timetowinarace

It happens every time. A story is told to the national media like these two vets. The VA gives them their benifits. Story over. In a few months there will be another one just like it. The media will not get anything changed. Like us, they help one veteran at a time. I've seen a hundred of these stories in the media. No march equalls no change.

I have a couple of questions. Have you had neuro-psychological testing? I'm assuming the temporal bone leak is a CSF leak(cerebral-spinal fluid)? Is that correct? Do you get bad headaches? CSF Leaks can be bad news for some. For others they are not too bad and can heal on their own. If it was bad, you would know. There would be severe headaches that lessen when laying down. The biggest danger with a leak is low pressure allowing the brain to sag onto the brainstem causing damage to it(the brainstem). It resembles what is called a Chiari Malformation. CSF is the fluid that surounds the brain. When pressure is low(not enough fluid) the brain does not 'float' in the fluid like it's supposed to causing it to sag. The headache is thought to happen because blood will try to make up for the low pressure causing strain on the blood vessels. They are not allways dangerous. In many cases the body replaces the fluid fast enough that a small leak does not cause a low pressure situation. But, I feel they should be closely monitored. Also, my two cents. I would not allow a VA doc to do this type of surgery. I would find an expert at CSF leaks. Surgery can make them worse in some cases. If it were me, I'd go to an ENT that has experience with this. You may not be in any danger but like you, I would not trust the VA with my brain.

My only guess is that IRIS did not see that the exams had already taken place. In other words the computer they look at is not up to date.

Allen, I don't dissagree that an MRI can be usefull in some cases for a DX. I disagree with this statement, "If it's TBI it will show on the MRI". Most MTBI or PCS, including mine, do not show on MRI's. I beleive most of the SC TBI veterans that post here have been DX'd by psychaitrists and psychologist rather than neurologists. I believe this veteran does have a TBI diagnoses. It wasn't in the original post but I took it to mean the tbi has been SC. It says they got a rating but doesn't say for what. It also talks about "the next level". I was assuming this pertains to the residual facets wich indicates that SC has been granted. That's why I asked if the TBI is service connected. My post was not meant to discredit you. It can't hurt to get an MRI.

Odd that this would come from Salt Lake VA. I find it full of bull, being that I go there and get no help for my tbi. Worse, they suggested I move to a different region to get help. This video is propaganda at it's best. It actually made me mad to watch it.

Sounds like "PR" to me.

The thing about CT and MRI is that even if they show something, you may get SC, but they are useless for rating functional impairment. By law, in order to get higher than a 40% rating in the attention and memory facet of the TBI DC8045, functional impairment must be seen on objective testing. This testing is neuro-psychological testing. This testing and this testing alone can determine the difference between functional impairment due to TBI or PTSD. There is little reason to pursue imaging when you must have this testing for a proper rating anyway. In most cases of mild or moderate tbi(the type of tbi at the time of injury), it is N-P testing that proves TBI. I'm rated 100% for TBI. I've had many CT and MRI scans. There is nothing on them.

Well, I have some questions. Was TBI service connected at all? Or was it service connected and the rating low? Of course you should NOD. Has he had Neuro-psychological testing? If he has not, he has not been fully evaluated. This is the most important aspect of TBI evaluation in the absence of obvious paralisis. "He goes for a complete Neuro work up ". Is this with a neurologist or neuro-psychologist? I'm going to disagree with Alan. Most closed head injuries do not show up on MRI. So unless there is obvious paralisis(a weak side of the body, slured speach, ect. the things we can readily see) a neurologist is usually usless. I suggest neuro-psychological evaluation if it hasn't been performed over a neurologist in every situation when a veteran does not have obvious paralisis.

Yes, TBI and PTSD have the same symptoms. It is very difficult to seperate the two. But it sounds like the C&P doc service connected the TBI. You may have a problem with your treating doc saying ADD. It sounds to me that you probably need a new treating doc. TBI is consistant with attention problems and getting into trouble after an injury. I would tend to think ADD would have had you getting into trouble before the injury also. The ADD may be the barrier to SC. I wouldn't worry about the PTSD at this point from a rating perspective. If you are SC for the tbi your depression will be rated seperatly. The depression and PTSD would recieve one rating, it should be the same rating whether PTSD is part of it or not. In other words, if SC for tbi you will get one rating for mental health even if there are two issues. So if PTSD is not SC, the rating for depression should be the same. Okay, I re-read your post. The neuro-psych that did the test thought ADD? Your treating psych and C&P doc say TBI? I think you'll be Okay. It's possible the rater will deny TBI the first time around but you will win the end.

