john999

Yes, no idiot doctor has accused me of selling drugs but they say I am opiate dependent. That is true since the VA is responsible for getting me dependent for last 8 years. Unless, you have a dirty drug test or the test shows you are not using the opiates then this doctor is committing malpractice. However, the process of proving it will probably require a lawyer. Do you have other insurance? If you start to go into withdrawal demand to be admitted to the hospital to help with symptoms. Almost all the pain doctors are now against use of narcotics for chronic pain in 2014. A few years ago they were handing them out like candy. I would go to advocate and then to chief of medical services. unless they have evidence that you are selling your drugs they are violating your rights and medical ethics. They are doing harm which is against the oath they take besides the one secret one where they ask God to make them rich. the duds end up at the VA and are bitter and hate their patients. Is your doctor foreign? John

You need an IME that explains your condition is not some pre-existing congenital deformity. How long ago did the VA deny your claim? The decision must be final to file a CUE.

I uI used to have to fill out a form every month and submit it to my PCP to get refills of oxycodone and fentanyl patches. Now I don't know what is happening? I ask if I need to keep sending in the form and the VA won't answer me. They do say I have to see them face-to-face every three months for narcotic meds. The VA is so screwed up and I am really sick of it. If not for free pills I would just walk away. You know I have bags and bags of pills like every vet I guess. John

OK, but I am P&T. Can I get a consult to OT? I am Total plus 80% and housebound. I have PN in both feet and sometimes my feet get all messed up and I trip or slip. My ILP program guy rejoiced when he could deny my request for some music lessons. He wanted a PH. D. Thesis from my shrink to prove music lessons would improve my mental health.

I sent in the form to the VA asking for a walk-in shower instead of the tub and shower I have now. I made the case that I am going to bust my azz and break a hip one day in my tub and then the VA will have to take care of me. Of course, I would not let the VA touch me, or put me in their death house nursing home. I got a call from the VA today explaining that I have made a claim and that I will get a decision one day. It does not sound that optimistic if it is handled like any other claim for benefits. I expect a denial now. I asked about appeal rights, so I will probably be dead before I get the walk-in shower. John

Do you have a return appointment with a shrink? You want to start the process at the beginning of the Yellow Brick Road and it sounds like you did, but you must not let it drop! Follow up on this and don't let them put you off by no means. Once you get DX'ed by the VA with PTSD you should stay in treatment and then file for SC. You should stay in treatment and keep accepting the drugs. If you go to a Vet Center you should coordinate that with VA shrink visits. You make a many sided attack on the VA money sack plus you get some treatment as well. John

When VA says "reasonable minds" they mean the VA. I have a CUE that is over 8 years old. I am now in federal court. CUE law is so full of booby traps for average vet it is a chimera. There are a bunch of concepts such as "undebatable", "Reasonable Minds", that create roadblocks it takes a power ranger to get over. I was taken to school on this CUE as was my lawyer, and I had one of the best at my hearing at CAVC. AskNod says your CUE must be visible from the moon to win. I won one of them where the mistake was as clear as an unmuddied lake. John

I was stuck in "Waiting for 5103 Waiver" for about a year until I got congressman involved. I had a C&P within a month and a rating a month later. It worked for me. I would not use Ebenefits again regardless.

Those feelings of being unworthy are part of depression and PTSD. It is a vicious circle. Vets have PTSD/depression. They feel bad. They attempt to bury their feelings or numb them via alcohol or drugs often. This creates bigger problem. Denial does not work because the feelings work their way into your body and into dreams and life.

The thing with the VA is you never know who will be doing your surgery or looking at your heart problem. Pick you own cardiologist in private sector. Not all MD's are created equal. I had new surgery for Sleep Apnea that VA did not support or offer. Now no more CPAP. I sleep better and feel better. It was worth it. I did my own research. VA would not even do dental implants for me nor cataract surgery and lied to my congressman about it. VA cannot be trusted. John

New evidence you submit that is not SMR's usually puts the kibosh on CUE's. The VA uses the date of the new evidence for the ED, but it is worth a try. If you don't file for the CUE you will never know if you have any grounds.

P&T is the greatest victory you can have if you are TDIU or 100%. John

Denial is part of PTSD. The VA takes advantage of this and uses your own self-evaluation against you. Big mistake to downplay your symptoms, but many downplay them for years and decades. The fact that VA has set themselves up as the only ones who can DX PTSD is a crime. If you get a rating for PTSD you can get IME to increase rating. John

If the VA can't see it you likely get a low ball rating. Better to lose an arm or leg than to have some invisible disability that ruins your life and deal with the VA. Losing a leg or arm in no joke, but at least they don't call you a liar it you can prove it happened in a combat zone. Even that is not always easy. We need many more vet centers. There is only one within 10 miles of me. I could use group therapy and the VA is way too far for this to be useful to me. I got the VA to provide dental and vision in the community so maybe I can get the to provide group therapy close to my house. John

