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Andyman73
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Posts posted by Andyman73
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asknod,
Okay, so it sat there undecided and forgotten. 9 years later I filed a new claim for my feet, went through the exam and was granted SC at 30%. No mention was made of the original claim. I didn't remember it until after I received and read my C-file, which was shortly after the claim was granted, last summer.
When I saw that, I thought maybe it would be a good solid EED case, since the SC was made with the same SMR treatment records showing in service treatment of foot injuries. And while I did have more VMR treatment entries as evidence, I had a handful of VMRs with the first claim also.
IF I get nothing, I lose nothing, but sleep and time and effort, but if I do win the EED, that would be nearly nine and a half years of the difference of 40% and a 30% added to it. Could mean my very own first brand new car, but more likely another new car for the boss( she really loves the new Chrysler Pacifica ).
Semper Fi
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Asknod,
Based on your post it seems I made the correct choice. Last year I was SCd 30% for pes cavus w/plantar fasciitis bilateral at 30%. A few months later I then filed a NOD for EED for same contention dated to 02/06. I had the C&P exam, and it found the same DX, and a few other issues, as the exam in 2015, with same opinion of likely hood being related to my service.
I wrote that this needs to be my SCD date due to same SMR evidence used to make SC was used back in 2006. The only difference was that 2006 claim was never adjucated.
So if the NOD is denied, I can then go the CUE route...after reading what you wrote, I'm glad I went the regular NOD for EED route first!
Semper Fi
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9 hours ago, Antonyeo said:
I thought it was strange that the examiner gave me an option to get a MRI? He clearly stated, "you don't have to its your choice". Why would he say that? If I say no would they have denied my claim. Are they doing it as proof of injury? If so, why give me the option?
GET THE MRI!!! It's not often that they offer you an MRI in conjunction with a C&P exam. I was offered one, by way of examiner saying "if it was me, I would do so, because it would certainly help my claim". So I said..."Yes, please, sign me up!"
Got the MRI done, and what it showed got my back SCD rating bumped from 10 to 40%.
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Victor,
Do you have a copy of your C-file? I don't recall if you said. But if not, and you haven't yet, you must request it ASAP! It will have any and all info pertaining to your previously filed claims and what evidence they have with said claims, and what they determined.
When I was getting out, I went to a briefing w/VA rep from the local VARO. I had my medical jacket with me, he asked if any want to make claims, and what for. He went through my record and said yay or nay to the things I listed...which was only a few things. One of which is one, if not, the most documented issue in my record...which took over 2 years to get SCd for.
This guy never said anything else about all the other medical issues documented therein. This was in June of '98. You can imagine my overall level of discontent, now, having learned what his lack of willingness to speak up, has cost me, in the 18 years since that day.
I truly wish every single one of the raters and examiners and medical staff, who do nothing but stand in the way, would suffer the same fate they sentence us to. That is to say, they have legitimate claims be denied, and be stuck on the hamster wheel for years, just as they have sentenced us to. That they be treated as guilty till proven innocent, such as it were.
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1 hour ago, Buck52 said:
S for as getting a SC Rating for S.A. or O.S.A. IF you don't have medical documentations and buddy statements for snoring while in service you will most likely be denied 70% of vets are denied for this reason...but if you have another disability Muscular Chronic Pain or a disability that can Aggravate the S.A. Then that what you need to file it to & also be careful how you use the word Sleep Apnea or OSA...it would be better to use OSA b/c that covers most of the symptoms from Sleep Apnea. although they basically mean the same its just the way the VA looks at it.
Hmm...that is VERY interesting, Buck. You have just given me an idea...considering the only thing I do have going for me(tho it's not gotten me anywhere, yet)is my chronic pain. I have a sleep study coming up this Monday night. In the morning after, I will be talking with the specialist, I'll specifically focus on the chronic pain aspect...since it may well be the way to SC my SA. And then the MDD as well, after that. Got nothing else going my way
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Victor,
Even if the raters weren't trained, but told to apply the regs to the best of their ability, we'd all be in so much better shape SCD % wise. At least the raters could read the evidence, the examiner's opinion, and the CFR regs, and more often than not, make the right decision. But...that's not the case, they are trained, and told to deny most claims, at least the first time around.
And if that's not the case, then how do you explain why we're even here, on Hadit, in the first place? Much less why Hadit even exists?
