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Brandy

Second Class Petty Officers
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Everything posted by Brandy

  1. Can anyone post the link to this case? I am unable to find it. Quarles v. Derwinski 1992 Thanks.
  2. I believe I read somewhere on this site that the best response would be to ask for a "non-traditional" appeal. I was under the impression that this would be quicker than the tradtional appeals process. I have not got to the point of filing an appeal yet so I do not know first hand if this is true, but perhaps Berta or some else could provide answers. Vike, Would the DRO review mean the same thing as the "non-traditional" review?
  3. Larry, Thanks for the reply. If you look at jstacy's reply below to cavman, there is a link to the M21-1 that shows the different POA's that you can have. Do you know which one your wife has? Brandy
  4. Maybe someone can answer my question. I have done everything on my husbands claim(s) to the VA. I also call the 800# for updates. The problem is they always ask to talk with him to confirm that they can talk with me. I have a power of attorney with the VA for medical purposes but this is a different poa than what they want apparently. One time I mentioned to them that I had a poa and they said "oh so your husband is incompetent? I said no he is not! I did some checking into this and I understand there are different poa's and there is one type is for a one time only, like for only one claim. I would like to able to handle this without bothering my husband. He obviously knows everything I am doing but he does not understand the language of the VA nor does he care to. Can anyone tell me how I can be the representative for my husband in the VA's terms?
  5. Berta, Yes, they attached a couple of the forms along with the VCAA packet. They also attached a 21-4142. This may be the form you were thinking about. This is authorization and consent to release information to the VA. The reason I asked the question is I have all of his records dating back many many years and have submitted all of them to the VA on three different occasions. I am getting ready to send a response on their latest VCAA and that's why I was asking. The three time I submitted evidence I only typed up a letter and referenced, see attached, etc. I did not use this form 21-4138. To be honest, I don't really understand the form. You fill it out for another VA facility as to what they treated you for and dates of treatment and put their address and sign??? Did the VCAA letter specify anything else at all that you needed to send them? To answer this question, they are only asking about a couple of disabilities claimed this time and not all. So I would assume this means they are narrowing them down. They did however say they will schedule exam. I assume the exam won't be sch'd until we respond to the latest VCAA packet. PS-does your husband have a copy of his c file? Are you sure that the VA did not obtain these records already due to fact he is already SC? They may have already obtained these records since the other VA facility and address was plastered all over my last letter to them. But I filled one out just in case. They should have the records because my husband goes to a local clinic and I am dealing with the Regional office of this local outpaient clinic.
  6. I agree with Philip. I called the nosscr and they immediately gave me the name of a attorney in my local area who specialized in SSDI cases. I received a follow up letter from them with all contact information just as a reminder. Then after about a week and a half I received a call from the attorney. I had not called him yet because I was only on my second go round. I told him where I was at and that if not approved I would get him involved on the next round. No sense paying them for something you can do yourself. As for me, I have no urge to go to court on my own without someone representing me. I would gladly pay the amount set by SSA for the attorney. This attorney has 25 years experience. He agreed with me that he was not needed at this stage of my game, but allowed me to call him if I had any questions. He will not charge ANY fees other than what is dictated by SSA. Another attorney told me that they would charge that plus any admin fees, travel fees, document fees, etc. This is when I visited nosscr.org site. Brandy
  7. I noticed a posting about this form and had a question. Do you need to send in this form along with each piece of additional evidence? If so, why or does it help you? I started my claim late last year just with a letter to the VA asking for an increase of current disabilties as well as additional secondary service connected conditions. I have sent additional information to them, medical, etc. with only a letter from me on top of all evidence. I am on my second VCAA notice and the only time I used this form was to give them local VA information of where my husband had treatment. The 800# people told me if he went to a VA facility that I would not have to fill out this form, but when I got the second VCAA notice it said "if you have had treatment at a VA facility you need to fill out a 21-4138. Have I been doing my claims wrong?
