john999

I am going for a C&P exam for an increase in DMII. When I got 10% I was not using oral meds to lower glucose. Now I am using oral meds. My feet hurt worse and I have less endurance than I once did before DMII. Any hints or clues what to expect? The last time they just looked at my numbers which showed fasting glucose over 126. Now I have AIC over 7 without drugs (Metformin). Trying to practice what I preach. I am SC for DMII, PN and Coronary artery disease secondary to DMII. John

I think before vets go for these subjective exams they should consult with Hadit.

I think vet should be able to bring a lawyer to a c&p exam. The lawyer would shut you up when they start to ask leading questions meant to reduce or sever SC. Snake Eyes, you need to understand clearly if you want to continue working paid or unpaid 40-50 hours a week and try to collect TDIU. Have you applied for SSDI? If you do you probably need to be "not working" at all. If you keep it to 20 hours a week and at or below poverty level OK. You must read TDIU regs carefully so the VA cannot hang you with your own guts. I understand why you want to keep doing something but mostly incompatible with TDIU. If you can work under the SSA/IRS table then you take a chance but it is not report to SSA/IRS and TDIU is clean. TDIU is really for those who cannot work. If you could get scheduler 100% then no problem. John

You should be in the hospital to find out about weight loss.

A vet could claim depression, anxiety disorder (GAD), dissociative disorder, and even schizophrenia if the vets is having hallucinatory flashbacks. I think the things that mostly resemble PTSD would be GAD, depression and dissociative disorder. Dissociative disorder is when the vets emotions just sort of split off from his regular life, and he/she feels sort of dead inside and the world seems changed to a duller shade of gray. Emotional numbing to a great degree from shock. These are all part of PTSD to lessor or greater degree without the PTSD DX. Let's not forget panic disorder which is another anxiety disorder similar in many ways to PTSD. We can get around the VA's little games by skinning the cat a different way. John

Well, you can get SC for depression and anxiety just as easy as PTSD if not easier. Many people with depression don't feel depressed. Vets think the only mental condition they can get SC for is PTSD. That is not the case.

Did you get honorable discharge? How long were you in the service? Did you deploy to the Gulf? These questions can have meaningful answers. You were given a hardship discharge? What kind of discharge is that? I am not being nosey, but as long as you were deployed to Gulf and had discharge under honorable conditions the VA has to treat you and you can get compensation.

You need IME/IMO doctor's to opine on your disabilities. They need to show connections to service and severity. These are guys you are paying There opinions should help you and not hurt you. If you just use VA records and opinions you will probably be hurting.

I think if you have good , solid clams I would not worry so much about being reduced. I would go for TDIU because it has many benefits including 100% compensation. Once you get TDIU then you request P&T. This means a DIC pension for your spouse and ChampVA and educational benefits for kids or spouse.

If there is retro involved even at 10% for a few years it is worth going for it. That would be some thousands of tax free bucks.

So is the VBA in process of transferring all the paper C-Files into electronic files? I can see this will be a mess since half of the files are illegible. My C-File is just a mess.

The exam seems incomplete to me. The exam doctor did not review your civilian, VA or military records? That is what it seems to say. All the exam did was a so-called doctor just looked at your leg and made a DX and prognosis. He/she did say "At least as likely as not service connected". You need powerful IME/IMO to get higher ratings. You could also claim depression/chronic pain disorder as secondary I think due to disability and chronic pain. I believe vets should claim emotional injuries when they have severe physical injuries that limit their lives significantly. Look at this like the first battle in a war.

Yes, private pain doctors in Florida are afraid to prescribe necessary pain meds. I have federal worker's compensation claim. They are good at always demanding extra paperwork from doctors when you ask for anything besides cheap generics. I ask for Cymbalta from WC and they refuse and kick it back to my good WC doctor who then has to do paperwork for special authorization. He gets tired of that extra work. All insurance companies just mean to delay or deny treatment and medications to save money. The VA also acts like an insurance company. Private insurance is ruining medical care here. They are inbetween the doctor and patient. They only care about stockholders. Blue Cross is one of the worst and biggest. They just basically refuse to pay for psychiatric care via paperwork traps and mazes of rules. Half of the population is suffering from pain and/or mental disorders and insurance companies won't pay for care. Oxycontin would be good for me, but I can't get it from VA, and private docs just want to do procedures like injections and surgery. It is all about money. Doctors believe they all are entitled to be millionaires even if all they do is prescribe pills. John

0% for testicular cancer seems very low rating unless it is 100% contained and cured.