As for being kept in the dark, if I didn't know better, Victor, I'd say you have got to be the single oldest living mushroom! All those years being fed bs and kept in the dark! Makes you quite the fun guy!!! But hey, I love mushrooms! Lol!
Semper Fi
- Victor Ray and retiredat44
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I did the ol' copy machine routine also. I made 2 copies, one for me and one for VA, cuz you never know.
That was one of the very few helpful hints/advice Dad ever gave me, regarding the Military, get everything documented regarding medical issues. And make a copy of your medical file before your EAS!
So I did.
Semper Fi
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You would think that they would want the Vets to give them good word of mouth advertising, instead of what we do give them.
- Victor Ray and retiredat44
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Buck,
It's like blood pressure, you can control and lower with meds and healthy living, but stop the meds and it creeps back up. Stop using your Cpap and the apneas return, perhaps even with a vengence, as you have aged while using your Cpap. My Dad has been using his for 15 years now, and my dentist, 8 yrs, so...I think it's one of those things that you have for the rest of your life, and the Cpap use determines how long that will be. Longer if you use continuously, and shorter if not.
Semper Fi
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killemall,
I feel your pain, I spent 2 years getting one of the most grievous of my contentions SCd from my EAS. I went to VA so much that my job was in jeopardy. It took the dr retiring before I got any relief on that one.
Even now, 17 years past that point, I have to deal with a claim where the examiner ignored the basis for the exam, which was then denied(of course!).
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I was looking over the carpal tunnel related threads but didn't see one that came close enough to satisfy my question. I injured my L wrist during MVA in the middle of my enlistment. And I spent boo coo hours sitting in front of a sewing machine, cranking the wheel with my R hand, which was a big part of my MOS.
I was recently DXd by the VA with carpal tunnel on both sides. Is this enough for a solid claim?
Thanks in advance,
Andy
Semper Fi
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EODCMC,
As for use and adjusting, it's been 2+ years for me, and I still am not comfortable with it. However I keep plugging away, every night, and so on. I haven't found it off my head yet, so I guess it's okay, as far as that goes.
Sometimes my wife wakes me because the seal is broken and the rushing wind noise wakes her.
Long in the tooth, eh? They wanted to deploy my Dad for GWI, but by then he was medically grounded, and quite glad for it, too. At that point he was already over 20yrs AD since the fall of '68, and wasn't interested, much, in another "field trip".
Your C-file was started on the first day of your first VA activity, at least claims related, as far as I understand how the C-file works. It's only completed when your life is completed, unless you have survivors getting benefits.
Someone once told me the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. But my experience has been...what if you don't know what you don't know, and therefor, never ask?
Semper Fi
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5 hours ago, silverdollar22 said:
AND!!!! What do you think of all this? Even though they missed the LOC part, sounds like maybe their is a chance to tie this all in with your MDD claim and SA claim. Sounds good or positive to me for the long haul. I know this is not what you were hoping for but it is positive stuff.
I'm not sure what to make of it, beyond the face value, that I already knew my memory was full of holes. I'm trying to figure out how to do just that, tie it all together. One thing for sure, my therapist told me yesterday, that he will refer me back for the same battery in a few years, to see if or how things may have changed for better or worse. But he keeps telling me he can't specifically write an IMO for me, to rebut the quack who did my MH C&P exam.
So, it's good that he wants to stay on top of this. Guess it's time to start shopping around for a shrink to do an IME/IMO.
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Ok, results are finally in, the space is so vast and empty that they got lost. Ok, not really, I do have a brain in my head(how else does my skull retain it's shape?).
I had therapy yesterday, and asked the dr if he had gotten the report, said it only came yesterday. Said there are no major concerns, such as physical issues or diseases of the brain, apparent. So, that's good. But, I do have short and long term memory loss issues. Some of the test scores came in way below average.
I think one of them was in the 4th percentile(yikes!!!). The opinions said most of my memory issues are directly tied to my depression. Somehow they missed my loss of concious, even though I gave them a copy of the report with the LOC highlighted. Also my SA is a big factor as well.
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16 hours ago, OldJoe said:
Andyman73, it sounds like things are finally working out. Hope I am just as successful.
I know it will take time and I have to be patient.
If by working out, you mean 3-4 years of waiting for my NODs to play out, then yes, they are "finally working out"! Lol!
