john999

The former secretary of the VA Max Cleland was 100%. If you are 100% for a mental condition (not TDIU) I think you could work, but never tell the VA about it. They won't be checking on you unless you are TDIU. If it is for a mental thing you have to keep it quite. I don't care what any expert says about the regs. If you are 100% for PTSD,for example, you better not let the VA know about it. They will drag you into for an exam and try to reduce you if they find out because one of the criteria for being 100% for PTSD is being totally ,occupationally disabled.

I think the rater got it wrong when you filed you claim because your discharge physical said hearing loss. That might be into the realm of interpretation of medical evidence. If so that shoots the CUE all to hell. The trouble with hearing loss is that if many years have passed since discharge the VA may say this is just normal aging process. Count on them to say that. Did you appeal the 83 decision? Now over 20 years have gone by since the 83 decision. What was your MOS in service? If you were a tanker or something like that then common sense would suggest possible hearing loss due to military job. However, VA does not use common sense.

Hurryup If the VA had a medical professional involved in the rating process then it would cost them money. They would rather have some clerk do it, and put the veteran into financial hardship, or die waiting for a decent and competent decision. In the long run it would be cheaper to have doctors involved in rating medical decisions, but the VA does not think in those terms. All they think about is their current budget. That is why it takes ten years to build a VA hospital because they have no long range planning except to make cuts where they can. Your suggestions are all good, but has anyone at the VA ever asked you what you think? They told me to mind my own business when I suggested building a clinic in my part of town.

I see where the a CUE cannot be based on evaluation of evidence. However, would that mean situations where the evidence was never evaluated? For instance SMR's that were never evaluated, or medical reports that were in the hands of the VA, but were never evaluated? It seems to me that you have two issues in these cases. Not evaluating available evidence is the CUE, but after that the VA has to re-evaluate the entire package of evidence with the evidence that was originally not evaluated included. The VA is supposed to evaluate all relavant evidence. How can a vet ever get a just decision if the VA can pick and choose what evidence they are going to evaluate? That is fundamentally wrong and goes against all concepts of due process. This is my CUE and I am waiting 5 months to find out. My lawyer believes it was a CUE because the VA had a medical report that they just ignored when they evaluated my claim. They only used evidence from a VA doctor and my SMR's, but not my civilian doctor.

You know just about everyone that posted had good ideas about fixing the VA. So why can't the people in power do any of these things? I think it is because the don't want to and because they don't give a &^%$.

If you have had your C&P exam then your rating should not be far behind. The VA is so inconsistent there is no real way to tell when you will get the rating besides an estimate. Once you apply for TDIU and have sent in the official form for it then the VA treats it like a claim. They make a decision on your TDIU. I know how you feel about never working again. Perhaps you could go to school, but just keep it quite. Maybe at some point you could work again. You probably need some very intense psychotherapy which the VA is not able to give you. If you really want to work again and get it back then I would find some good private therapist and work with him/her for the long haul. If you get TDIU then you can't work or you will lose it. You need to really be ready and feel confident you can work before you put your TDIU at risk.

If you have had a 50% rating for 30 years the VA can't reduce except for fraud. The 5 year rule for not reducing a 100% or stable rating is not in stone. The VA can't sever service connection after 10 years. If you are over 55 then they are not supposed to reduce you. The VA cannot call a CUE and then sever or reduce you after 30 years. If they could do that then we would all be in trouble. However, the VA will try just about anything if they think they can get it by you. I want to throw my shoes (10.5 size) at the VA Secretary if I see him.

Ron If your condition is SC then the VA is required to treat you for free. That includes drugs for the condition. They often try and get out of this . For instance, you have AO related DMII. Almost everything your PCP does touches on your DMII and possible secondary conditions. However, the VA will bill your insurance everytime you see you PCP for bloodwork and exams. The bloodwork is necessary for DMII control as are urine tests etc., but the VA will try and bill you or your insurance for it. Every single drug I take is somehow related to SC conditions but the VA sends half the bill to Blue Cross. I tell BC not to pay them, but they just pay anyway. I would start using the VA just to build your claims up with documentation. I would also get a second opinion on anything they diagnose that is serious.

I think you need a shrink to say that you are unemployable due to the PTSD. The biggest factor in mental claims is being able, or unable to work. If you can't work due to SC conditions then you should be getting TDIU or even 100% rating. When I could not work anymore I went from 30% to 70% TDIU. Everything else was the same except I could no longer keep a job. The description of my symptoms were so bad form the doctor I used I am surprised they did not throw a net over me. However, if you can hold a job you could be Charles Manson or Son of Sam and get a 30% rating from the VA.