You can start SSDI process on the phone. You need a doctor's statement that you will be disabled for at least one year. It needs to be a complete medical report and not notes. You will also get paperwork where the SSA asks you how disabled you are. Don't lie but don't underestimate your disability when it comes to doing for yourself. If your wife does shopping and housework and you just sit and watch TV then say so. If you can't do a lick of yardwork say so. If you need help dressing, feeding or bathing yourself admit it. John

Yes, I am sure everyone thought you told VA to just forget your other claims. If this is not the case then you just do appeal. You are not a dumb ass. I did dumb ass things in retrospect over many years with the VA. My first big mistake was to trust that they had my best interest at heart. On my very first claim they screwed me to the wall. I did not know enough to appeal, and did not even know my appeal rights because the VA sent my decision to wrong address and it was returned to sender. They still say I should have known my rights and this is part of " duty to assist" so not a CUE. Yes, reaction here is good training for being very careful with words to the VA. Here we just get confused. VA twists your words with purpose to deny. You know what that means......years of appeals and delays. You know "due process" means nothing to the VA. They violate vet's due process as SOP. Hang in there. No harm, no foul.

What Berta says!

Your claim must be final to file a CUE. CUE is hard unless it is clear to even dumbest VA employee.

One or the other of your leg exams was bogus. Have you been to a real non VA doctor about this? You don't go from 55% blockage in legs to 87% open. Where did blockages go? Did they just dissolve? Smoking will make it much worse because it damages the arteries and makes them more narrow. The danger is , of course, that piece of blockage breaks loose and goes to lung, heart or head.

Get IME/IMO to explain your situation. You must think very clearly when you answer doctors at C&P exam. They use your own words to hang you even if you are innocent. A powerful churchman in France during Louie 14th reign said "Give me one sentence from a honest man and I can find enough to hang him". This is the VA in spades. I have been such a victim with my own words twisted to hang me and my doctor's sentence fragment used against me.

Are you able to work and are you employed now? That is a big factor in ratings for PTSD. I see 70% just from the form, but the doctor does not make the rating.

Oh, hey, hey Express Yourself! The good thing about group therapy is that everybody is vulnerable. Group therapy helped save my life. I met other vets who had severe problems. Some hung in there and some dropped out because it was too close for them, but I learned from them. One Vietnam Vet got mad at me because I would not accept anything good the group said about me. I was so down on myself and so negative. That did change when I saw that others were exposing raw nerves to my judgment and risking my rejection. When they discussed things they had done and their feelings of sadness, grief and fear. This is a big deal for tough combat guys who are killers and have hard guy exterior. They were all suffering the after effects of war. Many lost wives and homes due to their PTSD. They could stand up to bullets and bombs but their personal lives crumbled with drinking and kids and wives afraid of their mood swings. What they want is for someone to listen and not condemn them or judge them or tell them to suck it up. John

It is malpractice. Do you have private insurance? I would find private pain clinic if I have private insurance. Maybe even consult with VA lawyer. I think I would write certified letter to medical director and explain your concerns. Let them know you will be talking to congressman Jeff Miller or local congressman about this issue. The VA addicted you and now they want to dump you. They have tried the same thing with me and I raised some hell and they backed down. It is really horrible to depend of such scumbags who don't give a damn. John

I see your point, Berta. I missed the fact he never filed a claim. Like you say if his current doctor backs him up then the Section 1151 makes sense. Probably go forward for a higher rating now at the same time he works on Sec. 1151. As you say "Did the exam reference the misdiagnosis of PTSD or was that just talk between vet and exam doctor?".

I bet you could file for PTSD. You need a doctor to say your current diseases are the result of expose to dioxin/poly................. You must have medical evidence from expert to make the connection. The fact you were exposed is in your military records, correct? You must show nexus between exposure and current disability. The claim you file should contain a statement in IMO format that exposure caused the diseases you mention. You will get more feedback. John