  8. Berta, I am in a similar situation. And I wanted to confirm something. When they gave EED of Nov 1991, this was the date that he last worked and not the date that of your claim for increased compensation that you filed in 1991? I claimed that my husband has not worked since 1997 and I requested retro back to this date based on the fact that this was the date that SSA approved. What I did on our initiial claim dated dec.2005 concerns me because this could hold up our claim because of the retro and we are in financial need now. Brandy
  9. Vike and Berta, I guess I was really asking about outpaient clinics. My situation is, I think I posted this somewhere, my husband has been 30% sc for 27 years for diabetes type 1. We have never filed for an increase until dec.2005 because we did not know that we could. My husband started going to the clinic when we first got out and continued for 10 years, just to get his insulin. After that we were settled and had jobs with insurance, etc. and he began to have some problems he started going to a private doctor. Then about 2001 he started going back to the clinic for eye and foot exams which are important for a diabetic. And he got prescriptions from them such as insulin, rx for gerd, rx for hypertension, etc. He see's a primary doctor there every six months and they did note that he had a below knee amputation in 1998 and that he has PVD, CAD, hypothyrodism. Last year he had triple bypass surgery, this year he had arterial surgery (stints in left leg and fix on right hip) Don't they have an obligation to alert the regional office about the veterans worsening conditions or at least inform the veteran what his rights are regarding asking for a increase?
  10. Berta, VA regs state the VA will rate (and give diagnostic code ) for all disabilities the veteran has. Does this include any VA hospital or VA clinic? And is so, what are the regs that state this? Thanks.
  11. Gary, Just my two cents worth. In the beginning of my fight for my husband's disability increase I did a lot of research on when a claim informal or formal can be filed. I did this because my husband has received the same rating for 27 years and we were unaware that if his conditions worsened that we should file a claim with the VA. My husband found this out at a annual eye exam at the local VA clinic from another veteran. From your posting you mention that "The VA sends me a prescription every month to control it". From the research I have done, due to ours being so old, the VA states that a "Informal Claim" for benefits is if the veteran is treated at a VA facility for a non-service connected condition, this is to be treated as a informal claim for benefits. Now I am new at this but at the same time I am using this as my husband was treated for some of his service connected and non-service connected conditions at the local va facility. I would go to the VA that provides you with scripts and get copies of all of your records including scripts for all years going to that facility. The scripts and if you seen a VA doctor for this would be good evidence as to when the condition started. You can fight it from this and possibly get the retro. If you made them aware of what VA facility you are receiving treatment at and filled out a 21-4138 for that facility, the VA should already have those records and show that they have been treating you for this condition for xxxx amount of years. Because I am not the most experienced when it comes to NOD's vs CUE's, I don't know which one you would need to file if you were already denied. If denied within the last year, I would send them a letter stating that they had received your informal claim for benefits for this disability back on ????? (when you first began getting the RX from the VA. But obviously, what still remains is proving the disability. But if they are giving you scripts for it I would think that would help your case somewhat. But you will need to call this to the attention of the VA stating that you provided them with a informal claim for this disability beginning (date). I hope someone else gets in on this and tell me if I am wrong. Remember I am fairly new at this VA law (about a year), but I did do extensive research on this matter being that we had no contact with the regional VA office for 27 years and needed to know how to approach our first claim with them or if we could even file a claim. We had no idea about any of these things. Brandy
  12. Jangrin and devildog I hope this is true for me as well. I have not worked since October 2005. Right now I am in the reconsideration stage. As I mentioned I checked the box for a case review since my pain had worsened and I could show this by physical therapy records (that I had to stop due to pain) and doctors had to increase my pain meds as well as my migraine meds. I am hoping this will do it. My husband has been disabled for nine years. He currently receives 30% compensation from VA and we are working on a new claim now that we started in December 2005. We have already went through our savings, my IRA's, etc. We have nothing left to pull from if needed. So needless to say, if we don't hear something soon from someone, I don't know what we are going to do. Brandy
  13. I am going to a pain management center. They have given me the steroid shot in my cervical spine and trigger point shots in my shoulders and back. They did not help my shoulders and neck but it did help my lower back a little. They also give me all of my pain medicine. I think they may have a problem with my age, Just because I am not close enough to retirement age. I think this may be the reason maybe, that the doctors did not give me a good enough report to SSDI the first time around. Brandy
  14. Does the VA Hospital that gives the exam automatically send a copy to the veteran as well as the requester? Or will the veteran have to request a copy?
