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Jack

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Everything posted by Jack

  1. John and Berta: and Others Thank you for your very informative post I do enjoy reading the information you and the other members have contributed to this forum. Jack
  2. John what is a slam dunk, I am more than seventeen years at 70 percent and tdiu. I have read almost all of the other threads and it is still a mystery for me if I should pass away before my wife? Would she be eligible for DIC? Are there any steps I can take to insure this? Jack
  3. Almost all CPAP machines are designed for use with 12 volt, you can ask the maker of the unit for the car plug in device or do like I did and purchase one on the cheap at Radio Shack.
  4. I have been diagnosed with severe osteoporosis; I was diagnosed one year ago and the private Dr’s I have diagnosed me clearly stated it was from the Carbon tetra clholrahydrate, I was instructed to follow the page I have linked here, I just had a dexa scan this month and it was noted I have started to reverse this problem. The red rice yeast and calcium at 600 mg and vitamin d at 400 mg twice a day, also I have increased my magnesium intake. Read the whole article and you will see soda pop as well milk is not to be used. I sure I hope this helps you as it has helped me, I found out the hard way when I kept breaking bones in my hand and wrist. I did source out the drugs to another company because of the high cost however the blueprint provided is a good source of information, as for what depleted uranium may cause is beyond me I am sure it will be just like agent orange we will not know until it is to late. Jack http://www.health-reports.com/Osteoporosis.html
  5. Jack you and I are in the same boat, so to speak. I no longer take tramadol for pain, I found the same allergic reaction to opiates however I did find one that works and takes the edge off of the pain just enough to tolerate life. Codeine Sulfate 30 mg this is just raw codeine and I can assure you that most Dr's do not even know about it I have tried everything over the past 35 plus years. The cost for a 60 day supply is $15.00 I can take up to eight a day if needed for pain and no adverse side effects, tramadol however can cause mental health problems if taken for any extended period of time. Hope this helps you Jack
  6. Thank you for your kind reply JBASER, I found that portion from the manual do we need pre authorization for this procedure, I am not sure about that, also will the Champva pay when our primarey will deny the claim? SOrry for so many questions Jack
  7. Has anyone used the Champva for TMJ disorder I have noticed that they will cover it with pre-authorization. My wife has; this problem and we have insurance through her work however they do not cover it and we have never used Champva before. Any input would be helpful Thanks Jack
  8. I hope everything turns out good for you Pete, I have not trusted the VA for medication since I was arrested while taking the medication Effexxor for depression I was told to increase my dose after reporting problems with anger, and rage I did and was arrested. I have not been to them since 1999 The VA cost me about five grand for attorney and rebuttal from an outside doctor. I really hope the best for you as you have been a great inspiration for me over the years. Jack
  9. My guess is that he retired from the Navy and when he did they gave him direct disability for his wounds and being a former P.O.W. I feel he earned every penny of it and more if you ask me.
  10. Thank you Berta I am seeking an appointment to view my file at the RO, I am aware of a cue as my claim had a cue and won. Again thank you for your help. Jack
  11. Betty: Thank you for sharing this with me, I will make an appointment to review my C-File to see what went wrong in 1975 everyone that I knew said something changed in my life I even have a letter from the Dr. in the Air Force telling to seek treatment once I was discharged I did and that is when I was told I had PD I will do that this week thanks everyone here for your insight and input.. Will it do any good to file for retro back to 75 knowing I am SC for 70 percent and TDIU? Jack
  12. I have been rated since 1991 effective date so I have been with my great uncle for 17 years. Funny thing I filed in 1975 and was denied as they said I had a personality disorder non ratable it was not until I filed again in 1991 that I had to prove that I did not have what they termed a personality disorder nine years later the check came in, I have been advised to just let everything alone since I was awarded seventy percent. Maybe it is time to go and re-look at my file and push for 100 % Thanks every one for your help Jack
  13. Thank you Steve and Pat and Josephine Here is the letter I just typed up and am sending it back to them please let me know what you think. Veterans service center manager Oakland Regional Office 1301 Clay Street Ulrike Willimon: Mr. Willimon: Sir I would like to point out a few facts in my case in your letter dated April 14, 2008 you claim I did not respond to the form 21-4140 verification for continued unemployment. I wish to point out that this has been requested twice before once in July of 2007, and returned to your office in Oakland on September 12, 2007, then again you sent a letter to California Veterans Affairs services office located at 1301 Clay street, Room 1130N dated November 2, 2007 and was forwarded onto me a copy is enclosed for your review. At this time when I received the second letter from my VSO I sent into the Department of Veterans Affairs a certified registered return receipt letter with form 21-4140 requested it was delivered to Department of Veterans Affairs at 1301 Clay Street Room 1300n Oakland California 94612. Date of Delivery was November 7, 2007 and signed for by A E Kent a VA agent. With tracking number 7007 0710 0000 8479 0844 Enclosed for your review are a copy of the United States Postal Service form 3811, and a copy of the receipt showing how much was paid, as well the tracking number that can be looked up on the internet from the USPS web page. http://www.usps.com/ Enclosed you will find the new form 21-4140 that you requested as well the copy of form 21-4140 that was mailed to your office in September and November of 2007 with tracking numbers and receipts attached. I trust this is all that you have requested David Jack
