john999

When you go for a c&p exam be aware you may be under observation from the time you drive up to the exam until you leave the area. That includes the waiting room and any place inside the c&p location. I had something like that pulled on me. Be aware anything you say at any VA contact may be documented and used against you later.

You can't learn too much about how the VA works. In particular, I find info in VBM about VA potential reduction of us 100%/TDIU vets interesting. VBM lists many factors in favor of 100% vet who is over 50; 100% for more than five years; Static condition; full evaluation over time to reduce and not just one C&P etc. I don't know where the potential for VA to reduce those of us over 65 on SSA who also have TDIU? I think that we may be attacked there in the future by budget hawks. Their thinking being that we are already retired and live good life just on SSA so why do we need TDIU? Of course many of us lost out on the highest earning years of our lives and would like to continue to work, but they will smear us with "Welfare Mother's" slime as being freeloaders, scammers, double dippers etc. Don't underestimate the lack of gratitude of your fellow citizens when the heat is on or off. During the 1980's government threw all on SSDI off the roles and made them strive to get back on before that effort fell apart. We must stay awake because the USA always seeks to take from most vulnerable and reward those who already have it all when bills need to be paid. Children and people in nursing homes don't usually vote so "F" them. Most vets are pretty passive as well except here at Hadit. VSO's are asleep at the wheel as are millions of vets who just accept things as they are and don't feel entitled to " A little more, sir." What a nerve to ask for compensation or help because of military service? Who do these people think they are? More bread, ha, no bread!

Yes, requesting a copy of your file can take months if not years and then you don't get all of it. I live just 20 miles from my VARO so it does make it easy for me to drive there if I have to do it. Still 20 miles is 20 miles. I have to drive that far just to see my PCP and get urine test. This burns me. The VA is only 50 years behind the rest of the world. This is done on purpose by congress funding to keep us all begging and feeling like dirt. They know many will not accept the humiliation of dealing with the VA, so they save money which is all they care about in fact. Where are our VSO's regarding all this daily crap and humiliation the average vet must endure? Everyone one is doing OK except for the disabled vets. We are just manure on the VA's shoes. The crime against our humanity just continues from our own government.

What are your goals in this process?

If military experience makes a personality disorder worse you still don't get compensated, but you can have medical mental disorder superimposed on a PD. People with PD's get PTSD just like anyone else usually worse. During Vietnam if you began to have anxiety or depression about 90% of the time you would get PD diagnosis and the AR-635-212 discharge. Glad that has changed somewhat. I remember having phobias in service and all were dx'ed at a PD. A phobia is not a PD but it is cheaper to just dx it as a PD and kick out the vet as having congenital defect. The military has done this for 70 years at least. They used to shoot guys with combat fatigue so I guess we have made progress.

I saved myself years of appeals by going to view my file at the VARO. It can be of great help and they will usually copy a certain number of pages for you on the spot at my notorious VARO (St. Pete). You do have to make a request in writing, but it can be worth it. It was for me. I corrected some things the VA was about to do with my file as in sending it to the BVA instead of giving me a DRO Hearing.

The medical opinion for secondary conditions is crucial even for obvious secondary conditions like neuropathy for DMII. I got a group of secondary conditions for AO induced DMII and I had to provide medical opinions for every one of them via the VA or private doctors. The doctor needs to write it up just like for a new claim except he/she just has to tie the secondary to the primary condition as being service connected. If you have DMII there are so many secondary conditions I lose count. I used the VBM for lists of secondary conditions for DMII and discussion of nexus etc. John

Have you asked for a hearing regarding the reduction? You are 71 years old. Do they expect you to go back to work to support yourself?

For all you guys on TDIU don't forget to send in your Employment Question sheets to the VARO. I send about two a year just to make sure they know I am not working. I have to keep sending these forms in until I am 71 if I live that long. The VA still has a hook in me. John

I like to get it right the first time so I don't spend years in appeals. If you know what evidence is required to win the claim it is best to submit it all when you file.

There is no common law marriage accepted in Florida. I assume Carlie was cremated since that is all they accept at the Bay Pines Cemetery. There are two other National Cemeteries near one being in Sarasota and the other in Bushnell that do burials. Florida is a funny place. There are well over a million vets living her and they are all treated just like &^%$. Since I got the bad news about Carlie I have been thinking about my own funeral. I better pre-arrange it because I don't think my spouse will stand up to it very well. It is so sad when it is sudden and you have no chance to prepare. John

You need to submit the disability you have at least 40% for now. You could have 15 30% claims but according to VA rules they would not grant TDIU unless you have at least one rating of 40%. If you have 50% then use that rating and submit evidence to show it has gotten worse as in 70%. I got 70% for depression, ptsd, anxiety attacks etc. Then I got TDIU. The VA will fight you on these little rules because the longer you are not TDIU or 100% the less they have to pay and they also can put off P&T so spouse is left out in the cold.

I think you need to send in an IME/IMO to bolster this exam. When these doctors ask you to do things you should only go so far until you feel pain. If the exam only took 18 minutes that would qualify as a half ass exam IMO. I had a heart exam that was done by a nurse. It involved no testing and just her guesses as to my condition. I appealed and got testing. I went from 0% to 60% on appeal. You just have to build your own case for increase. You cannot depend on these jerks and clerks for a decent rating. You create your case by getting your own medical evidence from your own doctors. I have been SC'ed for heart since about 2006. The VA has never sent me to a cardiologist. I see my own cardiologist. The VA does not care if I live or die. I have had pension exams from doctors that were so prejudiced against veterans it was sickening. I won anyway because I got my own doctors involved. You just cannot trust the VA as far as you can do projectile vomiting.

VA prescribes Pregabalin which generic for Lyrica. I get it. I don't know if it helps me.