I agree with John. Veterans will not march. They will continue to write letters, pay their VSO, take individual stories to the media. I personally believe that these actions have done little for change. If anything major had changed I would not need to be at Hadit helping each individual veteran. I believe a march would bring change. Change on the day of the march? Of course not. But real change. Change that would help all veterans, not trying to help each individual but all. I cannot plan such an event. My brain is broken. But I know it can be done, has been done. And I will go. So, I will continue to suggest it though I know it will not happen. Inflated and inflamatory numbers do nothing to help. It actually hurts. Over-exagerating the problem does not bring attention to the problem but turns people off. The VA's underestimated numbers and/or lack of accountability is bad enough. People will and do pay attention to the hard facts. Shreddergate is old news. Bringing it up everyday, at every post, makes people ignore it. When it is ignored, it is of no use to us.

Bob, Sorry to hear the results of the MRI. I know it can be scary not knowing what's going on. The results of your neuropsych testing will tell you much more. It's important that you see someone soon. TBI treatment is is imparitive early on. I'm afraid my injury was years old before being discovered and I don't have allot of treatment experience. I highly suggest you go to AVBI(I'll put in a link) and post in the forum. They are very well informed on treatment issues. They can help you contact the right people to get you proper treatment. In the least you could contact the DVBIC. You need answers now. http://avbi.org/index.html Please go to the forums here and ask for treatment advice. http://www.dvbic.org/ You can get allot of information through this site. I reccomend calling them and telling them your very worried about your results and that they are being way too slow to help you. Here is the number. 1-800-870-9244 Also, you need to find a very good VSO and someone needs to help you with the claims proccess. Yes, a VSO AND someone to help. Oh, AND Hadit. Those of us with TBI have faulty wiring, we need extra help even if we don't realize it.

edit: your way more excited than I am. maybe i'll send ya a pm.

I got quick results using my senator in a hardship situation. However I had used congresscritter in the past with no results. It was only after I informed the senator that my house was close to forclosure and the three year old claim was the problem.These facts alone did not do it. It was my statement that when I had bought my house I intended to own it untill I died in it and that those plans did not change. I made it clear that I would turn over my VA paperwork to the media when law enforcement tried to forcibly remove me from my home. That I would die in it whether I was evicted or not. Veterans have been contacting their elected officials for decades. What has changed? Veterans Service Orgs have been representing veterans for decades in government. What has changed? Media has run stories about VA problems for decades. For the veterans that the stories are about, the VA fixes THEIR problem, then announces "We're sorry 'this' veteran fell through the cracks, we have fixed it". So, what has changed? A widely used phrase- The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. The definition fits. Consider this. During the great depression, veterans marched on washington. It got national media attention for a GROUP of veterans as a group. The demands of the veterans were met. Are we not in another depression? Inflation has gone backwords, we see this in our COLA. I think depression is the correct word for our economy. Groups such as green peace often not only write the elected officials and get media stories, they show up in large physical numbers at the G20 Summit. Are they making progress? You bet. Not only are they making progress, they are doing it with oppisition. Meaning a good portion of the population does not believe in their mission. Veterans have very little puplic opposition right now. Read comments left by the public on stories about veterans and the VA. Almost 100% express a concern veterans are not treated well enough by the VA. This means nothing unless veterans do something to help themselves. Show up in huge numbers in washinton. Not for your claim. For ALL claims. Who is going to oppose veterans getting timely and fair claims adjucation? Nobody. Who will support us as a group? Everybody. Or, veterans can continue to meet the definition of insanity above.

The rater called me and told me he had awarded me 100%. He called because there was a list of symptoms and he would have to consider them informal claims so the decision would be postponed untill all claims were worked. I had to send letter saying the list of symptom was just that and should not be considered individual claims. (they were symptoms of the awarded disability)

It is true, we are forgoten. It's been a year since GWI was declared "real". I've heard nothing since. There have been no changes.

I guess we should start at the very beginning with the first question. Do you have a current medical condition due to something in the military? You mentioned pnuemonia. Is it chronic? Or has a prior bout of pnuemonia caused upper repiratory problems? Retro pay from the VA is from monthly comp. If you are rated for a condition from a claim you will recieve monthly compensation, retro is paid for the months it took to decide the claim. So if it takes 6 months to decide the claim you will get six months of retro AND monthly payments will begin. There is a bit more to it than that but that is the basics of it.

