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Mingo

Seaman
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About Mingo

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  • Service Connected Disability
    90%

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  1. I will try to scan and post. I just moved to current residence and have to look for last C/p exam results. I forget where I put things sometimes and later forget to look again. Thanks. I am not sure that I am offically in a sheltered workshop. MY SC conditions came into play when i was hiired (preference) My application to telework was expedited due to me not bieng able to function/concentrate in small cubicle with a chair space of like 3ft x 4ft and being hospitalized for having a TIA seizure at work... the noise and talking co workers made it impossible for me to work . Do they ever make a proposal and later not follow through with it?
  2. Yes it is for TDIU . I am 92% SC and have an appeal in process for PTSD that was bothecd in my last CP Exam. I met all the criteria for PTSD but they said I scored so high on the PTSD computer quetionaire that it was not possible....I actully had a severe anxiety attack during the this test and I had to get up and walk out of the room. The PTSD Test aks questions about this and how often and severity...I answered and honest and accurately as I could and even told the Psych that I had an anxiety attack during the test....I am perscribed Propralolol by the VA for the very reason. I work as a Medical Records person and had one of these attacks/mini stroke/seizure while at work and was hospitalized last year. I was granted service connection for a major stroke that occured on active duty when I was 30 yo I was also being treated for sarcoidosis at the time. I have a history of all kinds of symtoms some sort of cognitive, PTSD like, nightmares, anxiety, social dysfunction,severe tinnitus, light sensitivty, severe inrribiltiy but the VA will connect one symtom to one root causes and others to others, My stroke was classified with my SC for Sarcoidosis with sleep apnea....none of the other symptoms were deemed related to my stroke, the nuerologist said that my other symtoms were due to PTSD but at the same C P exam they said that I met all the criteria for PTSD but I scored too high on the PTSD test. sometimes when I speak I confuse the syntax of words....house old instead of old house ect ect. I have no family really at all, no kids, no wife, no girlfriend very little contact with blood relatives, I was reclusive not going out of the house, major depressed. I had to do someting to not kill myselft or drink myself to death. If you have never been there then you really don't understand what it is like. I am talking about passing years of holidays, summers, birthdays totally alone so, I decided I had to do something different so, I applied for a job at the VA in medical records and I was hired but have struggled. It has been hard I I cannot function / work in that crowded stuffy office with people talking and walking around and making noise my brain litterally shutsdown so, I submitted and application to work at home which I have been which is good but now I am isolated again. I am submitting another claim for MRSA infection that I have had since having Back surgery at a Naval hospital I have had various cellulitits is abcesses/sores on face neck, back, so bad they left permannet scarrring. I am at 92% and I am submitting claim for abnormal gait. limp for having bad sciatica and if my appeal for PTSD is resolved like it should have been I will be at 100% sc anyway. I have NO family I have to do something to give some meaning to my life. I get some satisfaction with medical records work and with time I ma getting better at it...it takes me awhile to catch on to new things but when I do I do my best. Reading Medical Records on a computer is inate work no real physical activity needed If one guy is allowed to work at family business building furniture or repairing boats then I cannot I be allowed to read medical records at my home in peace and quiet ? I read a case where A veteran was TDIU and worked and was paid for beiing a city councilman.
  3. I received a letter a few months back "Proposal to Reduce Benefits". I rapidly sent a NOD and yesterday recieved a letter stating: "We have only made a proposal to reduce your benefits and as of this date we have not carried out this action. If we decide to carry out our proposed action you will receive written notification and at that time you will be given appropriate appellate rights" Has anyone seen this verbage before?
  4. I paid DR Bash $2,000 and he later asked for more several times He said my case would receive SMI level of compensation and that I would get K$$$ in retro back pay therefore I should have been willing to pay more;he initially asked for 10,000$ . The report he gave me was chaotic and disorganized it had someone eles's information mixed in and I did not realize it until I had submitted it to the VA. I had to go into the document and cut and replace erroneous information and correct typos. His letter was enough to re open my claim however did not help at all with the later decision /Statement of Case. His letter was barely even mentioned in my Statement of Case. I received 20% increase for conditions I pursued and documented on my own from my Primary care doctor. That is just my experience nothing more nothing less. But I paid him $2000 that is lost forever.
