john999

Why are VA raters encouraged to diagnose adjustment disorder instead of PTSD? Adjustment disorder seems to me to suggest that the disorder is temporary while PTSD is more permanent and more serious.

It seems to me the Army will do just about anything to avoid a real military disability retirement of 30% or more. They want to dump you off on the VA and let you fight that system for a few years while you starve.

Hoppy I think you are right about the VA not wanting grant compensation based on chemical triggers. I think this is because they are afraid of a wave of claims being filed for the same thing as the word gets out. You know it is just about money in the end for the VA.

Take the TDIU. This is a hell of a time to try and get a job even if you are trained. If you do go through voc rehab how old will you be when you get done? Is anyone going to want to hire you? Think about it. If you get TDIU it lasts for a lifetime. No pension I know pays that good. Most companies don't even offer pensions now days, and you can't live on SSA when you get to be 65.

Rich The VA just never makes it easy for anyone with PTSD. I know that I started at 10% in 1971 for schizophrenia because they did not have a PTSD diagnosis at the time and they did not understand panic disorder or the other problems I had. 30 years later I got a 70% rating after I got SSD. I don't know why they have to put us through this, but you have the evidence. This is their dying gasp to try and figure a way out of paying you IU or 100%. Your evidence is better than most since you have SSD for PTSD. I think it is probably as others have said which is that they want to do the C&P to figure out the level of disability. You appreciate just how difficult this process can be when the VA gives you a PD diagnosis and fights you all the way. Most of us overcame the same damn hurdles. I think you are well on you way but this is the VA torture you have to endure. If your stressor is verified the thing will take shape. Just hold on!

Did you get Chapter 35 benefits? I mean ChampVA for a spouse or educational benefits for dependents. If you did not get Chapter 35 you should file an appeal and provide evidence that you are permanently disabled. To expect a 67 year old guy to bounce back and recover and get a job is not reasonable.

If you are not working due to SC condition and the VA knew this they should have considered you for TDIU. When the VA discovers that a vet can't work due to a SC condition that should trigger a TDIU claim. I agree that the VA made a CUE if they knew you were not working and were 70%. Even if you were less than 70% if your SC condition kept you from working that should trigger a TDIU claim. This according to the VBM. The VBM says this may be a CUE. When did the VA know you could no longer work? That should be the date of your TDIU. It is an inferred claim for TDIU.

TestVet Are you going for housebound? I think you now have the ammuntion.

Yes, they worked on the rotator cuff. They insert the pain pump into the shoulder and the pump, itself, has been shown to damage the shoulder joint in some cases. What happens is that after you recover from the surgery you begin to have more pain in your shoulder due to destruction of tissue in the shoulder due to the pump. I have the general symptoms of this problem. You can go online and there are many lawyers looking for customers for this issue. Really, what I want is just relief from pain and I am not going to get that after 5 years of shots and PT. If I go back to my current orthopod he is going to tell me that either he can't help me or that I need more surgery. Either option is not thrilling to anyone who has had shoulder surgery. If my problem is due to the pain pump it is serious and can only be fixed by more surgery.

How do medical people determine that cataracts are caused by DMII and not by other causes. I have DMII and have developed catarats. I am only 59 and that seems kind of young for cataracts.

St. Pete VARO is the same locked down fortress. You can get to the VA couselors, but no way can you ever talk to a RO unless it is at a hearing. You go through the weapons screening and all that. The way they treat veterans they have a right to be scared. Here they are screwing some combat vet out of compensation who might have some mental problem, a death wish and a carload of weapons. If they treated people better they would not have to be so scared. In America anyone can go buy an AK-47 and kill anyone. That is just a fact. Felons have no trouble getting guns either.

I have HBP and diabetes. I also have a vascular problem that is SC secondary to DMII. My VA doctor wrote that the HBP is related to the vascular artery disease (hardening of the arteries) thus would be SC. I tried to go directly with a secondary connection to the DMII, but she said that is hard to prove. If you have any vascular artery disease you might try and get the HBP connected that way. There are more than one way to skin a cat. Hardening of the arteries is very common to some degree among those with DMII as is calcification of arteries and PAD. These things can all cause high blood. For the VA to deny connnection between DMII and nephropathy is the dumest thing I ever heard. I have diabetic neuropathy which affects the nerves of the feet and hands and then moves inward toward the center of the body in advanced states. Totally different than nephropathy but just as common amongh diabetics and is actually much more serious than neuropapthy.

I think maybe calling once every two weeks is enough. You just want to make sure the VA has not gotten off the track, or is needing some document that you can provide yourself. When I was waiting for TDIU the VA got held up because they said they needed proof from my old employer as to what my last day at work. The VA was going to ask the employer. I had the information myself in official form so I took it to them. That probably saved 6 months. They also said they did not have a DD214 for me.......what???? I had a certified copy so I brought that to them and save a few months I am sure. I think an IRIS inquiry gets more action.

If you have a private shrink on the payroll keep them handy. If the VA gets around to doing another C&P exam you may need your own doctor to contest it if they low ball your percentage. You can't just let the VA rate you based only on one of their C&P exams. The C&P doctors seem to always steer their opinions away from a permanent disability and they see things more optimistically. These things usually boil down to who can last the longest. You don't really want benefit of doubt. You don't want there to be any dobut.

