john999

You must have a nexus to show your disability happened in service and you still have it. Secondly you need medical evidence that your present disability was caused by something that happened to you in service. You should show that there was continuity of symptoms if not treatment since first onset. To have a bad c&p is almost standard where they ask for no tests and just guess. If you are denied or low balled appeal and get more evidence. I have done this many times as have we all. You are not alone. Welcome to the Monkey House. John

My VA psychiatrist changed our appointment to a time when I cannot make it. I called to reschedule and it is 45 days later. I would say that I need a private shrink paid for by the VA. I have never heard of a private shrink making someone wait 45 days for a rescheduled appointment. I did not miss the appointment. The shrink changed the time to very early in the morning and I have to drive 20 miles through rush hour traffic to get there plus I have sleep apnea. She knows this but it is just tough **&^ for me. All she does is push pills anyway. No therapy. John

They can just deny all the claims and force vets into appeals. Half won't appeal, and the other half will be in appeals for years. It is just a shell game. I also believe that almost all the OIF/OEF vets and most of the surviving Vietnam vets are going to be filing claims in the coming few years. For the RVN vets it is assumed that agent orange is responsible for many, many diseases that do show up with age. I am sure AO contributes to early onset, but we are all probably going to die from AO. John

An MRI is standard, and yes you are being treated poorly by the cheap-ass VA. If you went to a private orthopedist he would do an X-ray and an MRI almost in the same day. An X-ray shows bone. You may have nerves that are entrapped etc. The VA actually has very good MRI machines which they don't like to use. Do you have private insurance? If I had it I would use it and not wait on the VA. I am 60% for agent orange related heart condition and I have never seen a cardiologist at the VA. I see a private doctor that I actually trust. John

If you can swing a tiny loan from your bank and then pay it off rapidly that will help your credit rating a lot. You do that a couple of times and your credit will start to smell sweet. Same with credit card with 1000 dollar max. Get it, and use it and pay off every month. Your credit recovers. Miss a payment and you are in the toilet. Get a gas card and pay every month. They just want to see that you pay your bills on time.

No, as long as you are currently unemployable solely due to SC conditions you can apply. I know with SSD you have to wait 6 months but not with TDIU. Get it while the VA is in the giving mood. With all these OIF/OEF vets starting to file the VA will clamp down somehow to make it harder.

Ok, I will let you know next week. I have an exploratory procedure to see if the OSA pacemaker can help me. I read that 50% of those who get success from CPAP in lab conditions stop using it within a year. Mine did not even do a good job in the lab. They woke me up four times to adjust my mask. What kind of sleep is that? What I don't want is for some ENT to cut tissue out of my throat or shave my tongue. My OSA doctor says that most of those people end up back in CPAP. I believe since OSA affects so many Americans the medical profession will come up with better and less invasive treatments if I can last that long? John

I have had the VA cancel a couple of C&P exams and then state I was a no-show and make a rating decision which of course went against me. I was waiting for them to reschedule me and they rated me instead. I think they do this stuff on purpose sometimes. The VA recently called me to ask if I wanted to see a private dentist since I had to wait more than 30 days. I said "Yes" and then I read on veterans health website that I said I wanted all my treatments at the VA. No wonder I have not been contacted by a civilian dentist. The VA is just all screwed up and I also would never reschedule or cancel a C&P exam unless I was being operated on at the hospital. I would go no matter what. John

TDIU effective date should go back to the time you filed the official TDIU form. It did for me. I filed when I was 30% but my claim was still on appeal for a higher rating since 1997.

I think you will get TDIU. I hope you get P&T. If not appeal it. If you are over 40 getting SSD should be easier. In this society if you are over 40 something and been unemployed a few years you really are unemployable, but the VA is not supposed to take age into account. Neither is SSD but they do. John

Send the stuff again. It is easier than arguing with them. This is almost standard VA. They misplace or lose everything. If you brought it to them on a silver platter they would lose it.

The VA is just asking you if you have any more evidence to send them. If you don't make sure they know you don't or they will drag their heels on your claim for another year. The 5103 notice is their way of giving you your VCAA rights. I never got a notice, but the VA was waiting on one. I told them over and over I had no more evidence. It took a congressman to make them stop waiting. John

I do have a civilian sleep doctor. He referred me to the doctor doing the Inspire surgery. Nasal pillow won't work for me because I would need 3 hour surgery to rebuild my nose and do some work on my sinus. That would still not cure my OSA. If I could lose about 50 lbs I would not have apnea I think, but that is hard to do as the surgeon who discussed Inspire with me could attest. This guy is a doctor and he is 100lbs overweight. It is killing him and he knows it. Losing weight for some is hard as hell. They may be able to go on starvation diet for 6 months and drop 50lbs but they can't keep it off with out some kind of surgery to shrink the gut. My sister had a heart attack at age 64 and had some kind of surgery to shrink or disconnect her gut. Maybe that will save her? Heart disease tends to run in my family. We all take cholesterol medications. John

Only thing I am getting is housebound and my total + 60% is not going to change unless the VA pulled something weird.

For those of you who have OSA and no relief using CPAP explore Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation on internet. I did a post on it here. I saw the doctor today. I am going to have it done if I qualify. I will also try and get the OSA SC'ed because I have the same problems as many here. Diabetes, chronic pain, depression, GERD and finally OSA.

Bob Does this mean a pay raise for you yet? You are getting close to the 160% or total plus 60% for Housebound SMC.