  5. Marginal or Protected Employment/Sheltered Employment: The work I do could not be more sedentary than sitting and reading a computer screen, if that were not true just sitting at home surfing the internet would the same as that....or sitting and watching TV or playing video games all day could be just as strenous as reading electronic medical records. There is one example of Sheltered Employment of working on a family farm....I do not have family with a farm. I have to get up and stretch a few times per hour due to neck, back, leg pain. My requirements have been adjusted for my condtions I suffered a severe stroke on active duty and I have constant, severe tinnitus and cognitive disorder.. I have a constant high pitch noise in both ears that really makes it hard to read and focus and my work does not allow for any mistakes and I am on a productivity schedule. Sometimes when I write with a pen/pencil I spell words backwards or begin with the second letter in a work. I can be looking at something right in front of my face on a comper screen or in a book and not see what I am looking for so it takes me longer to read and process sometimes. Question is without having any family what other setting for disabled veterans would be more appropriate than reading medical records for the VETERANS ADMINISTRATION as far as a sheltered environment isn't that kind of one of the funtcions of the VA to help veterans that is? Better to be doing something of value than be ruining my liver in a bar all day wich later would require more VA medical care, right? Again: I have submitted all the required forms and written statements my case was just reviewed and finished Aug 24, 2014. It is not possible to be more upfront about this than I am, I submitted a question last week via IRIS and am still awaiting a response.
  6. Thanks for the reply. I actually notifed them in a letter and it was recieved and acknowledged...the statements were referenced in my SOC this past August. Sheltered has a definiton of having different work requiremens that others doing the same work. and I did notiify SSA as well. I sent VA a message via Iris last week. I have been tottally honest and upfront about everything all along..and initially I flat out requested that my TDIU be terminated last year so, that I would not be overpaid. I was hospitalized once during the trial period and eveyday is a challenge. I read a case where veteran on TDIU worked as County Comissioner for several years in Carolina.
  7. OK long story I am 90 SC% I was awarded TDIU in 2009 5 years ago. I was just recently awarded SC for a severe stroke that I suffered on active duty but was not diagnosed as such until 2010. The VA has lumped the Stroke in with my Sarcoidosis SC from being in Desert Storm the VA says that I do not have any symptoms from the stroke though I do, with dizziness, vertigo, some sort of seizures, anxiety, depression, forgetting, word searching,sometimes misspronounce words ect ect. bad tinnitus which I have 20% SC and have been told I have PTSD from military experiences by VA psychiatrists and am on Prazosin, Propranolo. Trazodone..but they keep denying SC for PTSD but anyway my point is I have residuals from a stroke but the VA c/p wil not give me credit. I was declared disabled by SSA in 2010 diagnosed with cognitive disorder and other things...but the VA will not acknowledge any of the SSA diagnosisis In the years following retiring from active duty I attended community college and with hard word and extra studying I completed an AAS Degree in Health Information Technology HIM and later pased the RHIT Exam. So, I was stuck in cleaveland ohio alone, divorced living like a hermit except for when I would go to the bars and drink several times a week. I was divorced from my Cental American Wife in 2008 due to PTSD and sleep disorders, I accidentally struck her with my elbow while I was having one of my nightly nightmares....I was deploying constantly to all parts of the world constantly. In my 40s I found myself totally and completely alone passing holidays, birthdays, summers, alone litterally not having any contact with other human beings except for people in the bars and Mexican restaurants so, I had to do something. I could no longer perform the work I did while on active duty due to problems with past back surgery, 2 herniated discs in my neck and a limp from sciatica.. So, I applied for a job at the VA as a Medical Coder reading electronic health records seated at computer all day which is sedentary, no lifting, but is hard on the back and neck....it is pretty high stress sitting at a very small cubicle on a productivy schedule. I was hired at the VA in 2013 and I sent notice to the RO and was told I would have a 12 month trial period....during that time I suffered several severe anxiety attacks and was hospialized for a possible TIA/stroke. The environment at the VA is very dry, stressful and co workers are not nice almost seem like people from he movie Chidren of the Corn......many do not acknowlede fellow Veteran employees wih SC conditions and some even act as if they do not like Veterans working there....when I was still new some of my co-workers would not talk to me, I would ask questions about simple issues and would be totally ignored......so, not a warm place to work at all. But I needed to do something wih my life other than drinking in dark, gloomy bars all day. During this time I had a C/p Claim in progress and it was completed this past August I was awarded SC for my stroke but it was combined with my already existing Sarcoidis SC diagnosis so no change in that raing I was also awarded 30 % increased for radiculopathy from neck/arms but my overalll combined rating remained at 90%. The statement says "Your monthly benefit payment amount will continue unchanged" which I recieve amount for 100% TDIU P/T since 2009. The VA said in the SOC that they reviewed all of my statements that I sent about my TDIU but makes no mention of that issue. only that "Your monthly benefit payment amount will continue unchanged" It is possible that I am working in a Sheltered Environment. My case workload at work is adjusted due to me I belive not being able to concenrate, I have severe tinnitus and it is hard for me to read and focus especially if here is any noise from the disruptive employees. I sent a question to the VA last week via IRIS in regards to my TDIU but have not heard back.
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