john999

If you are 31 and have a less than 100% or TDIU then I think you should be able to get voc rehab. What I was saying is that for guys who are near to retirement age and have severe disabilities the VA is probably not going to want to do voc rehab on them. It is possible to force them with enough persistence. The thing is you face age discrimination inside and outside the system. It is illegal to discriminate because of age but employers do it all the time. If I was 31 and not too disabled that I could not work I would try voc rehab. If the rehab people said I was not a good candidate I would put in for TDIU. If you can't be rehabilitated then how can you work and support yourself? I had trouble getting voc rehab when I was 30% because I had a job at the post office. I hated the work and wanted something better but at age 50 what could I do. You know the door sort of slams shut on you after a certain age in many careers. I also had some on the job injuries and this was the kiss of death.

An IMO is good if the VA disputes your regular doctor's opinion. It is just a way of gathering more evidence. What I did was ask my regular doctor for a referral to someone who really knew how to write a good VA opinion since the VA was disputing my two regular doctors opinions. It worked out for me. Your really want to crush the VA with evidence. You don't want the benefit of doubt. You don't want any doubt.

Did you get that in writing?

What determines if your conditions are permanent are really two things. One is for your doctor to say you are P&T and the other is time. Once you become TDIU the VA is going to review your status every few years. If there is no improvement then you probably get P&T. Whatever you do don't mix any of your WC issues with the VA issues. This can lead to having to make a choice between VA and WC. It can also result in payback issues. I think you already know this. Don't use the same doctors for WC and VA matters. The more the VA or WC knows about the other the more they will try and say it is the other injuries that are responsible for your being disabled. I have been through this.

The people in voc rehab I delt with were not even old enough to remember Vietnam. I do think that the Vietnam Era vet is seen as an unfortunate burden for the nation. The VA probably thinks it is our patriotic duty to just shut up and die. The average RVN vet is in their late 50's or early 60's. I don't see any "welcome back Vietnam combat vet" signs hanging in the parking lot at the Tampa VAMC. The best thing you can get from the VA if you are an RVN vet is P&T. Take the money and don't look back.

How old are you and it worth it from an economic viewpoint to get a MA? This is probably what the VA will wonder. If you are a young guy the VA might go along with it. If you are over 55 then I doubt it. They don't want to spend money training you if you have only a short potential work life ahead of you. Remember, the VA is only thinking about cost and not your welfare.

Usually, the increase in medicare part B takes care of any increase you get from the COLA.

Does your job have a disability retirement option? I would ask you this question: Do you have enough money to wait 6-12 months to get a TDIU award? SSA can also be a long process and from what I hear it is getting longer. You really need to think this out before you quit your job. I don't blame you for wanting to get out of the situation but if money runs low you will really have some stress. Do you have enough savings to last you a year without working? If the answer is "No" then I would not just quit my job. Have you gone to a workers compensation lawyer? Maybe you can get WC while you wait for TDIU. Look at all options before you just quit.

I think your local VARO may talk that trash about not using certified mail, but the BVA or Court of Vet Appeals would think differently. Certified mail is the legal way for notification of many sorts of documents. I live close to my VARO so I hand deliver it and get it date stamped. I trust them not at all.

Trez So the VA just lied about the bone loss thing and it was just a matter of them trying to save a buck at your expense. What a surprise? I am going to start the implant process on a tooth next week. I had one done before. It is one of those anchor teeth so I want to do it. John

I think it may be a question of not having enough quarters of paying into SSA. Does your state pension have provisions for disability retirement? I worked for the post office and I got a disability pension and SSDI and TDIU as well. There was some offset between the disability pension and SSDI but not TDIU. Each retirement system is different. Some will offset whatever you get from other disability pensions. Get a copy of the rules for your pension with the state and find out how much they will pay and if there is an offset for VA benefits or Army disability. Also, if you put in for workers compensation there is almost always an offset for any other benefit.

BoonDoc The VA will often try and say that, regardless of your SC conditions severity, the reasons you can't work are for NSC conditions. I would say that you should probably never mention NSC conditions to the VA especially if they are emotional conditions or pain disorders. The VA will try and load up all your problems on those NSC conditions. I was 70% SC and yet the VA tried to say that the reason I could not work was due to a single injury I had to my shoulder that was not SC. You should not have to hide information from your VA doctors, but the VA will comb your VA medical records for any information that points to a NSC reason for your being TDIU or for being incapacitated. I had to get yet another IMO to finally get TDIU that stated my reasons for being unable to work was the 70% SC condition.

I don't think the VA does give the MMPI because it costs money to give it and it costs to interpret it. Better just to have a resident make a snap judgement. The MMPI has all kinds of devices to see if a person is trying to make their symptoms seem worse or less bad. They ask the same questions over and over with slight differences in wording. They give more weight to the less obvious answers to questions rather than the ones that ask you if you see or hear things that other people can't hear. I think psychiatry is just the prescribing of pills these days. I don't see how anyone can really evaluate a person in a 15 minute QTC style exam.