  14. I am seventy percent with TDIU, the VA sent me a form last year to show I was not working the form is VA 21-4140 they claim they did not receive the first form mailed to them in June of 2007, so I sent a certified return receipt copy of VA 21-4140 the form mailed to them and the green card was received by them on 11-7-2007 today they claim the VA will reduce me to seventy percent and remove dependent care for failure to respond. A copy of this letter was sent to my POA who also was given a copy of my VA form 21-4140 at the same time the VA was mailed with a return receipt certified. I am not sure what to do next; should I send them the same form that was mailed to the VA in November and signed by them or send them yet another form that they mailed to me I have always complied with the request for employment verification. I think this is just another way to jerk the vet around! Thanks for your help Jack
  15. I just read the wonderful article about Alex in the VVA magazine today and felt a deep sadness Alex helped me to understand the flawed VA and deal with it, I truly miss him. I know that there was several discussions about his passing here on Hadit not until I read the article did it affect me in such a way. Clark was another very good man that will be sorely missed. Jack
  16. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...2,1,90010.story New drug may ease 'flushing' linked to niacin Researchers say the medication will allow people to take the cholesterol-lowering vitamin without suffering severe reddening of the skin. By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer April 2, 2008 Researchers have reported the development of a new combination drug that will allow patients to take high doses of the cholesterol-lowering vitamin niacin without a painful and embarrassing side effect known as flushing. Niacin has been shown to be an effective agent for lowering bad cholesterol, increasing good cholesterol and reducing cardiovascular risk, but three-quarters of those who take it discontinue use within a year because of flushing, which is characterized by a severe reddening of the skin. Nearly half of the patients taking the highest dose of the new drug, called Cordaptive, had no flushing, compared with 22% of those taking a lower dose of a time-release version of niacin alone, said Dr. Michael J. Koren of the Jacksonville Center for Clinical Research. The improved tolerability "may prevent more patients from discontinuing therapy," Koren said of his findings, which were presented Monday at a Chicago meeting of the American College of Cardiology and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. Dr. Mason Weiss of Centinela Hospital in Inglewood conceded that "flushing is the biggest problem" with niacin, but cautioned that "you are going to have to have a much longer track record for me to use an additional medication." Weiss, who was not involved in the study, recommended simply reducing the dosage of standard niacin to avoid the side effect. Dr. John Paolini of Merck & Co., which manufactures Cordaptive, countered that safety studies involving nearly 5,000 patients had shown no unusual side effects from the new drug, which is being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. The flushing is caused by the niacin-triggered release of a prostaglandin, a hormone that causes dilation of blood vessels in the skin. It can be partially blocked by administering aspirin 30 minutes before taking niacin. Cordaptive contains a newly developed drug called laropiprant, which blocks the prostaglandin more selectively. In the new trial, funded by Merck, Koren and his colleagues studied 1,455 patients with high cholesterol. Half received increasing doses of Cordaptive until they reached niacin consumption of 2 grams per day, the most effective dosing level. The other half received Niaspan, an extended-release form of niacin sold by Abbott Laboratories. All were told about the benefits of aspirin. Twice as many patients in the Niaspan group reported using aspirin in an attempt to prevent flushing. Over the 16 weeks of the study, patients receiving Cordaptive had an average of one flushing episode per month, while those receiving Niaspan alone had one per week. Twelve percent of those receiving Niaspan quit because of flushing, compared with 7% of those receiving Cordaptive.
  17. I have been on this medication for the past three years, I have also experienced the same problems of flushing as you have, I have learned that there are two grades of niacin one being pharmacy grade with time control and one over the counter. The pharmacy grade is the best taken at night before bed and little or no food in the system. The difference being the over the counter medication is not controlled for purity each brand is different in the levels and the way it is processed I have learned to take it with a glass of prune juice the magnesium seems to reduce the flushing effect, as I was told by my doctor. I hope this helps you! Jack
  18. I agree with Pete to stay on your meds and consult with a doctor before making any changes, as I am aware everyone has different chemistry and that is what a doctor uses to best determine dosage and type of medication. I have to say I have a strange chemistry. I chose to stop it after being arrested and no one would help me while in Jail they did not understand the fact of continued treatment, nor did they even care. John you are so correct about the drug company’s they have turned this world upside down from children on up to adults drugs for every need children get speed in the form of ADD RITLIN and adults get Prozac pill’s for every need. Pete thanks for remembering me, some times I feel like no one knows me anymore!
