john999

William This is what happens when you have a PA doing a C&P exam. When they use the word "speculation" that is trouble for your claim. That means they don't know or are not willing to make a nexus statement. That is CYA. Always better to set a vet up for a denial because it is so much safer.

I talked to the patient advocate today about the pain clinic cutting off my pain meds. The advocate was a total idiot. He would not process any sort of appeal. He said it was between me and my doctor. After telling him he was a lazy jerk I called the medical director's office. They listened and told me they would investigate and get back to me. I have the directive in front of me that says the facility director is responsible to sort out all medical disputes. I have two gripes including the kind of C&P exam I got that was by it's own standard inadequate. Forget about the patient advocate. He is just a lazy bum who lies to patients and drinks coffee all day. There are two advocates at the Tampa VAMC. If you get the old guy just go over his head and believe nothing he tells you.

As one of the greats at hadit said "We earned this care from the VA". Yet, I do not trust them and take all results to a outside doctor. I go for the pills and to just document my disabilities. I often feel it is a waste of time going to the VAMC. I find it insulting and I always want to take a bath after coming home. The Pain Clinic wanted me to sign to stay 19 days in the VAMC and that would cure my pain. Maybe I should just do it to show them they are wrong, but on second thought I won't. Imagine 3 weeks in the tank with other chronic pain sufferes. I think that might be depressing since anyone desparate enough to do it must be near death.

You know there is a Marine with my exact same name on the wall. I went to the virtual wall and looked up his name and started a memorial for him. No one had made any statements about him except his statistics. Then one of his best friends contacted me and asked if I had spoken to the family. I had tried to find them to send them a message. Others had done the same for my brother-in-law who was a Marince KIA in Vietnam and they had contacted my wife and told her what really happened to her brother. These guys died in their teens some of them. They will never get old. They are forever young.

If the VA prescribes any of the SSRI uptake inhibitors like prozac it can cause ED. All narcotic pain meds can cause ED. Clonazepam can cause it and all that family of drugs like valium. Zanex can cause it. It relaxes everything.

Many of us here have waited 20 years plus to get what we deserve. It is a big deal.

It is really a great resource. Maybe I will get another one. I got 2006 and 2005. I did learn about some of the conditions that are secondary to DMII from the VBM. I wish I could take a real course in doing claims that would incorporate all the sources and put me through the paces to be able to do a claim beyound just filing a getting a doctor to back me up. How do the lawyers do it? They can't learn this stuff at a weekend seminar.

No chest X-Ray, and unless I complain I don't belive my VARO will return the C&P because no stress test was done. I read the regs and I should have had a stress test. There are no counterindications for a stress test. They are just in a hurry to deny the claim. Should I write the VAMC medical director and tell them the C&P was inadequate, or am I just going to have to NOD this decision when it comes down. I believe I will add a claim for HBP secondary to DMII. I am pissed at their sloppy work of my primary doctor and the C&P. Neither one really looked at the echo. The C&P PA just looked at the parts she wanted to quote and ignored the rest. The HBP drug my private doctor put me on is Benazephril 20 mg. once a day. The only objective test I got was the echo. What I really resent is the lack of follow-up from the VA primary care doctor. All she does is look at her computer and ask me if my back hurts. I got the echo because I asked for an increase in the heart disese and vascular artery disease which I was rated at 0%. They found that by accident.

Forget it. I found it in the CFR. It looks like 30% since I have LVH. They were required to do METs testing so the C&P was inadequate. I wonder if I can get another C&P or have to wait and just NOD the decision that is coming down that will say "no heart disease" based on the c&p. I am mad because this is just the worst sort of crap they call an examination which is just a denial in the making based on a bunch of trash.

Jbasser Where did you find the VA criteria to determine your LVH was 30%? I know I found it one time but now I don't know where to look. I also thought I should be at 30%. I have the exam but not all those rating markers.

If you claim PTSD you have to verify it beyond just having the diagnosis. You have to have a stressor letter. You need proof in the form of combat awards, buddy statements, or some proof that the stressor took place. For depression all you need is proof in your medical records that you were diagnosed with in it service or within a year of service. Probably if all the symptoms of depression are in your SMR's a psychiatrist could review them and make a diagnosis. Sometimes events that are verifiable can be connected to show you experienced something that could cause PTSD. This is beyond the capacity of most VSO's. This is where an expert would be helpful if you go for PTSD that is not combat related and with a very obvious cause.

Take your husband to a real doctor and ask this question. There are answers. Some people cannot absorb the calcium no matter how much they take without help from some medication.

The way I read it is that if you are SC'ed at a certain percentage for 20 years the only way you can be reduced is if there is fraud or if the character of service is in question. I do not believe that the VA can call a CUE and reduce you if you have had 100% or TDIU for 20 years. You as a vet can do a CUE and change your rating even if it is 50 years back, but the VA can't do that. If they can I would like to know where that is in writing because I missed it. I have a CUE going back to 1971 and the VA first tried to say that although I was SC'ed since 1971 that the reason I was TDIU at that time was due to a PD. I pointed out that they could not add this information into the CUE since it did not exist at the time. That was the first denial of my CUE. Then they dropped that attack and just said there was no CUE with no explanation or evidence to back it up while I provided evidence that they did not consider in my decision. I went to the DRO with my lawyer and that evidence. Notice how when a claim is weighing on your mind it sort of takes over your thinking,ha,ha. If the VA could call CUE's on themselves on old claims and reduce or sever SC that would have a chilling effect on all claims. They might do as they tried with me to change a 37 year old award to a NSC condition like a PD. Would you then owe them money?

