My previous atyorney did not file form necessary for TDIU claim when it went before the regional office about three years ago. I was awarded a Social security disability not based on earnings , for hcv prior to original desicion from va giving me 50%. My income from VA disability exceeded what I was getting from Social security not based on earnings. As a result social security came off of the table. I had hcv when released from service in 1981, and didnt have it going in in 1979. No attorney wants to pursue that. I may eventually. Also theVA treated me second time for HCV and wound up with hashimotos post tx as side effect of treatment. Saving that fight until this one resolves.
i was self employed about 8 yrs ago. My earnings were 6 to 7,000 for reiki business. I was married almost 5 yrs prior to that, low part time earnings. A year. Of school post divorce. I have never earned over 10,000 a year in my entire employment history.
THE hCV tx really scrambled my brains to hallucinating visually and auditorry on tx. I lost the ability to do a simple math computation. Basic grammar also flew out the window. After the treatment my thyroid was low, and then I suffered severely from autonomic dysreflexia and felt like blacking out anout 18 times a day. My son would leave me at hospital lobby so I could get to er if needed while he went to school, so I wouldnt keep disrupting his classwork. C4 through c-6 were impacted in MVA that did this damage to neck and brain in service.In last three years VA finally did MRI showing frontal, temporal lobe and diffuse shearing axonal injury. It affects many things, bladder, bowel, balance, peripheral neuropathy. My GAF score 45 and about that several other times scored.
i was represented by Paul Goodson inCharlote NC who didnt even file TDIU properly. My appeal after DRO he claimed to have filed didnt show up for almost a year with VA. Not on e benefits or the 800 number you call. I asked for specific information to give VA to find my appeal, they refused and fired me as a client as others needed the time I was wasting with the questions.
After that I found A qualified attorey in Providence Rhode Island. They have been doing a very excellent job. I think they will get the TDIU and hopefully increases in important issue. I am only rated mild TBI. The neurologist who gave evidence in a letter for my claim stated that he sees mild to moderate brain injuries every week with no changes whatsoever in an MRI. To be so evident in his opinion is significant to severe traumatic brain injury.
State that I am a patient in the neurology clinic. That I have a history of a head injury in a motor vehicle accident while in the military. This is an extremely severe head injury. Severe cocusdion with prolonged period amnesia. Lacerations to head and left arm. Needed physical therapy to regain use left arm, and then all the other info I gave you. I did not have this evidence at beginning of claim or at RO level.
ENT doc gave evidence as likey as not for hearing loss and tinnitus to TBI or mechanical exposure on flight line. This neurologist now includes the vertigo to TBI, which The ear doctor without more information like MRI was unwilling to opine upon. At that time I didnt have MRI.
my GAF score is 45 and close to that number several other assements. My memory getting worse. Missed 4 medical appts last few months. I never miss appointments. I no longer drive and struggle to even be passenger in a car from PTSD with car after that accident. Self medicated for years to be able to manage my car issues. Got sober almost 13 yrs ago, and cant manage driving sober. I get lost on buses and forget rout or how to get home even after doing same route several times.
VA consistently denied me PTSD. It os on my Axis treatment plan VA. I went to PRRC
and focused specifically on PTSD from MVA in service. At RO only gave me phobias. Does this answer your question? I hope so.