Doesn't tinnitus have to show on tests to be rated? I know My tinnitus claim was denied because it did not show on tests at the time. It does now. There is a definate gap at a certain frequency during testing that shows I don't hear the tone because it is lost(sounds the same) in the ringing. The gap is attributed to tinnitus. I'm wondering if that is what she meant by "subjective tinnitus". That maybe the tinnitus could not be shown on testing because of the other hearing related problems. I know for most medical situations, 'subjective' means self reported(not backed up by testing) and 'objective' means the medical complaint is backed up by testing.

montanagray, First off, welcome to Hadit. Sorry your post hasn't been answered yet. Occasionaly when the board is busy it happens but we try to answer all new members. The two main concerns for new claims falls to medicall records and doctors opinions. There of course must be a medically diagnosed condition and very important for claims purposes a link(nexus) to service. Some of the conditions you mentioned may be difficult to get the nexus if it hasn''t already been determined such as sleep apnea and blood pressure as these conditions can occur due to age. I'm not well informed about them. However some may be secondary to established SC conditions and rated as such. Chemical exposure takes allot of legwork to prove. There are others here that may be able to give you more information for that. You mentioned head trauma. If there is sufficiant evidence in his SMR's of a head injury I may be able to help with that. It's difficult for a person to get a TBI residuals diagnoses well after the injury but possible in some situations. Some points that stand out to me in your post are: 1. Sleep Apnea, tbi often causes sleep disturbance(I have mild sleep apnea) 2. PTSD and TBI share most symptoms, some people, myself included, have been misdiagnosed with PTSD symptoms when they are actually TBI residuals, However many people have both 3. Depression is often a residual for TBI and can be rated as such. If you plan to pursue a TBI claim, my first question would be, is there evidence in his service records of a head injury and if not can you obtain buddy statements that he had a head injury?

Congrats! I'm glad to see the system work for someone.

Without reading the tests I couldn't give an answer. The main consideration is that a rater is not qualified to understand the meaning of the test results. You need a doctors opinion based on the test results as to yourr functional impairment due to cognative problems. I would file a NOD and request a C&P. I can't see how it could hurt as I doubt a C&P examiner will find you 'less' than mildly impaired. In other words, it can only go up.

You may need to shop around. I'm paying half of what i paid last year for fuel(I drive a diesel), filling my propane tank for heat was $300 less this year. Many food prices have gone down. Rent is dropping around here. I don't think medical is considered for COLA as it applies to people eligible for government health care like VA and medicare.(My health care costs have gone waayyyyyyy down.)

For a little perspective. I looked up the VA comp rate back to 1977(as far back as I could find) While it is not the 50 years back that was mentioned "20 cents for lunch" it should give some an idea of how inflation and COLA work. In 1977 the VA comp rate for a 100% Vet only was $707. $707 is nothing in todays economy because of inflation. However, COLA has increased that $707 so that our current rate allows us to live in the same reasonable comfort as $707 did in 1977. How much did lunch cost in 1977? I don't know. In 1983 it cost 90 cents. I used to get a dollar for school lunch and have a dime left to get into the dance in the gym. Since there has been no changes to VA comp rates except for COLA increases since 1977, I'm going to stretch my neck out and assume COLA must be keeping up with inflation the way it is set up. No changes neccisary. Here is a link to the scale, it's quite large so allow plenty of download time. http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/...pb/sectVIII.doc

Your not the one understanding inflation. We get COLA as inflation rises. No inflation = no COLA. There was no inflation thus there is no COLA. Next year will depend on next years inflation. If there is inflation over the .2 of loss this year, we will get COLA. If there is no inflation or it equals the .2, there is no COLA. The military is not the same as being a veteran. They should get a raise. They need a raise to help increase recruitment. If you haven't noticed, much of the country is hurting. I will not ask taxpayers to pay more for me when they are doing with less. I'm happy to be getting what I do from VA.

COLA is not a pay raise. Unless you have an idea on how to raise inflation in this country there will be no COLA. And for those that don't know, inflation is a bad thing. We are better off if inflation declines and we get no cola. As it stands, all those COLA raises in the past were just to keep us and SS in line with inflation. Though the dollor amount is more, we actually get the same as they got in 1970 or 1950 or any other year in actuall value. The military gets a pay raise. Good. If you want more compensation, work to get the base(before COLA) increased. and good luck with that. I get prety close to the same as my Dads railroad disability retirement.I think a little more even. Most people would love railroad benifits so I think we're pretty well inline with the general population.

Hi Rob, welcome to Hadit. Thanks for your service. My opinion is that a rating should not effect your ability to get a Federal job. I don't think you even have to list it in most situations. But my knoweldge of Federal employment is very limited. If you don't mind, I'm going to ask that your post be moved to Va Claims Research. More members may read it there. I have to reccomend that you be fully evaluated and rated for your TBI when you depart for many reasons. It will be much easier to do now rather than later. Besides the possible ratings for the plate and scar you should seek a rating for the headaches as migraines and another rating for TBI residuals(dizziness, reading and writing difficulties, ect) As for your concerns for ratings, it's possible that you might get lowballed but be assured that it is standard for the VA whether it's a fresh injury or old. I would hope that the claims proccess goes smoothly for you, it does for some, some it does not, just be prepared to appeal. Your rating should reflect your current disability and not how long you've had it. That is one reason it's important to start now.