john999

Desert Rat If you were in combat and have combat awards like CIB your PTSD claim shoulf fly if you have symptoms. Did you have symptoms of DMII while in service like high glucose readings? You need to look at you SMR's to look for evidence for the physical complaints like you back problems. The PTSD needs to be verified by a psychiatric diagnosis and stressor verification. For almost everything you need something that will show a nexus between service and your conditions. If it is not in your SMR's or a presumptive condition it gets harder. The PTSD is another matter since that is something you can really discover about yourself years later.

I asked for IU when I was rated 30%. If the evidence is there that you are IU because of a SC condition the VA will bump you up to 60-70% just to keep the myth going. I was bumped up to 70% and eventually granted IU. The only thing different about me was that when I was 30% I was employed, and when I got 70% I was unemployed and on SSD. My symptoms were actually worse when I first was rated 10% back in 1973. Then I was really bad off, but the VA just did their thing. I did not even know I could appeal. I got no appeal rights with my rating, and had no service officer that I know about at that time. Maybe some VSO came on the ward and put my name on an claim. I don't remember a thing.

I saw a documentary on PBS where a RVN vet who was an officer was talking about orders he gave that resulted directly in the deaths of some of his men. Is that survivor guilt or something else? Plenty of people have survivor guilt after the relief of getting out of the storm is long gone. Everyone feels wonderful on the "Freedom Bird" but later on they start to feel bad. I saw on the news tonight that the murder rate for soldiers in a combat unit at Ft. Carson was very high. The Army sent these men into combat and then just let them sink when they got back. The more combat they were in the more likely they were to commit a violent crime. These military types just never learn a thing about human nature. They think people are machines with an off switch.

Larry What you are saying is funny but true. When I was working for the post office I had a light duty job. My doctor told me if they order you to do something beyond your restrictions to attempt it then scream in pain and fall on the floor. The reason being is that they are like the VA. They are going to push you to see how far you will go and then use it against you. Being a good citizen does not work with these type of people. Think of all the vets who go to the C&P exam and when the doctor askes them how they are doing the respond automatically that they are OK or fine. That slip is put into the record as "vet self reports that he is feeling fine". If you dress decently they say "vet is well groomed and alert and makes good eye contact". If you have a depression claim that is all the kiss of death.

You know I have the opposite problem. It is called Pes Cavus. It means very high arch. I get foot pain from strain on the PF. One thing that really helps with these problems is weight loss. That is hard to do I know when you can't walk. Now I know why there are lots of over weight people out there. These things build on one another. Since my back and feet got worse I have put on more weight which just makes it worse. It is a vicious feedback cycle.

What you do when the C&P doctor starts to move you around is scream in pain. That will stop them. They will always try to put you through full range of motion to see where you stop. As soon as they start to move it scream out in pain.

You know if you have some additional stress in your life it can trigger the old PTSD problems. When I am under some stress I often dream I am back in Vietnam. I am in the dream wondering how I got back to Nam. I realize it can't be happening, but I am there. It is weird, but I was young then, so maybe I just wish I was young again. Everything in the dream is vivid and I feel just like I felt then. I wake up and crawl out of bed feeling about 80 years old.

I was 30% when I applied for IU. I got SSD while waiting. Eventually I got rated 70% but denied IU. I appealed and about a year later I got IU from a DRO Review. I had all sorts of evidence including three IMO's, rejection from voc rehab, and SSD for SC condition. The VA looked over my IMO's for anything they could find to deny me. They found a sentence in one report that mentioned a NSC condition. They rejected my IU on that account. I had to get another IMO to win. All in all it was about two years I think. You can just never tell with these guys at the VA. My buddy had been on SSD for years for his SC condition and when he ased for IU they denied it based on his IMO. They said he was doctor shopping. We used the same IMO doctor. They probably flip a coin to see who gets it, or wait for someone on IU to die. If you keep at it you will get it, but it may take longer than you think.

I got my secondary conditions for AO DMII approved pretty quick, but I had iron clad evidence from the VA doctor with a great medical report. However, the percentages they gave ended up in two year appeal process. There is always catch 22. I have never heard anything good about Tiger Teams or anything the VA does to speed up the process. They just make a mess of it and make bad decisions that have to be appealed. Time is on their side. The WWII and Korean vets are dying pretty quick. Us RVN vets are next so why rush to help us? That war is forgotten and so are we.

They are the same thing and I feel for you since I have the same problem. My feet hurt like hell. My newest podiatrist wants to do surgery to cut the PF. This is a last resort since it can go wrong. For some reason the medical community thinks PF is just a minor ailment so they give 10% disability. Some have it so bad they cannot walk 100 feet. It is an overlooked condition that has no simple cure.

