VARO and tell them you request a higher rating because your disability has gotten worse. You need evidence to show it has gotten worse, but you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Pete Is that major medical policy for 140 bucks a month only good at the Dallas Public hospital. If you are in ICU for two weeks you could have a 100,000 dollar medical bill. 20% of that is $20,000 dollars. I have a very good BC policy. My wife is included. She went to an in network hospital for a week, and we still got about 700 bucks worth of bills. ChampVA paid it all after many phone calls. The fine print in the medical policies can kill you.

That is a good question since supplemental policies are expensive. Do you have medicare? I don't believe there is any good supplement for your VA care. What is your percentage rating? I think you would probably have to get a stand alone policy. and that would be very expensive. Do you have health insurance now? If you are unable to work try and get medicare via SSD. I have a group policy BC/BS with my former employer and it costs me and the government about 1200 dollars a month. When people tell you you can get a good health insurance policy for a few hundred dollars that is just not accurate. The cheap policies have very high co-pays and deductibles. If you are able move closer to the VA hospital. Being 3.5 hours away makes ER care impossible. Maybe with health care reform you may get a better answer one day.

IU and SSDI are not "handouts". That may be what the powers want you to believe, but it is not true. IU is compensation for losing the ability to work to support yourself due to service connected injury or illness. I don't think many people would enlist if they knew that if injured they would be forced to live on charity. However, that is often the case, and that is the shame of the nation.

If you are serious about an increase you should get an independent medical opinion that should state that your PTSD has gotten worse. The IMO needs access to your VA medical records. He does not need your SMR's since you have already been SC'ed for PTSD. What you want to show is that your PTSD symptoms have gotten worse and that you are more disabled than you were when you got 30% rating. You should get a copy of the VA PTSD Exam format, and what the differences between a 30%, 50% and 70-100% ratings are for the VA. Your VA doctor is not interested in helping you get more compensation. He just treats you. You have to connect the dots to show you have gotten worse. If you depend just on the VA you may be at 30% for many years to come.

VMO If you are not in good health it might be wise to let a lawyer take your claims through the appeals process. These things are stressful. Let the lawyer earn his money dealing with the stress. Take your time to find the right lawyer. You need to find someone who believes in your claim. The more retro involved in your claim the more attractive it becomes to the legal eagles.

The percentages are on your side. I think you will get IU. I never had a C&P for IU. I got the percentages and had statements from my doctors saying I was unemployable due to my SC conditions. Have you applied for SSD yet. If you get SSD that is pretty good proof you are unemployable. It does not always make the nexus between your SC conditions, and your not being able to work but it does establish you inability to work. Having a medical report that states you cannot work solely due to SC conditions is what you really need.

Good to see you back, Rocky. Don't be too surprised if VARO denies the EED for skull loss. When they see 30 years of retro looking them in the face they tend to not want the responsibility of awarding such a claim. It is easier to deny it and see if you will appeal.

I don't think a lawyer can speed up your claim, but if they are good they can see that you get a fair hearing when you case does come up. I am using Karl K. to do my CUE. When I call or email him he gets back to me. He flew down to Tampa on his own dime to represent me before the VARO on my CUE. It was denied, and now I wait a BVA traveling Board. We should have won at the VARO, but as both me and Karl agree the DRO, and the VARO did not have the guts to make the kind of award I was asking for, so they kicked the responsibility upstairs to the BVA. I think this is why many lawyers do not want to represent vets all the way through the process. They have to wait years for their money. The VA is quite capable of stonewalling them for as long as possible just like they do us. The trick is that when it does finally come to a hearing you have expert help as opposed to your lonesome, or some VSO who can barely read and write. If you have a complicated claim the lawyers can often cut to the chase, and define the issues better than we who are directly involved in the outcome, and who have an emotional connection to the case. If the claim is pretty black and white you may not need a lawyer, but it there are many shades of grey I would get the expert. If you were going to court on a DUI would you go by yourself, or would you get a lawyer? That is minor copared to a claim that might involve thousands of dollars in retro, and, yet, vets go alone before adversarial parties who see them as pop up targets.