PCW

One of boxes asks what disability(s) makes you unemployable. The treatment dates should correspond to those disabilities. If treated by the VA - they have access to those treatment records. If done outside then I would include them with the rest of your paperwork. Just a suggestion - if you have extensive VA treatment records it might speed up your claim to cull those out that pertain to your to your IU claim and upload them seperatly.

If your exam was done by an outside contractor, you will not be able to get a copy of it until a decision is made on your claim. If the VA did it then it will show up under the blue button within a few days.

If you haven't done so already, document your workplace problems - and if possible get backup documentation from the HR department showing your absences and submit it (with/in addition to) your claim. It's always better to give the VA cold hard verifiable facts to help build your case. I wouldn't worry about dropping out of the FDC program - the turnaround on all types of claims is pretty quick these days. I started an FDC claim 2/29/16 for TDIU and/or an increase in PTSD (rated at 70% at the time). It dropped out the FDC program because I neglected to include an employer form. My decision was received on 7/8/16 - still a pretty quick turnaround. You are most likely going to have a C&P for the PTSD increase part. Don't stress out about it if and when it gets scheduled. Look at it as an opportunity to bolster your case. Take the employer documentation with you and if the doc takes it so much the better. Make sure that that you verbally go over your workplace problems and any worsening symptoms. Be honest and forthright and don't hold anything back. If you have documented your workplace problems adequately, and backed them up verbally during your C&P, and have treatment records documenting worsening symptoms, you should be happy with the outcome. Good luck!

+1

You have a couple of different ways to go here, but first - even though you have a PTSD diagnosis, you must also have an in service "stressor" and a nexus tying them together. Keep that in mind as you begin the claim process. Secondly, the PTSD diagnosis must be by a VA Psychiatrist or Psychologist. You can get the VA diagnosis a couple of different ways: 1) Schedule an appointment with your VA doc and request a referral to mental health. He/she may ask why - just tell them you are in treatment for PTSD at the Vet Center and would like pursue treatment at the VA. It may take a few appointments to accomplish the diagnosis, however if you do indeed have PTSD the diagnosis will be favorable. An added benefit of a VA diagnosis and any following treatment is that all your treatment records are available online to the benefits side of the house throughout the claim process. 2) Or you can file, continue treatment at the Vet Center, and have the VA schedule a C&P. The C&P doctor can make a diagnosis of PTSD for the VAs rating purposes. You will be scheduled for a C&P in either case. Also keep in mind the exam is forensic in nature, and the examiner is not there to treat your symptoms. If you file an FDC be sure to include any treatment records from the Vet Center. Once the claim is submitted you cannot any add any new claim data (non VA), as it will revert to a standard claim. It would also be beneficial to you personally and your claim to show a history of treatment. Good luck!

I never received mine. I had to go to the VARO to have it printed out. Hopefully yours will arrive soon.

For the past 3 years I have used VA supplied dental insurance through Met Life. My spouse and I are covered for around $75 a month. Coverage is for $3000 year in claims. Cleanings, exams, xrays are free, and they pay 50% for crowns, implants, dentures, etc. Better than paying 100% I think. Here is the URL https://www.metlife.com/vadip/

It looks to me like they paid the claim as a first time FDC which qualified for an extra year retro. However new evidence was sent in during the claim process which should have dropped the it from FDC status to a regular claim. Looks like the VA missed that at rating time. Can they recover the monies? If what I wrote is actually happened it is definitely an over payment - 12 months worth.

If you put PTSD as the reason for UI then the VA also looks at the claim as a possible increase for PTSD (100% in this case), and/or a PTSD rating of 70% being paid at 100% due to being unemployable. Or they could deny it of course. I filed 2/29/16 for UI and my claim looks exactly the same as yours. Good luck with your claim.

Question Caliic - the last sentence of the C&P was cut off " OPINION: The Veteran's Major Depressive Disorder with Anxious Distress is". The part missing is the key to whether you get rated or not. Could you post that missing part for us?

From what I read her diagnosis is that you have a major depressive disorder and an anxiety disorder. Your 2nd stressor would seem to be related to service so you may get rated with MDD at 30-50% according to " Occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks, although generally functioning satisfactorily, with normal routine behavior, self-care and conversation". Most probably 30%. Again this is just a guess as the rater has access to all your medical records and the complete picture may make your rating more, or perhaps less.

Looks like 10% for Tinnitus as the others have said. According to my entrance and exit hearing exams my hearing improved during my 8 years - 9 months - and 23 days (but who was counting) of service, most of which was on a flight line without ear protection. Thus no SC on my claim. I paid for an outside hearing exam that includes a "more likely than" statement, so we'll see what happens on a re-file. It will be tough to overcome that improved hearing exit exam however. It would be nice to get SC - even at 0%.

Managed to get 0% skin conditions for Actinic Keratosis and Squamous Cell with 30% scarring secondary last year. I'm a Vietnam era vet - served from 62 - 70. I submitted 7 years of of both VA and outside medical treatment records, pictures of me working in shorts with no shirt on a flight line, a picture of Squamous Cell on my lip five years after discharge, a DBQ filled out by my outside doc, and a personal statement that I noticed a crack in my lip that heal and then crack again and again in 1970, and a statement that I worked most of my service years outside without benefit of sunscreen. I was stationed in Yuma Arizona, Hawaii, and a couple of tours in Vietnam. Pretty intense sun in those parts of the world. I had an outside C&P done by QTC to measure the scars. You will have to have good evidence of ongoing treatment and solid evidence of a service connection, and even then you will probably only get a 0% rating. My DBQ noted that I have Actinic Keratosis on my head, arms, trunk and legs, yet I only received 0%. The VA thinks that once treated it is cured. probably true, though the residual scarring (if any) can be rated once you have a service connection.

I'm in the same boat as you gs. My C&P examiner didn't say yes and didn't say no to a service connection. My letter stated I enough loss to be rated (most likely at 0%), but no service connection. This afternoon I have an appointment with an outside Audiologist to try and get an IMO. My entrance and exit exams show a loss, the C&P shows a loss, and my MOS got me 10% tinnitus. I just need someone to give me a "at least likely as not" in writing. Now I have to spend my own dime when the RO could have looked at "all" the evidence and made a 0% determination. And the VA wonders why the appeal backlog is out 3-4 years. Btw, I plan on doing a reopen/reconsideration with new evidence.

Just be honest and and forthright when discussing on how PTSD affects you on a day to day basis. On your worst day. Put it in your own words and hold nothing back. As Berta pointed out, familiarize yourself with the PTSD regs. Good luck.