HowIWish

We got good news! They have rated my husband 70% for PTSD, IU P&T, and we are just waiting for the Big Brown Envelope and the back pay to hit! We were contacted by the VSR that worked on his case, and notified of his rating, so we found out before ebennies updated. Now it has updated some, but we still can't see all of the effective dates. What I do know is that the effective date of his PTSD at 70% is September, 2016. However it looks like the effective date for something is 12/17. So I'm guessing that is the IU. But we don't know yet. He hasn't been able to work since 10/16, but I'll have to wait and see the decision before I know if we need to file a NOD or CUE. I want to thank you all again for your help and insight throughout all of this. I started asking my husband to go to the VA for an evaluation back in 2010. I worked with some veterans that opened my eyes to his problems being related to PTSD back then. He refused and kept insisting that so many guys had it worse than him and that he was fine. I didn't find out how much he had gone through in Iraq until the last year. Over the years more things had come to light, but he always insisted that he didn't have it that bad. He did. What he went through and did and saw was as bad as anyone else. I knew it had been worse than what he said, but I didn't know the extent. This has been an awful time for our family, but I am starting to see some light, finally. It will be a hard road, and I don't know if I will ever have back the man he was before everything came crashing down. However, things are a little better as far as him admitting his PTSD and Bipolar and taking his meds and seeking help. Now we are waiting for his rating, working on getting him on the Burn Pit registry, and having him evaluated for Mefloquine toxicity. His symptoms seem to point to Mefloquine issues, and that will be another hard fight. But as long as the VA is being respectful... finally it feels like he has hope. He has smiled a few times this week, and that in itself is a big deal around here! Once we get the Big Brown Envelope, I will update and give all of the timeline and details!

Sorry, for some reason I am not getting notifications of responses! I have a good update, finally! He had his C&P exam in mid January and the examiner wrote a good, solid, fair report. The exam was over 3 hours long, and the psychologist that did it said it was one of the longest in his career of over 20 years with the VA. He wrote that my husband does have PTSD, he checked every single box on the symptom list, and he wrote that his PTSD is as likely as not to be directly caused by his combat in the Army. He also wrote that my husband's other MI diagnosis is exacerbated by his PTSD and cannot be separated. He then wrote that my husband has not been able to work in over 16 months and "will face significant barriers to finding and maintaining employment" and then listed several reasons why. It was a very fair and honest evaluation, and it helped my husband. He has had a very difficult time since his initial hospitalization at the VA because they treated him really badly and basically called him a liar. This PhD psychologist seemed to right that wrong in my husband's mind, and that's worth more than any rating at this point. My husband's claim moved to Prep for Decision on Friday, 2/9, so we will see how it all works out. But today I was able to take him to the PTSD clinic and he is being evaluated for treatment tomorrow morning. He had refused to go back to the VA, but being treated with respect and dignity by the C&P examiner really helped him. I wish more VA professionals understood how their actions can affect veterans. The VA should be the one place vets can be honest about PTSD. It took him 12 years and a complete breakdown as it was! I'll keep you all updated when we find out anything! Thank you so much!

Sorry it's been a long time! I just saw the notification on your reply. My husband has the CIB/ Combat Infanty Badge. He has 3 C&P exams this week, PTSD/mental health, Sleep Apnea and Audiology. I'm a nervous wreck because he's been really messed up the past 2 months. He stopped taking his meds and is saying "The VA was right, I have personality disorders and don't need these meds." But he's in a really bad place and is delusional. I joined a PTSD veteran wives group on FB and he fits in exactly with what their husbands experience, with him being at the more extreme end of PTSD. It really upsets me the way the VA has treated him. They basically invalidated everything he experienced in Iraq. He was involved in serious combat and many firefights. He saw some really bad things, some of which she hasn't told anybody about that I know about because some of his military buddies have told me. He's refusing to prepare for the C&P exam, and I'm really nervous that the doctor is going to do with they are known to do. Get him all worked up about how bad I am, and then say that all of his issues are marital issues. That's what the doctors have done so far. They told us we need marriage counseling. Marriage counseling doesn't help somebody who's extremely paranoid and angry and delusional and thinks that their wife is the enemy. Every single doctor he is seeing outside of the VA is very clear about what his issues are. And they all say he needs to get help from the VA because they have the best treatment for his issues. I just pray that he gets a good doctor that doesn't screw us over.