What I really hate about chronic pain is that you are forced to go from doctor to doctor to try and find something that works. All these quacks promise relief with "revolutionary new treatment" but so far nothing has worked for me. I have chronic pain in my feet, shoulder and back. I remember I used one of those hot rubbing creams on my feet one time. I was in the bathroom scrubbing my feet for ten minutes trying to get it off. I use the hot stuff on my back but somehow I always manage to get some on my more tender parts. What really buggs me is that when I exercise my muscles start to stiffen up soon after and that is when my back really starts to hurt. I went to a gym and did stuff but no matter how much I did my back would start to stiffen up about an hour later.

They will charge your insurance or you for whatever they think they can get away with including for SC conditions if you don't raise hell. I am SC'ed for a heart conditon and I bet they bill my insurance for my stress tests and echocardiograms.

A person who represents themselves has a fool for a client. Unless you know the regs by heart you are going to make mistakes that could cost you many thousands of dollars. Even with Hadit you will step in it because the claims are unique to each vet. I believe that every vet needs a strong advocate that is dispassionate and is not emotionally invested in their claim. Any lawyer who represents vets anywhere in the USA can represent you. Mine flew all the way from New Jersey to Florida on his own dime to represent me. It was not charity. It was because he believed, and I believed that there was big money at stake. I believe he got it as right as it could be, and that I would have lost before I began because it was a CUE. We finally have access to lawyers, so why not hire an expert to do your claim? If they screw it up you can sue them.

You are supposed to get the benefit of the doubt, but you see what that means. They twist it up, so that you lose the benefit of doubt because they have their thumbs on the scale. You will win in the end. This is the test to keep pressing forward with these bastards. I hate them as well because they have screwed thousands just to save a buck. The disabled vet to the VA is a broken machine that needs to be junked as cheaply as possible.

If you have a serious claim get a lawyer. You don't need those VSO's. The lawyer will do most of the work for you, and refer you to doctors who know how to write up reports to get you more money. The VSO's won't do that. Half the VSO's are probably going to be jealous of your retirement and desire to get VA compensation.

MikeR Go with depression. You have it in your SMR's and you have it now. There is your nexus. You don't need a stressor and you can get 100% more easy than PTSD. If you have combat awards then PTSD won't be hard, but why go that route when you have the depression documented in your records.

When I was in Vietnam in 1970 there was so much heroin that everyone I knew at the lower enlisted level was using it. It was a environmental hazard like AO in my opinion. It was so addictive that if you snorted it for two weeks you became addicted. I know this from experience. I came back home and friends from high school who had gone to Vietnam were using heroin they imported from Thailand. It was a menace, and the only way to stop it was to get the heck out of Vietnam before the whole army got addicted. I do remember pulling guard duty with guys who were completely wasted. If you said a thing about it you would probably get shot in the back or blown up. I think it got worse, if that was possible, after I left. They say that once you are addicted your brain changes and you are much more likely to get addicted again if exposed to the drug.

The VA knows that once your husband gets 70% he will probably get TDIU. Then they have lost because he will never work again. Hey, they rated me 70% and still denied my TDIU for a year while I got more IMO's. They know what you are after, and they know what they have to do to try and block you. I had a rater determine that I was IU because of a PD and not the service connected condition. The doctors said I was IU because of the SC condition and the rater took it on himself to make a medical determination otherwise. You just have to presiste and get more evidence. It is a game and they break the rules and cook the books but you win in the end.

I say get a lawyer because these guys have a vested interest in your winning a claim because that is how they get paid. If you brought a gun into my VARO they would probably beat you to death after spraying you, and tasering you (Don't Tase me, Bro".

A win proves it can be done!

I have a CUE claim in that goes back to 1971 if I win. You all will be the first to know. It goes back to my original claim and the day after I was discharged. If I could win and get interest on that money I would be a rich man. Too bad the VA gets away with cheating vets for decades.

I want veterans to take to the streets. I want to blow up the VA in Washington and start over. The VA is like a horse that has broken its leg. It needs to be put out of its misery. A system this bad cannot be fixed. Cosmetic change is not enough.

If you were in Vietnam and have DMII your cataracts should be service connected. It is almost a given. I have cataracts in my right eye and it is getting to the point I may have to have something done. This is just general information to Vietnam vets. The VA will never tell you this.

Our own Josephine is the story of the most persistence I ever heard of so that is what it takes is hanging in there.

I was service connected for schizophrenia, and they threw in PTSD, Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, and Agoraphobia, Depression, Chronic Pain Disorder and a PD. For all that they said 70% and TDIU. If I had tried to prove the PTSD I would still be waiting, however on my rating decision it says PTSD. Go with what takes the least amount of proof. I never verified any stressors. The money is exactly the same. Alex told me this.

Yes, and if you have any pain meds in your system and get stopped you may be in jail. I sometimes stumble when taking pain meds although I drive fine. I have to have my wife drive me very often because I know if I got stopped I would be in a world of hurt even though every cop is probably a veteran. They will not cut you a break. Imagine if you have some clonazepam in your system and you have a wreck and they did a blood test on you......jail!!! Refuse the blood test and don't do the drunk road tests.