I had a GAF of 50 back in 2002. I got 70% but I was on SSDI and retired from my job on disability. I think that the fact a vet can hold a job is the key to the rating system for PTSD or any mental condition. That was usually the first or second question C&P exam doctor's adked me was "Are you working?" The question before that was " Are you hearing voices, or seeing things?" However you answer that you lose. People who hear voices and have hallucinations don't believe these things are odd. They would probably deny them. Then the VA doctor says "Vet denies vision or audio hallucinations". I remember describing dissociative symptoms, and the VA doctor said "Schizophrenia" which was wrong. The dummy! In all the years I have been examined at the VA I never had an MMPI or any sort of reliable test for emotional disorder. Just the "impression" of some quack VA doctor, or exam doctor/whore. You just have to get all the buzz words and buzz phrases in line and you are home. It is a terrible system. About 10,000 RVN vets probably went to the VA for PTSD and were diagnosed with PD's, anxiety and/or depression not related to service. I got 10% for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is the cancer of mental health conditions. The DX in 1972 was grim. " 10% veteran, and be thankful for that you potential freeloader. We don't like your kind, and we know just how to deal with you". John

I see 30-50%. I see the exam doctor did not discuss the symptoms of your dissociative reaction. I had that reaction for some years after Nam. Derealization and depersonalization are the weirdest symptoms and scary also. That is your minds last stand. Your mind sort of splits off from your emotions to save your sanity. You feel like you are in a dream. You are watching yourself go through the motions, but nothing seems real. Since you are able to work that makes all the difference. If you had the same symptomology and were unable to work you would have 70-100%. Not that I recommend quitting your job.

You want to get permanent and total for the TDIU. That will help you more than getting 100% schedular. If you got TDIU and then got the extra 30% and 20% you may be able to get housebound with a few more increases or new claims. If you get to Total plus 60% you get "S" which is an extra 300 bucks or so. That is what I got. I first got P&T which got my wife ChampVA and got me the property tax exemption in Florida. John

When you see MH just let it all hang out. Don't worry about crying or shaking or any of that stuff as being unmanly. Many vets have been carrying this stuff around with them so long they do break down when someone finally asks them about their symptoms. My symptoms were that I seemed turned off to my emotions. I turned them off, and when they turned on by themself I thought I was losing my mind. I had panic attacks where I thought I was dying. Many trips to the ER for "heart attacks and strokes" that were panic and anxiety. I had some other bizzare symptoms as well from severe shock and what they call dissociative reaction. It is your mind's final stand before you go nuts. This may have happened to you where you feel weird and unreal, and the world looks and feels unreal. Very scary to me. Part of severe panic disorder. John

Your unemployment is going to run out eventually. If you can't work apply for TDIU is my advice. I applied when I was 30%. I was unable to work. I got SSDI and OPM disability retirement first. Then about a year later I finally got TDIU. I had 70% rating for a single disability. Now 13 years later I am P&T with an extra 80% and "S". This is how it works. As you get older it will all get worse. All those joint problems will probably get worse. When they do file on them. Waiting and being cautious can cost you many thousands of bucks. Once you get TDIU that's it. The VA must prove you can work which would be almost impossible unless you give them an excuse. John

Just imagine you are collecting for millions of poor WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam vets who got nothing. Uncle same owes us. My great, great grandfather came home from the Civil War stone deaf with not a penny in his pocket, and no shoes on his feet. I am collecting for him.

Unless you start to lose control of your bladder or are unable to walk due to numbness most of the time back surgery is a big risk. I have lower back and neck problems. No more long car trips for me. I do take pain meds and some work OK, but all are just for acute episodes of pain because if you use it for more than a few months you get tolerance and then you need more to kill the pain. I think as Chuck says it is a "live with" situation unless you can't walk or lose control of you body functions. As far as pain goes I think you will know when you need to see a surgeon. I would consult with an orthopedic surgeon and get as many opinions as possible before i took the leap to have some guy cutting into your spine. Doctors make mistakes and often bury them. No amount of money for malpractice can fix you if some half-assed doctor ruins your life. It almost happened to me due to negligence of a doctor. I almost lost a foot. Usually for backs it involves a fusion of the spine. That just means more operations down the line as people here can attest. John

If you work for wages or salary and pay SSA, Medicare and tax you are asking for the VA to look at your TDIU status. If you are dying to work for money do something off the books. You are still taking a chance because your employer, or neighbor may report you for tax purpose of just envy. I have TDIU for last 13 years. With TDIU and SMC I make over 3400 bucks a month tax free. My spouse will get DIC if I die before her. Why would I risk that? You are not going to get rich on TDIU but you will not starve. Disabled people here in the good old USA are homeless and going to bed hungry tonight. Think about it carefully before you mess with your status. John

I would apply for FERS disability and SSDI. TDIU, OPM and SSDI can all dovetail together. I get all those benefits but not at the same time. FERS is the easiest to get and can be used to bolster the other claims. If you have money in the TSA you can get at that because you are disabled without the penalty I think. You want money coming in while you wait for TDIU and SSDI. After you are disabled getting any sort of life or disability insurance is impossible as is LTC insurance. The sooner you file the sooner you get the benefits. If your job contributed to your disability you can sometimes win a worker's compensation claim which can tide you over until you get TDIU or 100% from the VA. I did all these things when I was disabled from my USPS job way back in 2001. John

Just watch out that the dentist from the list does not want to do unnecessary work on your mouth. They look in your mouth and see a small gold mine if VA is going to pay. My new VA approved dentist proposed a crown, deep cleaning, and some other work. I agree with most of it. The VA never suggested any of that work. The actual VA dentist did a filing on a root canal instead of a crown. I still have private dentist of my own who did three implants for me. That is $15,000. VA would not do it.

How about vision care via Fee Base? My VA found only one eye doctor in my county that would accept VA Fee Base. What is wrong with this picture......Low reimbursement rate/paperwork? VA refuses to do cataract surgery for me and gives me glasses that don't fit and are an inch thick. I have to use Medicare. This is unacceptable.