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63Charlie,
Here's something very important to consider, especially with your MH conditions. Sleep disorders, do you have any issues with sleep? Quality of sleep, falling asleep, staying asleep, and so on and so forth. More importantly is sleep apnea(SA), which more often than not, goes hand in hand with PTSD and MDD.
If you do have troubles sleeping, get your PCP to refer you to the sleep lab at your VAMC. SCd SA with Cpap use is a 50% rating. Many of us have it, but it's very hard to get SCd for it. Worth looking into, it may well save your life.
Semper Fi
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Prettypantha,
I agree with you, the bunion on my R foot is definitely causing me a lot of pain and is very noticeable compared to my L foot. As for Arthur, we're becoming fast friends.
Oh yes, Tbird's world(aka Hadit.com)is quite the Godsend.
Semper Fi
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Victor,
I don't think I will be able to trust another VSO group, after the DAV told the VA to deny all my claims even before the claims got to the VARO. That wasn't just some bit of stonewalling and procrastination, but outright treasonous action and a major conflict of interest.
Andy
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On 6/2/2016 at 2:34 PM, OldJoe said:
And no, I can never just stop with a simple sentence or two, or three, ...
Sorry.
Oh, but you did just that, here! Lol!
You are so right, when I was going through my initial claims process, in mid '98, while still on AD, I had no idea I was about to get the shaft. I fell down stairs on my 5th day of Boot Camp, November 1992. Landed knees first, then chest, legs rebounded behind me, compressing my lower back.
My knees are one of the most noted physical issue in my SMR, all 6 years of it, and yet it took till August 2000 to get granted only 10%. Two years, of which 6 months were still AD time. The other contentions were granted by May of '99, and back dated to 11/98. I went to the VAMC well over a dozen times for my knees alone! The problem??? The way past retirement doc who was treating me finally retired. New Dr. sent me to the big VAMC in Philly, got it all squared away. I was so grateful at that time, that I just let it all ride.
I know now, that I should have filed for EED to my EAS, and so on and so forth. Same with my MDD and SA.
But I'm here now, better late than never.
Semper Fi.
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OldJoe,
I know exactly what you mean. When on the FL for maintenance on KC-130s, I wore earplugs under my cranial's ear muffs. But not in the workshop. If you didn't answer the phone, folks got concerned.
I told them at the audiology clinic, when asked about hearing protection use, that we can't wear them in the shop. My shop was at the back end of the hanger, next to the main door. If our shop door was open, for airflow, we could hear everything coming and going. One end of the main runway was close by, so when ever they were launching in that direction, we got the full brunt of the sound waves, especially since our door was in direct line of sight of the flight line.
The worst were the EA-6B Prowlers! They always had their throttles at full military power, and the sound was so deafening that my ears would be overloaded, the sound being distorted because the volume was beyond the capabilities of the human ear to handle. Like your car speakers when the sound is turned too far up.
I'm glad that they were not authorized for afterburners at that end of the flight line, since it went over the mainland side of the base. If so, all the other fast movers would have been lightin em up!
Semper Fi
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Pretty(pink kitty)pantha,
I think you certainly need to appeal that claim, no doubt, since a podiatrist did not look at your feet(can you imagine that one checking out your "non-foot" body parts!?! It would be fairly self explanatory, to question the credentials of the examiner, a gyno, looking at your feet. File that NOD asap, if you haven't already, please.
I had a C&P exam last year, for foot issues....examiner was...a podiatrist! But I had to file for EED, since I had same done back in '06 that went undecided. And that exam had the same results and a few other non-gyno related foot issues.
I'm either getting a bunion on my R foot, or Arthur is moving in, not sure. Is there a difference?
We can vent here, as long as Hadit isn't the target, since Hadit is our saving grace, thanks to the wonderful Tbird.
Andy
Semper Fi
#10 DAV
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted
Buck,
It took 2 IRIS complaints, but it's done! I got a phone call, asking what exactly I wanted, I said, to revoke the POA I gave to the DAV. Said they haven't helped me, and even blocked me, so I revoked their POA. Lady said let me look, 10 seconds later said yep, I see your request, will be done by EOB today. Next day got an email stating it was done, 2 days ago got the snail mail hard copy of email. Checked ebennies just now, and they are off the list!
Semper Fi