Broncovet, do you think they requested the records they already have simply to move the claim from FDC to not FDC? I know your opinion on FDC claims anyway from reading so much in this forum, and I know filing an FDC doesn't mean much, but it really ticks me off if the worker did that just to push the claim back and get more time. They literally requested the exact records I already provided. I've been known to raise hell at Dayton VAMC anyway, and because of the crazy things they've done to my husband (including kicking him out of support groups for PTSD) my husband and in-laws are convinced they've "flagged" him and make things extra difficult for him. Because of this website I tend to think he just gets treated the same crappy was as all vets. Especially ones with no rating yet. From friends' experiences, it seems like once you have a rating they don't give you such a hard time. That's what we're hoping for because he really needs PTSD treatment, and the VA does excel at that. But for now he's stuck getting care at our county board of mental health.

This is his initial claim and he hasn't been denied. It isn't an appeal. 900 pages was from the VA records, but I had the entire file in my possession so I uploaded it because, well, it's the VA. The length of his medical record is why I had an IME done. It simplifies everything and ties up his evidence into a few pages, citing all the parts in his records that make the claim. We don't have a VSO. I did the claim myself. He's claiming PTSD, Bipolar disorder, MDD, Cyclothymia, Sleep apnea, ED SMC, and hearing loss. The reason for the multiple MI claims is specifically because of his VA records. Outside of the VA there has been no question of his diagnosis, but the VA doctor who treated him was all over the place. It simply covers the bases. Also, I realize that sleep apnea is a long shot, but I included it because we already had the records and documentation and there is a clear link between psych meds-> weight gain-> severe sleep apnea. Yes, he probably won't have it awarded. We know that the VA has to diagnose his PTSD, but up to this point they refuse to. They literally won't even let him be tested. He's been diagnosed with PTSD from 5 or 6 different doctors (one family doctor and 5 psychiatrists) outside of the VA and none have ever had any question he has it due to his combat. So the goal is to force the VA to address the issue in a C&P exam. He served in combat in Iraq in 2003 as a machine gunner with the 101st Airborne. He was in multiple documented gunfights, was shot directly at multiple times (documented in buddy letters,) and over half of his squad from his deployment are unable to work at all due to PTSD. I won't say more about his deployment here out of respect to my husband, but he was involved in some ugly situations. All honorable and following orders, but life-changing nonetheless. A few guys in his squad we weren't able to contact, a few have been able to hold minimum wage jobs (i.e. Delivering pizzas) and only 2 that we know of can hold regular full time jobs. But most are in bad shape and are in situations similar to my husband's. so we got buddy letters and VA decisions from the ones we could. So we got DBTs and an IME. There's nothing else we could do at this point. The VA's treatment of him has been nothing short of malpractice. We simply have to pray the C&P goes well and take it from there. I am very confused about what you're saying that an FDC should be a few pages. A fully developed claim means it contains all the records and the VA doesn't have to obtain them. If I didn't submit the records myself, the VA would have obtained them and it would have been the same amount of pages. It's his medical record. 97% of it is only from the year preceding my filing of the claim. There are less than 30 pages from prior to 2016. How could an FDC not include all of his records?

This happened on my husband's claim earlier this month, and about a week later he got a letter in the mail that stated exactly what the VA wanted. For some reason ebenefits just showed funky characters where the providers should have been listed. Give it a week and I bet you'll get a letter.

On August 27th I finally completed and submitted my husband's FDC. We used Valor 4 Vets for an IMO, and I submitted over 1800 pages of medical records. Michael at Valor was great to work with, and he assured me I had covered all the bases with everything we submitted. I'm not sure my husband even needed the IMO, but once I had all the records, buddy letters, DBTs (3 of them,) and family letters, it all looked overwhelming and disjointed to me. I felt having one letter tying everything together from Bethanie at Valor 4 Vets would help tie everything together since my husband had so many providers giving opinions over a one-year span. Also since the VA had denied his mental illness diagnosis and has refused to test him for PTSD, or allowed him to even TALK about his combat experiences, I thought the IMO wouldn't hurt. Since his claim has been submitted his status has been "gathering evidence." Three weeks ago there was a request for additional records. However ebenefits didn't specify what they wanted. A week later we got a letter from the VA requesting medical records from all of the doctors we had already submitted all of his records from. My husband called the VA (when I wasn't home of course, and his mind isn't the best,) and he spoke with a man who confirmed they had all the records they were requesting. He said he made a note of it and told my husband to fill out releases for the VA to get any other records they need, or click the "request a decision" button on ebenefits. Since we've already given them all the records, we clicked the "request a decision" button. That was 2 weeks ago and the request for all of his medical records is still on ebenefits, and it says they're past due. His completion date keeps moving back. All of the records show up in his uploaded files. Is this normal? I'm worried they are going to make a decision using no records! Also, ebenefits shows that they requested a C&P exam on October 3. But then nothing. No appointments have been scheduled. I'm guessing that's normal, but it seems like after almost a month there would be something scheduled? If anyone has experience with this please let me know. If there is something else we need to do to make sure the VA utilizes the 1800 pages I've already uploaded but they keep requesting!