You cannot depend on a VA doctor to help SC your chronic pain and your depression. Most real psychiatrists would have no trouble making the connection. There was a window when the VA doctors were willing to write reports to help you connect things but that time is gone. If I did not get private IME/IMO reports I would be sitting at 30% today instead of P&T for the last 15 years. It is worth the money many times over to get good IME.

This is something the VSO's should be opposing these road blocks like making a vet choose which disability is causing him/her to be unable to work. Just from reading what you wrote I think I would choose the depression claim to tell the VA that is the cause of your TDIU. You may want to get an IME/IMO to back you up. John

Maybe Carlie's mate might have some kind of legal case for DIC since it was impossible for them to be legally married in Florida until recently. This might be a case for the ACLU. The ten year rule for DIC for 100% vets spouses is a crime. Was Carlie SC for Heart Disease or could any of her SC disabilities have contributed to her heart attack? A autopsy is probably in order. It is hard for those in grief to do these type of things. She was a good person who took no BS. I met her a few times since I live in Tampa. Carlie, Commander Bob, my wife and his wife and I all met once when Bob was passing through the area. These sudden heart attacks killed my father and mother. When a person who is not even 60 dies from heart disease it is really a shame. John

You can appeal the denial of Chapter 35. I did as soon as I got TDIU. Within a year I got P&T.

I have been away for a while. I knew Carlie as she named herself here. What happened? That is really an awful loss. John

I object to the VA billing my private insurance for anything. I am 100% vet who has Housebound SMC. I have at least five AO related diseases. I don't see how they can even take my blood pressure without it involving my AO disabilities. The money the VA may save by billing our private insurance they squander in bonuses or hiring people who do no work. Recently my VAMC was outbid on two pieces of property by a university and by a community group. The federal government allowed themselves to be outbid on property to be used to treat sick veterans because they made low ball offers. I don't want the VA getting any money from me or my insurance. The way vets are treated by the US government is criminal in my eyes. They can take all the parades and monuments and just shove them. Just give me a true cost of living increase that takes into account my loss of quality of life and pay me travel pay without the deductible. If those cheap bastards would build a outpatient facility in my part of town I would not have to drive 40 miles round trip just to give blood.

Do you have evidence of OSA in service?

This exact thing did happen to me at a C&P exam. I went to the exam quite a few years ago. Me and the exam doctor did not get on well at all. I was an excitable boy in those days. To justify him screwing me in his exam the doctor said that my demeanor changed from the time I was in the waiting room to the time I was in the exam. This was a doctor who maintained that since I had a degree in psychology this was proof that I was faking my C&P for mental health issues. The upshot was an appeal that I won based on a biased exam. If your exam is for a bad foot and you use a cane then you better be using it from the time you get out of your car at the VA until you get back in to go home. All the rest pertains as well. I have had VA C&P exam doctors say such outrageous things to me about veterans. Many of these doctors are jaded and cynical people who have zero respect for veterans and believe most of us are free loaders and game players. You can't give them an inch or any excuse to screw you because many will do it just for spite. You know every few decades some administration decides that most veterans on disability are faking and just getting free ride at taxpayers expense. This happened in the 1980's . It will probably happen again when we get an administration that wants to cut taxes and cut growth of entitlements. No matter what the politicos say about honoring vets they will cut your throat to save a dime.

My thinking on dealing with the VA for 40 years is that if you don't ask or claim something from the VA you will never get it. If you send in the TDIU form and request TDIU and the VA denies you then what have you lost? If you got TDIU while going to school then the VA is probably not going to grant P&T and that is as it should be. If you get TDIU and then are able to finish school and get and hold a job then I am sure the VA will be happy to recognize a success story. If you are not able to finish school and get and keep a job for at least a year then you will be very glad you got TDIU if they grant it. The TDIU regulations don't say "TDIU granted due to vet's inability to go to school full time". I don't see a down side in requesting TDIU. Is the VA going to reduce your rating because you request TDIU? I doubt that since it has nothing to do with your ability to work 40 hours a week. I wish I had had potential option of getting TDIU while I went to college. By the way, my 4 year degree never helped me get a job or keep one.

One thing to mention is that school is not the same thing as working full time. If you are unable to work solely due to your SC condition you should file for TDIU. If after you finish school you are able to work that is a different story. If I had a 80% rating and I was not able to keep a job I would file for TDIU. What leads you to believe that if you have not been able to hold a job since you left the military that you will be able to hold a job once you finish school? I would get an IME from a private shrink to back up the TDIU request. The VA should be glad to see you trying to rehabilitate yourself by going to school. Who pays for your schooling? It should be vocational rehab so you could tie all this together.

Usually , what the VA will do when they rate a vet as being TDIU is that they will bump the disability that causes his IU to at least 70% to justify the TDIU award. That is what they did with me in 2002. Now the most important thing is to make sure you get that hearing request into the slimy hands of the VA within 60 days. The deadlines for appeals are almost as important as any evidence you have. Get the request for they hearing with absolute proof you are within the 60 days and then you can worry about evidence. If he got SSDI solely for his SC mental condition that is strong evidence for TDIU and for at least a 70% rating. I recently sent in a NOD regarding a denial of full reimbursement for some dental expense I had. I sent in two NOD's by mail on the NOD official form. One NOD went to the Fee Base office since they are the ones who denied me and one to the VARO just to be sure. Then I spoke to the Fee Base Office spokes person who does appeals. She had no record of my NOD's. She told me to fax it to her along with evidence which I did. For all I know they will lose these faxes as well. The thing with overkill when you file a NOD is not a bad idea since that form is so important just like your request for a hearing on the TDIU proposed reduction. You must get it into their hands where they cannot deny they received it or should have received it. John