john999

Rich That is good to hear. Watch your bank account because the money may show up before the official letter. The DAV told me not to appeal my 70% rating which denied the IU. They are probably the worst VSO when they should be the best. Once you get your IU and everything settles down don't forget to keep going to the VA shrinks and getting care at the VA to document all these conditions for the rest of your life. You want a C-File and a medical records file that weighs one ton when you die.

Maybe I will drink a quart of beer. That will send me running, and I will tell the VA exactly what I think of them. Beer and percoset go great together to uninhibit my shy nature. You can forwarad email to my new address at the Orient County Jail in Tampa.

Billy You can still get IU. You want to work after retirement,but you can't because of your condition. If they ask just say that you need to work due to tiny federal pension and you are unable to return to work due to increased disability from your SC conditions. I assume you are under 70 years old, so you have many potential work years ahead, but you can't because you are too sick. I see old geezers at my grocery store bagging and I wish I could do it. So just because we retire does not mean we don't change our minds and then are unable to return to work because of SC conditions. My big moment of the day is feeding the ducks at the park with my wife. I can't do much else physical. Like you I wish I could but because of chronic pain disorder I can't. I see doctors all the time searching for help and get kicked to the curb. I wanted to work and get treated like a dog. I bet you feel the same way.

The MH exam is enough to get your husband 100% schedular. The doctor says he has a GAF of 40 and is incompetent. If that is not 100% I don't know what is. People that sick used to be in institutions before anti-psychotic drugs.

I wish these doctors who tell you that you just have to live with the pain were suffering like we do. I interpret this doctor's statement as he does not know how to help you so he tells you to suck it up. Let him suck it up or suck something.

What they are saying is a mood disorder secondary to general medical condition. If the medical condition is service connected then the mood disorder should be SC.

I put in 20 years in federal civil service. My pension is tiny after taxes and deductions for medical insurance. I and others I know got IU after retiring. I retired on disability, but would have worked longer and I would have probably filed for IU after that because I was on permanent limited duty from SC conditions, and suffering every day. I could not get a job as a dog catcher. No one would hire me because of workers compensation history and SC disability. When I retired on disability at age 51 I knew I was done. I had to get IU and SSDI just to survive. My pension would not feed a cat. I was under FERS.

I got an appointment at the VAMC at 4:30pm next week. I know they are going to want piss. I am going to drink a quart of orange juice to be on the safe side. I have had to wait for a few hours to pee when I could not do it on demand. I have been on the program for years with no violations, but they still want to catch me doing something so they can kick me off the program to save money and get the heat off their backs. You know many in government think all narcotics are baaaadddd. In Florida there is an uproar about prescription drug abuse, so we sufferers take the blame for crooked doctors and drug dealers. Rentalguy I am sure you will get back on the program. I would get a private pain doctor in the meantime.

If you PTSD is not SC'ed you don't even want to mention it in your IU claim. You have enough for IU now. You need a doctor to say you can't work because of SC conditions.

I went right over my patient advocate's head. He was a lazy jerk who thought every problem was the patient's fault and the VA was just like Big Brother. How many AZZZ do these advocates have to kiss to get those kind of jobs?

Are you taking about ablation therapy where they burn the nerves to kill them? It did not work for me at all. Neither do the injections, nor the inflammation pills. The only thing that helps is percoset or some other damn narcotic. Maybe I am just addicted.....following the VA's written instuctions to the letter on taking narcotics. Many of us with the chronic pain issues go from doctor to doctor looking for that cure. It is frustrating as hell. I am trying to get help with my foot pain and upper back pain and getting nowhere.

When I first went to the pain clinic I asked them for vicodin and for mobic. They said "NO" to both. They gave me morphine instead. Am I crazy or are they crazy? I could not stand the morphine or the methadone so I got percoset and they will probably take that awayf from me now. All the pain clinics both private and the VA are a pain in the ass. Either they are drug dealers who only take cash or they are so afraid of the DEA they won't prescribe what you need.