My C&P says mild left ventricular hypertrophy and that the left atrium is mildly dialated. It says some atrial shunt can't be ruled out and that the right ventricle is mildly enlarged. The conclusion of the C&P exam is no heart disease. The examiner claims I had a stress test based on veteran's reported activity to include washing dishes, walking for 3-4 blocks and preforming all ADL's. The METs is an estimate based on the above activities. The diagnosis of problem was arteriosclerotic vascular disease and no evidence of heart disease. I think I am being outright screwed. I would appreciate feedback.

Naturefreak I think you want to believe the VSO supervisor that everything will be OK if you just submit the form. I understand that emotion, but I would file an NOD and ask for a hearing. If the VSO is right then no big deal. You just cancell the hearing. If he is wrong then you have saved your ass. Do what Berta, Phil and JBasser have suggested. You can't phone it it. You want proof you asked for a hearing on this issue. Don't gamble on this. As I understand it you have 30 days to ask for a hearing to have the TDIU reinstated. So you can sleep at night I would do it.

If the bone loss is serious there are a lot better treatments than just calcium. There are medications to prevent bone loss. The VA is probably just being cheap. Bone loss leads to fractures and lots of bad stuff. It can be prevented and reversed if treated correctly. We all lose bone denisty as we age. That is what indirectly kills many older people, but it is bad at any age. Most people who fall and break hips suffer this injury due to bone loss. If their bones were stong the would not break the hip.

Bob I think by just depending on the VA you are risking your life. You can at least go to a private internist and pay the money for backup. It could save your life it they spot something your "rushed off their feet" VA doctor misses.

Suspence dates mean nothing. They have to do something but that could be just to move your file from one desk to another. They are probably looking hard for any loopholes to not pay the money.

My regular private internist reviewed my Echocardiogram and my C&P exam for heart disease from the VA. The VA examiner said No Heart Disease. However, she missed the physical evidence of HBP that the echo showed. She missed it because she refused to see it, or was so incompetent that she could not see it. My doctor looked at the Echo and checked my blood pressure and said that I needed to be on HBP meds. The heart muscle had gotten thicker than normal. This means it is pumping harder which often indicates HBP. The C&P doctor was so focused on ruling out heart disease that she never even considered this. My VA Primary never reviewed the Echocardiogram I am sure. So a potential problem was missed twice by these people that call themselves doctors. Anybody out there who is just depending on the VA to save money I say you are risking your life. You may think you are getting world class care but you are not. They don't have time or the competence to give it to you. Since I have DMII I believe I will claim the HBP as secondary. If I had not claimed DMII they would never have SC'ed it. If I had not claimed each and every secondary condition of DMII they never would have SC'ed it. This makes four secondary conditions and working on cataracts as number five that the VA has just ignored. I have to be a medical Sherlock Homes. Every time I complain about them doing something like this they retaliate by like cutting of my pain meds. I will live long enough to ^%$% on their graves.

The DAV does not return calls in Tampa either. They are the worst. None of them are much good, but I found the county reps the best here in Florida. None of them can argue a complicated case.

William A guy who used to be on hadit told me about spending time in a detox unit at the VA. He said it was horrible with other drunks and addicts crammed into a small unit. He said he never got any sleep because of the burping and farting coming from the beds all around at night. It sounds pretty funny, but I have been in a VA hospital. I remember talking to a guy who was severely brain damaged. He liked the VA. He thought the food was good. I begged my wife to come get me out, and bring the POA with her if not a copy of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

You notice the program is mostly directed for the OIF/OEF vets. What is funny is that it is mostly much older vets who are in the program. My experience with the Tampa program is that it is pitiful and should be a laughing stock. It looks good on paper but in reality is just inadequate and based on cheapness. If you do complete the in-patient program they probably declare you cured and cut off your meds. 19 days in the VAMC in a four bed room with other sick and distressed vets.....no thanks. I can just imagine what that is like. Would anyone here like to spend 19 days in a VA hospital eating that food with the sounds of very sick people burping and farting right next to you? 4 to a room!!!

Since only heaven knows how long your DRO will be delayed if you try and reschedule it I might try and reschedule my vacation. If your DRO is going to net you possible thousands in compensation you have to think about it. The VA does have a way of really making things hard on a vet. I got three psychiatric opinions for about 200 bucks a piece and insurance paid for most of it. I see what Bash can do as to tying everything together and reviewing the records and using all the right buzz words. He wanted $2500 to do my PN secondary to DMII claim, but I just appealed it to death and won it without his opinion. With Bash I think if you are talking about IU or 100% schedular it might be worth the price since you make up for it in 3-4 months. I believe the VA is starting a new program where if you argee to just kill yourself they will pay your spouse 100,000 bucks....joking. I think they did try to pass a thing where they would offer vets with less than 30% a buyout. Imagine desparate and poor vets taking the money just to pay the bills or buy a truck.

File the NOD on the denials. You have nothing to lose.

cowgirl You can get better just don't tell the VA. As far as they are concerned you are getting worse or staying the same.