  19. http://www.petitiononline.com/effexor/ This drug almost brought me to prison now I take none, nadda zipp. I have had Major depression almost my entire life I just learned to live with it. The withdrawl is the worst, and yes I did get arrested for something that was out of charecter for me while takeing this drug.... To: Effexor's manufacturer, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories Effexor Petition We the individuals listed below have electronically signed this petition for the purpose of making it known that consumers treated with the SSNRI antidepressant Effexor have or are experiencing "often ignored" serious side effects of this medication. And that thousands of patients in the US and worldwide are unable to discontinue Effexor or even reduce dosage due to the rapid onset of severe withdrawal-like symptoms which often initiates before a patient begins dose reduction due to the short half-life of Effexor. Documentation of which the manufacturer, Wyeth-Ayerst has gradually disclosed now some 8 years after this drug was first licensed, being aware of these problems all along but failing to communicate this knowledge to the public and the medical community. Wyeth-Ayerst misleadingly advertises through its Effexor labeling that only drug abusers are at risk of physical and psychological dependence, and withdrawal problems when tapering back or abruptly discontinuing Effexor usage. Wyeth-Ayerst knows such representations are false, and that all patients, including patients not having a history of drug abuse, are susceptible to withdrawal problems after tapering back or abruptly discontinuing Effexor. Effexor as prescribed to us by our doctors resulted in anxiety and agitation, sexual dysfunction, hypomania, weight gain, and many other debilitating adverse reactions such as insomnia and bizarre vivid nightmares, deterioration in eyesight, high blood pressure, dehydrating night sweats, memory problems, thyroid disorders which can cause the very depression this medication was first prescribed to treat, among other serious side effects. These iatrogenic (medication induced) effects were ignored or underplayed by its manufacturer, which resulted in our overall inability to function normally for lengthy periods of time during usage and attempted dose reduction. Nor had proper disclosure been made that benzodiazepines had been co-prescribed during clinical trial in order to minimize the agitation that the manufacturer had recognized this medication could cause. Effexor in many cases is not the "stand alone" remedy that it has been advertised to be. Patient in accepting treatment with Effexor are not being forewarned that by their use of Effexor -- sleeping medication, blood pressure medication, and anti-anxiety medication might become a concurrent necessity. Thus the mis-informed consumer totally unexpectedly finds themselves being prescribed many more drugs than they ever anticipated needing. We all know that taking prescription medication involves some risks and that with each medication some percentage of patients are likely to experience adverse results. We strongly feel however, that the risks involved with the usage of Effexor is greater than the medical community and the public realize, certainly greater than we were ever told, and that Wyeth-Ayerst knew of these risks but failed to communicate those risks to the consumer and their physicians. Our lives have been negatively, unexpectedly, and undeservingly impacted by the antidepressant Effexor. We were not given full disclosure of this medication's known adverse effects, and many of us suffered greatly because of this failure to warn. Therefore, our purpose with this petition is to share information that we have gathered so that others will have adequate knowledge and be able to fully discuss options and risks of the use of Effexor with qualified medical professionals before they make any final choice regarding initiating these types of medications. Thereby being able to be a knowledgeable consumer and make the appropriate decisions together with their physicians in regards to their own medical treatment and might be spared the suffering we have experienced first hand. By this petition let it be made clear that we are not advocating the non-use of Effexor because this medication's possible benefits to the public at large is beyond our scope of knowledge to the extent that each individual now considering the use of Effexor has informational benefits we did not, now that more medical information regarding Effexor has been released to the public. Now that others will have the benefit of this information where we did not, and the benefit of important public websites such as Steve Whiting's -- www.effexorfx.freeuk.com, each person must take responsibility to make their own decision regarding the use of these types of medications, assisted by proper advise from a qualified medical professional, fully knowledgeable of Effexor's profile and side effects. But as individuals, and their are a significant number of us, we have found that the disclosure regarding the side effects and efficacy of Effexor that we were given and which is still being propagated, is significantly misleading to the consumer and the medical community at large. This cannot continue and we hope you will support us with our pleas to Wyeth-Ayerst for full and accurate disclosure. Sincerely,
  20. I feel cheated I looked at my 214 at line 26 below item 24 and only found a security statement that states *EBI, and line 26 states medals decorations and honors that also states IRD/SSC/DIS Baltimore MD What does that mean? Thanks Jack