Well, my wife learned how to talk to the ChampVA people. You have to be nice. Yelling and cursing them only gets them defensive. The big trouble I had with then was that I had to wait on Blue Cross to pay first for my wife and then and only then would Champva pay. I got really pissed at ChampVA because it was hard to contact them and I cussed them out. Not good, you have to talk to them nice and explain it like you would to a six year old. They are better than the VARO.

William Yes, the St. Pete Office makes you fight for every little thing. You will wear them down eventually. I got 70% and denied TDIU. I got TDIU and denied P&T. I finally got P&T and denied an earlier effective date. I got the EED and then I filed a CUE to get a much earlier effective date and they denied that. So that is life with the VA which is one big denial.

If you have some old original ratings go back and look at them. The longer back in time you go the worse the quality of ratings. My original rating has serious errors in it according to my lawyer which reach the level of CUE. I found this out 30 years later by looking at my C-File. Ratings in the 40's, 50's,60's and 70's are just awful. They may just be a page and tend to ignore evidence the veteran supplied from private doctors. They did not even do C&P exams, but relied on military records or VA records entirely.

The VAMC still gets my records mixed up with another vet that has the same first and last name I do. Since we have different SSA numbers and different claim numbers I don't know how this happens. I was getting labs done last week and you would not believe what a madhouse the VAMC was here in Tampa. I have never seens crowds like that with people waiting for hours to get their labs done.

The VA having a PA do a cardiac C&P exam is SOP here in Tampa. My evidence overruled the PA and I got my rating for a cardiac condition bumped up from 0% according to the PA to 60% via my PCP doctor and tests she ordered that the damn PA did not bother to order for my C&P. I had looked at the exam requirements for my type of cardiac disorder and it required a stress test that the C&P did not do. They are such slobs they cannot even read the requirements for their own exam. So just based on my evidence and appeals I went from the VA saying I have a neglible heart condition to a serious one. I don't want to die but I want my spouse to get DIC via service connected death if I do croak.

When in doubt appeal. I just went from 0% to 60% based on my appeal for a vascular disorder. Not a fact was really different except I got to the DRO with my lawyer. Do you take medications for the HBP? How is your HBP controlled? I think you should include the 0% for the HBP in your appeal. I don't believe there is any such thing as harmless HBP. Try to get a higher rating for the blood pressure. That is the kind of thing that feeds off PTSD and causes long term damage to heart and kidneys. I take blood pressure meds. I think I am going to file a claim for HBP secondary to DMII. You might want to get a stress test for your heart to see if the HBP has done any damage. You don't know until you keel over dead. You have your 100% and now you want to stay alive to enjoy it.

Yes, if someone is rated 100% they should not have to have their spouse wait ten years to get DIC. I think the VA does this just to save money at the expense of the spouse. Most of those with 100% don't work so the family will take a huge hit if the vet dies before 10 years from a NSC cause. This is why I have fought to get SC'ed for possibly fatal conditions even after getting TDIU back in 2001. I don't want to die one month before I hit the ten year mark and leave my wife without DIC after she has stuck with me all these years. It is not as if DIC is a large amout of money. No one can live on it alone without other sources of income. With DIC and survivor SSA benefits a person might be able to survive if all their debts are paid and they don't make any new ones. How anyone lives just on SSA benefits I don't know?

Time I see that you are attacking me for being inconsistent. I don't think you understand my point in saying "big deal" about there being people who fake their way to benefits. What I mean is that this has been going on for decades. I don't know what ax you have to grind? I say that for every vet who uses fraud to get benefits there are 10 vets who are victims of VA fraud to deny benefits. I don't think I have ever foamed at the mouth about vets using fraud to get benefits as you seem to imply. I know it goes on, but I just don't think it is that big of a deal in the VA system. Fraud against vets is a big deal both in the active duty military and the VA. Many thousands of military were kicked out of the service after Vietnam due to "pre-existing personality disorders" to avoid paying compensation to soldiers with PTSD. That is still going on inside the military today. Now that is fraud on a grand scale. Thousands died from agent orange when the VA fought tooth and nail to deny benefits. There is the real fraud. I had no problem with what Maddoc was saying. I just think we should put in context of the whole VA system where many thousands have to fights for years for deserved benefits. If you have some personal problem with me send me an email and explain yourself.

Berta You said before that if you are an organ donor you get the autopsy done automatically. I told my wife to be sure to get one done on me (but wait 'til I am dead) to be sure she gets DIC. The VA diagnosed a heart condition and if I die from that I want proof for my wife.

The thing is would it help your rating any at all. If you are already 100% for a disorder why bother to just get the SC reason changed to something else that won't affect the money in your pocket. If if is a brain type disorder you only get one rating for it no matter how many conditions you may have. What you might want to look at is some kind of special monthly compensation if you are housebound or need assistence in your daily life.

I took that drug and I could not wake up for the whole day afterwards. I am going to ask that the doctor put me on something else. I am hung over enough from pain meds without that Mirtazapine. I am glad to see I am not the only one who has had that reaction.