If you are involuntarily admitted to the VA mental ward you are OK as long as you don't get violent with the staff. There are lots of guys who are up on the ward simply because their relatives don't want them back. Just because you hear voices or hallucinate is no big deal. Just don't get them too scared. You can talk all the crazy stuff in the world, but if you raise a hand to staff then you get strapped down in your own private room. Being admitted is probably the best thing you can do, Rockhound. Open up to the shrink. They won't admit you unless they believe you are a real danger to yourself or others. If you do get admitted you will probably get the schizophrenic diagnosis you need and a low GAF score. This can be treated like an informal claim for benefits. The way things are now the VA does not want to keep mental patients locked up for months or weeks. They want to get you in and stabilize you. It costs money to keep a patient on a locked ward. We both know this is all the VA really cares about is cost. Does someone have your health care POA that can get you out of the VA if you do get locked up?

If you are asking to get an increase on your PF (I know how bad it can be) you don't need to re-open your claim. You just write a letter to the VA and tell them your condition has gotten worse and you believe you are entitled to more compensation. To get compensation for your ankles, legs, back etc you are going to have to get opinions saying that those other conditions are secondary to the PF. Getting more than 10% for PF alone would probably require that you get surgery on your feet and that surgery not resolve the problems. PF is not considered a serious condition by all who don't have it. Most podiatrists deal with it all the time, but it resolves itself with orthotics. Mine, like yours, has not and I can't walk or run or even stand for more than a few minutes without pain. Mine is not SC because when I was in the service I thought everybody who wore army boots had sore feet. You can get free medical treatment for your feet. Be careful about letting these guys operate on your feet. If you do get the classic PF surgery expect to have a slow recovery.

Having a schizoid personality is a PD. You won't get compensation for that. Having residuals of schizophrenia is compensable. Big difference! You need some kind of disagnosis that says schizophrenia.

Reading some of these old claims from the early 70's or late 60's they are just a joke. My decision consisted of one and a half pages. Totally slanted towards the VA's evaluation with all information that would argue for a higher rating simply disregarded. To get a rating higher than 10% would mean that you were very psychotic to extent that you were institutionalized for some time. That is my impression. Rockhound's point about all evidence having to be considered in a sympathetic way is something the VA did not do and does not do today. The rating system is corrupt and is a fraud on America's veterans. People getting 100% today would have been lucky to get 10% in the bad old days. I was in hospital in the Army with people that would have gone right from the Army to the Salvation Army.

You should get your own opinion that you pay for yourself and not rely on the VA. If you are in constant pain I don't know how you only rate 10%. Who decided you were an addict? There is a hell of a difference between developing a dependence and addiction to opiates. Anyone who takes opiates has a tolerance. That is not the same thing as addiction. Addiction is a pyschological condition and a disease in and of itself. Does the VA claim they cured your addiction since they caused it?

You know the safest career move for these residents is to agree with your previous diagnosis and treatment. If it like a charity hospital. Vets are treated the same way poor people are treated in big cities. A few patients get better, some stay the same and some die. As long as it does not cost too much.

hang around and give advice since you are a winner in this weird system. You must have done something right to get your 100%.

What is pathetic is that the USA deploys troops to areas like Afghanistan where the world's supply of opium is being produced. Some of these drugs are bound to be sold to young and inexperienced troops who are looking for something to calm their nerves and relieve the boredom of life in a third world country in the midst of a civil war. The troops will get habits and then the military will disown them. I know the Army, at least, was very generous with cheap alcohol. They encourage young soldiers to drink and then throw them out when they become drunks. When I was young soldier many of the older lifers were drunks including officers.

RVN Tanker I could sort of tell from just the crude way she did the exam how it would turn out, so I will do as you say and get an outside test. I don't have any symptoms but who knows what a stress test or real schedule of tests might reveal.

I like Pete's idea about SSA records. If you can show no earnings for the last 30 years then that is good proof of "not" working. If you combine that with an opinion from a occupational specialist and maybe a shrink that you have not been "able" to work since leaving the military that seems like a pretty good case for IU. The VA low balled you as far as your rating, and they rely on this to get out of paying IU since they try and cling to the 70% SC rule for IU. The VA might also try and say you did not work because you did not want to work. Your claim, Betty, reminds me of mine. I could not work and my doctor plainly said it and, yet, the VA just gave me 10%. They would probably try and say that your SC mental condition was only one of many factors that made you unemployable. The "working at home" fiction is just one of those lies they like to throw in to explain why a vet is not working at a job. Stay strong because when faced with a major potential retro the VA gets inventive. They are going to throw the bathroom sink into the mix to try and stop you from getting the rating and retro you deserve. Their tactic will be to delay and confuse the issues until you get sick of it and go away. Use your new resources to fight these people. You should have the cash to buy the opinions you need.

Should I just take a copy of the echo interpretation to the outside cardiologist, or a copy of the actual echo. Is the echo on a disc and can I get the actual echocardiogram for an outside interpretation? I would like to get a complete workup. Stress test and all. I need to really have enough evidence to put my mind at ease. If I don't have any heart disease that would be good but I don't trust the VA's physician's assistant to tell me that. The VA has never sent me for workups on DMII secondary conditions without me raising the issue via a claim. Can you imagine your own private doctor waiting for you to bring up the need for diagnosis and treatment of HBP or eye problems if they knew you had DMII? There follow up on secodary DMII conditions is a scandal. There is no follow up. This is world class treatment?????

yes, they will prick your feet to see if you feel it and ask you about your symptoms. They should have done an EMG before the C&P exam. They want to see if your feet and hands are numb. If you have pain tell them you have burning and tingling pain. It is pretty subjective.