  15. Thanks for the help Jangrin. I will see if I can get the letter.
  16. What is a IMO? All I have are records from the nuero doctor (which does not show any weakness or strengh issues), my primary care doctor who referred me to pain management and ordered the two MRI's, Pain management records, physical therapy records for my back, an EMG they did on my right arm (even though I told my doctor that I had the same problem in both arms). The tests that nuero doctors perform are only checking for and nerve damage. They are basic tests. If he would of had me move my arm in the same direction for a couple of minutes then he could have seen that I have pain. I think somewhere I have a nerve issue because I get pins and needles in my hands and feet. I cannot vacuum because my hand goes numb. If I stand for more than 5 minutes my feet go numb.
  17. Well then, I guess I don't have a chance. My disabilities are pain with movement in my neck, shoulders, lower back. I have burning pain on each side of my neck and stabbing pains in my shoulder blades. When I try to cook or use my arms for anything. My neck basically hurts continuously. I cannot read for longer than a few minuites because if I hold my head down or to either side for more than a couple of minutes the pain worsens. I have a herniated disc in my cervical spine C5-6 with a bulge and spurs that is protruding towards the right side. My nuero doctor does not understand this because I have more pain on my left than right. I have had this pain beginning about five years after a very bad car accident about 28 years ago. I have worked full time all my life until late last year. The pain got so bad that I was taking breaks every half hour. And it got more difficult to consentrate on my work when I was in pain all of the time. I also have a tear in my disc at L5-S1 lower spine. I have MRI's that show both issues. The pain in my neck radiates up my head and I had terrible migraines. I was denied on my original claim saying "your condition is not severe enough to keep you from working. The medical evidence shows that you do have herniated discs and that you have a lot of pain due to your back problems. You are able to move about freely and without aids. Your physical examinations are good, including good reflexes, stregth and sensation. It is noted in your file that you also have migraines; however, this is controlled with medication. Although your impairments are severe and limiting, they are not considered to be totally disabling within the meaning of the law". I keep migraine headache calendars and I average 75% of having severe migraines during one month. I don't think my doctors forwarded copies of my headache calendars to SS. I am taking medication to prevent headaches, imitrex for when they are severe, strong pain medication for neck and shoulders because the shot (steriod) in my neck did not work and causes bad reaction and the trigger point shots did not work. I have talked with a very good attorney that handles SS and workmans comp cases only, for the last 25 years. I told him that I could handle the reconsideration but if not approved then I would get him involved to take over from there. He agreed that this was the best way to do this. From my original filing date and when I files for reconsideration my condition worsened. They had to increase my medication which causes a lot of side effects and I have physical therapy records where my pain worsened when tried to increase my movements at any time. So I filed that with the reconsideration. That is where I am at now. Waiting to hear about the reconsideration. I asked for a "case review" showing the additional problems I have had since the first filing. Any one else filed a claim for SSDI for pain related medical problems? Or any advice?
  18. I am on SSD and I was denied at first and won on appeal as many have to do. I feel that you very well could be given SSD on the first try. Until you get denied you do not need a lawyer. You cannot get SSD if you work. I would recommend taking enough equity out of your home to live on a few months until your approved. You will be approved. Maybe after filing contact your senator right away for help. Cavman Cavman, When you filed your appeal, did you ask for a case review or a meeting? I filed for reconsideration and checked case review because I had additional problems that had worsened since I originally filed. I am curious if anyone here has been approved in a similar situation.
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