I met today with the doctor that does the implant surgery for the Inspire sleep apnea pacemaker. I met the first two indications for the implant surgery: I am not too fat and the CPAP therapy has not worked well for me over time. Now the third indication is the doctor has to knock me out with a surgical anesthetic and look down my throat to see exactly how my apnea is happening. If my airway is completely collapsing in a certain way then the pacemaker won't help me they believe. If my airway is only partially collapsing they it will help. It is just something to do with the actual mechanics of my OSA. This part I did not know about until I consulted with the doctor who will do the implant surgery. The pacemaker device is about the size of a old silver dollar and costs $20,000. If I do qualify I hope Medicare and my Blue Cross with potentially pay. My doctor has OSA but says he can't use the device because he is too fat. He says the surgery is really not that big of a deal but the actual medical device is what makes the whole procedure cost $30,000. I swear if it will help me I will find the money if insurance won't pay. I have had the CPAP for three years and it has never worked for me. I might try the dental device but that costs $2500 and is for mild OSA. I have severe OSA. I am not selling this device or working for Inspire, but this will be a miracle for millions of us who don't tolerate the CPAP. If you have CPAP pressure over 17 I can tell you that it is like a hurricane blowing down your throat. I could use my CPAP as a leaf blower. In years to come these devices will replace the CPAP/BIPAP. John

Kelly, did you have an IME/IMO?

For a claim or evidence to be "debatable" if there is one shred of what the VA calls "evidence" then your CUE will fail. You can have a medical opinion from a famous specialist on one side, and a statement from an unidentified ward clerk on the other side, and now you claim is "debatable". I know because this happened to me. For a CUE based on medical evidence all the medical evidence must be on the vet's side. Using the broken leg example if the vet had a x-ray that the VA ignored in the original rating, and the VA had a nurse assistant that said the vet seemed to walk without pain then the VA can use the nurse assistant's statement to say the contention of a broken leg is debatable. All the medical evidence must militate in favor of the vet for him to win a CUE when it is a question of medical evidence. This may seem absurd, but I lost my CUE at CAVC on that point and other bizarre points as well. Benefit of doubt does not apply in a CUE. Nor does duty to assist or most of the other points vets are used to in a regular claim. This issues will be used against you in a CUE. Also, the court accepts that anything the VA says is the truth, and unless you can prove otherwise, anything you say is just speculation and unsupported, therefore untrue. AskNod says your CUE must be visible from the moon for you to win.

Navy04 It seemed to me that the Exam doctor did not want to consider anything in my claim for an increase in my DMI, I but the fact that I was prescribed oral medications in addition to watching my diet and exercise. He went out of his way to dismiss the three secondary conditions I am already SC for as a result of DMII. Do I have to ask specifically, or claim specifically increases for all the secondary conditions in an exam for DMII? My feet are worse via PN, but he dismissed that when I brought it up. On his exam he says I have no other secondary issues. I have artery disease and PN from the DMII. No exam for those issues, or even a mention of them. All he focused on was the fact I now take oral meds (Metformin). He said my kidneys looked good and my eyes seemed ok even though I had cataract surgery on both eyes. I thought when a vet began to take oral meds for DMII it was an automatic 20% rating, and when and if he/she begins to take insulin it is 40%. Am I wrong? He noted I had not been hospitalized for the DMII. I sure hope not at this point. It was not a biased exam, but just an incomplete exam IMO. He did no exam except to look at my existing records, and ask me about how long I had been taking Metformin and my AIC and fasting glucose. He did not look for any common secondary conditions or ask me about any. This is a half-ass DMII exam. It seems the VA is just trying not to see anything beyond the limited scope of my glucose levels. It seems I have to identify to them any possible secondary conditions of DMII because they are not looking. No wonder so many vets with DMII lose limbs and have heart attacks. The VA is not even looking.

Oh, OK I was not sure what the heck the VA was doing. I did not file a claim last June. It was closed in 30 days. I always figure I am going to be back in the boxing ring with the VA for something. I saw my C&P exam for my DMII increase claim. The doctor did a half ass job. He did not mention any of the secondary conditions I have from DMII and said I had none. This is pissing me off to an extent since I get Housebound SMC based on DM11 related conditions. These conditions have been SC for over 5 years and he never even examined me for them. I will be visiting the VARO in a hurry if they have messed with any of my SC ratings based on this guys exam. John

I would get an IME from a private psychiatrist. That is the best way to fight a low ball rating. Don't depend on the VA for your ratings. John

In a real court of law all evidence is supposed to be shared with the prosecution and defense. That is basic to the system. No secret evidence except in these terrorism cases. In the VA kangaroo system it is assumed the VA gives perfect consideration to all the evidence in the record. We all know this is a damn lie, but all you can do is appeal and try and stick their nose in it. In the VA there is not supposed to be an adversarial situation until you get to CAVC at least. Then it is very adversarial and all the dirty tricks that are suppose to be used to protect us poor incompetent and ignorant vets are suddenly used to cut us to pieces. John

IIIf you live close to the VARO I would hand deliver by NOD and get it date stamped. If you live a long way then send in certified mail/return receipt. For stuff that is not quite as important you can get a proof of mailing receipt which is one step higher than the VA uses when they send your rating to you. Proof of Mailing is proof that you mailed a letter on a certain date. The VA uses the standard of regularity in their correspondence so it is good enough for them. Something that is crucial I would still use Cert. mail/ Return Receipt. I think that I would ask for a DRO Hearing and get your lawyer to be there. That is what my lawyer did and for a while I thought we were going to win but the DRO was overruled by higher ups because of retro involved and issues. John

When I checked Ebenefits is showed I had a claim with the status type: Regulatory or Procedural Review. This claim, that I never submitted and no nothing about, was submitted and completed within 30 days. I sent the VA an email asking what the devil this is but have gotten no answer. Anybody have any idea what this might be regarding?