Jim Strickland is looking for vets who have had claims in the appeals process for long periods of time. He is advocating to get this group some help. I told him I had a CUE going back 35 years and he said someone is going to talk to me about it. Every little bit helps.

That is a good statement for IU. If you don't get P&T file an appeal for denial of Chapter 35 benefits.

Non-veterans or vets who don't use the VA would think we are suspicious minded, but it is just the reality of the VA. I can't understand why the VA would not immediately assign this vet a PCP since they are the key to all other services at the VAMC.

Yes, DMII from AO is the key to lots of secondary conditions. I bet that is why you won't see the VA make CAD a presumptive condition for AO regardless of the evidence until 99% of us Nam vets are dead.

It is kind of funny that the VA is telling me that my chronic pain is all in my head. It is everywhere but my head. It is like telling the guy with phantom pain in his amputated leg that it is just in his head. It is not just in his head.

Vets have trouble with pain management contracts because the pain management personnel believe that most vets are drug addicts or drug dealers unless proven wrong. Pain mangagement is OK as long as you don't suffer from pain. That is what my VA shrink told me.

I grew up in Florida. I wish an alligator had eaten my sister. She grew up to be a lawyer and caused me no end of grief when I had to probate my mother's will. I think seeing my sister eaten by an alligator would have increased my self esteem. The gator probably would have spit her out. I agree with what Allen is saying, however.

You need to get a medical opinion that your heart condition and all the other secondary conditions are the result of your DMII. I have DMII from AO and got 10% for PN in all four limbs and 60% for heart condition. I got medical opinions on all these claims and I had to appeal also, so fight on since the heart condition needs to get SC'ed. When you file a claim for the heart ask for more for the leg as well. It usually can't hurt. There is a condition with leg veins or arteries that can be very dangerous. I think it is deep thrombosis or something like that. A CT scan of your legs can identify that problem. I have artery disease in my legs which tipped me off to possible heart problems as well. It was caught by a CT scan that was looking for something else.

Why don't you try going for a DRO Hearing instead of the BVA. You can win at the VARO just as easy as the BVA if you have the evidence. If you have a good IMO you can win anywhere. DRO hearings usually have taken me about a year. The BVA takes 2-3 years and you probably get a remand.

Broncovet You should shout that post of yours from the roof tops. Heaven protect the vet who moves in the middle of the claims process. The more often you move the more often your claims will be screwed up for sure. I have been in the same place for 20 years, and I sometimes get mail and/or a call from the VA about a vet with my same first and last name that is not me. After 20 years they still get me mixed up with other vets and I did find another vet's stuff in my C-file when I got a copy of it. The VA's term insurance is ok if no other insurance company will take you. When I was healthy I got a life insurance policy for 250,000 for a 20 year term for just about 700 bucks a year. Now I could not get it from anyone. I got the VA life insurance and because I am IU I have no premiums. That is a good deal. I get buried in a VA cemetary and hopefully I die from SC cause. This way the wife will get money so she can then marry a younger guy and spend all my IRA money. Good deal!

If you are going to use the VA then it is good idea to be really nice to your PCP even if they are a PA. If you have good insurance and you don't want to use the VA then tell them to go to hell. I use them because I get pills for free and I have gotten a hell of a lot of testing done that costs thousands of dollars on the outside. My PCP did all this for me. She got me SC'ed for CAD and a few other things. You have to swollow your pride and just act dumb and smile. You can trigger their helper response by pretending to be the pathetic vet who is earnestly dumb, but seriously ill. I told a pharmacist to go &&^% himself, but that was a mistake.

It might be a CUE if you had evidence of aggravation of this condition in your VA claims file and the VA ignored it in 1976. Get a lawyer to help you with this since you are entering an area that is legalistic. Before you file the CUE run it by one of the good VA lawyers. When the VA denied your original claim what was the basis for the denial and what evidence did they use? The key is did they have, or should they have had evidence that your condition was service connected.

If this is your original claim then the VA has to request your SMR's from St. Louis. It will take a while. If you already are rated for something else their is no need for them to request your records. You should get a copy of your SMR's and your personnel file.