Yes, there are private doctors who just want to help. They are not going to judge you. It is better than 15 minutes at the VA every 3 months for a med check. Find a pyschologist who talks and does not just hand out drugs. That is what I did when I got back from Vietnam and it saved my life.

My local VAMC stared a new system where you could get drugs at drive-in window if you and your doctor call ahead. I did that and they screwed it up and told me I had to wait to see pharmacists. I took back my VA I.D. card and just drove off. It is getting worse and worse. If I don't get it by mail I will not go to the VAMC to wait to get it. I will go to a private doctor. I don't know who you complain to besides chief of medical services. The VAMC is a black hole that even sucks the light out of the sky. Tax payers are pouring their money into a bottomless pit if they continue to support the system as is. Just give us a card we can use for medical and let the VAMC be for homeless and nursing care. A card as good as ChampVA would be OK by me. My wife swore she would never go out to our local VAMC again after today.

File the claim! That is the only way you will get compensation. The VA shrinks will talk you to death but never advance your claim for compensation. I think from what you say you do have a good claim. The OCD is the claim and the sex addiction is a symptom. You probably have other symptoms as well.

You will very rarely get a rating for any mental disorder physical or psychological without a C&P exam. No matter how much evidence you have they want you looked at by one of their C&P docs. If they start to go on a fishing trip into things that happend before or after service just remember that you were fine before service and that you don't have to supply any evidence that would hurt you. If you had a traffic wreck and bumped your head after you got out of the service you don't have to volunteer this information.

When the VA C&P doctor goes on a fishing trip into your childhood prick up your ears. You should just maintain that you had a normal childhood and your problems becan in the service. If you tell them things about your childhood or teenage years that indicate any sort of trouble you are handing them the ax they will use on your neck. When they ask you leading questions to try and indicate you had or have a troubled past before the military you can dodge that by just not taking the bait. I know this from experience.

How does the VA treat other addictions? You have to show some other fact besides addiction I think. You cannot get SC for alcohol addiction or drug addiction, but you can get SC for some of the results of these addictions like physical breakdown of organs. Many people who are manic overdo it in the sex area and have multiple partners and seem out of control (because they are). Being bi-polar could account for so-called sex addiction. I don't think sex addiction itself will get you SC. Being OCD or manic will get you there. You need a doctor to show that the sex addiction is a symptom of some mental disorder the VA accepts as compensable. The VA would probably slam a Personaility disorder diagnosis on sex addiction unless you have other related problems.

Hey, if you are not appealing a decision with the VA something is probably wrong.

Hmmm....I would tell the private pain doctor about all your problems with the VA. Let him prescribe something for you. I don't think you committed some horrible crime by not peeing in a bottle on demand for the VA. The private doctors don't require that. I bet they will be glad to get your business. What the state is looking for is people who doctor shop to buy load of drugs in order to sell them. Those guys are easy to spot. We are not in that category.

Rentalguy You should not have to go cold turkey on the darvoset. If you want to taper off and can handle the pain then all right. The non-narcotics may not work for. I think I would quit fighting with the VA and go to a private pain doctor to get my narcotics. I bet they won't pull all this crap on you. Pain meds are cheap because they are all generics.

If there is nothing in your military or VA medical files about childhood PTSD never mention that again to anyone at the VA. As far as you are concerned your childhood was perfect. The VA will try and put all your problems off on your childhood. They did it to me, but I got SC anyway after a fight.

When NSC condition affects a SC condition I don't think you have much of a claim. If a SC condition affects a NSC condition that is different. Then you have something.

If you have no more exams scheduled then you are P&T. You need to see it in writing to be sure. They award chapter 35 benefits if you are P&T.

Yes, if you have multiple disabilites to any one organ they are going to rate them all together. They rate under the most serious condition and sort of add in all the other conditions. It is not so much diagnosis as impairment in ability. If you can't walk and your conditions are service connected then it is the fact you can't walk that is important. If you can't walk and can't work that is even more important.

I think it is range of motin, but Rentalguy knows the facts and he will chime in I am sure. If you have chronic pain disorder that is rated as an emotional disorder.

I was reading in my local newspaper about a Iraq vet who got a TBI but did not report if for a few months because he wanted to stay with his troops. Now the VA military says he can't prove the TBI resulted from the two IED blasts he was in, nor the other injuries he got in Iraq. He hurt his shoulder and neck and the military and VA say he can't prove it happened in Iraq. This is what you are up against. All he wanted was a PH, and they denied it.