  21. I am fully aware of what you are saying; I have severe PTSD and have not been in treatment since 1999, I always had negative reactions with the medications as prescribed. I did more than ten years of treatment before it was pointed out that I had no benefit from counseling as they stated I was allergic to the medication and was taken off the medication regime and noted in my records I did continue on for about four more years of counseling every week until I was asked if I felt like I had made any progress I clearly stated no and was given my exit papers from treatment. I first filed my claim in 1975 and was quickly denied as a personality disorder, so like every good American I just faked it in the job market until I made it 49 jobs and almost thirty years later I was awarded for PTSD and Major depression both noted in the SMR I did re file in 1991 and was awarded SSDI it took nine more years to get rated from the VA on the very same claim I became too familiar with the run around that the VA can play in denying a claim I made it to the VBA seven times with a remand each time until I filed a CUE and won my claim the retro check came in the amount of $237,000.00 I lost my whole family married and children and both parents as well brothers during this time. Every time a letter comes from the VA I just stand there with the shakes and cold sweats it takes almost a full week before I will open it only to find out that they just are seeing if I have been employed. In my case my SMR states that I need to seek treatment once outside of the military though the VA I did and was kicked in the teeth, in the early 80’s I tried to seek help at the VA in San Francisco only to be put in a locked room for more than eight hours with no food or water and only a police officer to escort me out of the hospital and never saw a DR. I did swallow all they had to give me and even made through the PTSD program today I could not even think of seeing a VA Dr for any reason what so ever. Today I stay at home and go nowhere I have become a recluse and almost trust no one. I very seldom post here however I have been a member since TBird started Hadit, I will always hold a special palace my heart for her and the members that are here to help others. So what will this mean for me I don’t know I just know that the VA has been on a screwed up mission from the very beginning and needs change is this good for us only time will tell. Jack class of 71 and 73 North central Highlands USAF I still have my pride.
  22. http://www.vetscommission.org/pdf/Appendix...ompensation.pdf It recommends that specific guidance on the criteria for setting case-specific VA-initiated reevaluations be established so that the reevaluations can be administered in a fair and consistent manner; furthermore, VBA should collect and analyze data on VA and veteran-initiated reevaluations so that the system can be improved in the future. The committee does not believe it is appropriate to mandate across-theboard periodic reexaminations for beneficiaries already being compensated for PTSD. Such a strategy would not take the diversity of the beneficiary population into account and would unduly single out veterans with PTSD for scrutiny. Within the context of VA’s limited resources, the committee believes that it would be best to invest in thorough C&P evaluations for new applicants—including the clinician’s determination noted above—rather than in the blanket review of past decisions
  23. He was not diagnosed in service for any sleep disturbance, just during this period of time while in the hospital, I do follow your drift for a Doctors statement. As for the Agent Orange presumption I thought he had to be in country for this to be presumed? Thank you for your input
  24. A friend of mine who was in the Air Force and had developed “Cellulitis” spent exactly Twenty Four days in the hospital, the records indicate in 1973 he had trouble sleeping and that he was given Dalmane for sleep along with Darvon and Codeine for pain along with Penicillin at Two million units his left leg lymph gland had swollen to the size of a golf ball, he was placed on shock blocks off and on for the entire stay in the hospital. Ever since this time in the Hospital he felt tired so he had a sleep study done and found to have severe sleep apnea the study was concluded in 2006 he has been on CPAP for treatment with somewhat mixed results. Would any of this report be of value in providing a nexus for sleep apnea? All it states is Dalmane given for sleep. The report is from Willford Hall medical center USAF Further he has just completed a full body scan at the age of 55 and found to have fibrosis / scarring with bullous changes in the upper lungs, with some Mediastinal nodes measuring 1 cm in size he claims and his DD214 shows he was a fuel handler He states that he had been drenched in JP4 and inhaled some up his nose during an accident he states his cloths were soaked with fuel and claims that he has had difficulty with breathing ever since the accident he also states that all that was done was an incident report I have requested for and have heard nothing on these reports. He also claims that a Dr diagnosed him with non Hodgkin’s lymphoma his records are silent for service in Vietnam He claims that while stationed at Norton air Force base he was subjected to Air Planes and copters that came back from Vietnam that had spray rigs attached to them. He also has severe osteoporosis Is there a way to help this person get service connected on any of the topics I have covered? Or am I just wasting my time. Please advise
  25. drusen Macular Degeneration Macular Degeneration Overview Macular degeneration is a disorder that includes a variety of eye diseases that affect central vision. Central vision is what you see directly in front of you rather than what you see at the side (or periphery) of your vision. Macular degeneration is caused when part of the retina deteriorates. The retina is the interior layer of the eye. The macula is the central portion of the retina and is responsible for detailed vision
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