I hope, Buck, but honestly I don't have much faith that the president, or any other branch of government will straighten the VA up. From the little bit I've seen, the problem is way too big. But I truly hope I'm wrong!

I'm working on some research for all of this VA stuff, but I forgot to tell you guys my favorite part of my husband's chart. His inpatient psychiatrist diagnosed ME with a personality disorder as well! :) She said that my personality disorder exacerbates his, and is the root of his issues, and then she even went a step further... she said that she suspected BOTH of his parents had personality disorders also. Paranoid personality disorder for his parents. She didn't specify which one I had. She spoke to me 3 times on the phone, once just to ask me to drop my complaint about her, and she saw me in person twice. My in-laws she has never met or spoken to. The VA has such amazing psychiatrists that they can diagnose people telepathically, without ever having said a word to them!!! But only with personality disorders.... ;) It's funny, but only if others see the absurdity of it. It actually scares me that there are workers at the VA that would read his chart and buy it without questioning the integrity of a doctor that would write things like that in a patient's chart.

I know I write a lot, but at least I can get it all out here. At home I have to keep it all together and there's nobody to really talk to. Thank you for at least being a place I can unload.

Buck, thank you. I need to find some more medical studies about that! I can tell you from first hand experience that the symptoms that go along with PTSD compound bipolar so much. He can be having a really good day, or couple of days, and all it takes is getting stuck in a big crowd, or a really loud noise, and you know what that means for someone with PTSD. But when you have bipolar as well, it can trigger weeks of mania or dysphoric mania. Usually for him it's dysphoric mania, which is unbelievably bad. Most doctors agree that dysphoric mania is the worst part of bipolar, and definitely the most dangerous. The suicide rate for bipolar is 20% as it is. But add in PTSD and it terrifies me. When he's in a dysphoric mania and in a psychosis, he obsesses about suicide. I never even knew. I knew he would disappear for a week or two and live in his car, but he always kept his suicidal thought to himself until right before his hospitalization. I think it had gotten so bad, and he was so scared, he finally admitted how bad it was. When a police officer is sitting in his cruiser for hours at a time literally staring down the barrel of his service gun staring at the bullet in the chamber... Well, that's just awful. And knowing my husband has been going through this for years without any help or support... And when he finally is begging for help and the VA is doing this. When he's in his right mind he is so scared of what he could do when he's not. He wants to watch our kids grow up. We need him. And to be totally honest, the fact that the VA is doing this is making him so much worse. I'm partially doing as much as I am because cognitively he just can't. If I wasn't fighting on his behalf he would have already quit. He thanks me every day for staying and helping him. But another reason I'm doing this for him is to shelter him somewhat from the harshness of what's actually happening with the Va. He knows everything, but knowing it is totally different from having to read and re-read the lies, listen to the phone recordings, and take notes on everything going on. It's just too much for him. It's too much for me, but I can keep going, so I am. And I won't stop. The path may keep changing, but we're not stopping.

Also, he/ we had been seeing a counselor at the VA the past month since he was discharged from inpatient care. Up until last week she was awesome and was trying to help him. She doesn't work for the VA on their payroll, she is working on her Doctorate and is doing her final semester clinical work. But she's assigned to the VA. She had read through his chart and had told us both that she was trying to get him he help he needed for his PTSD. Her opinion was the same as his non-VA practitioners that yes, he has bipolar 1 or possibly schizoaffective disorder (which is a mix of schizophrenia and Bipolar) but that his PTSD was so bad that it was making the psychotic symptoms worse. That if he could get his PTSD under control, his other issues would be easier to control and he could get stable much easier. She told us both very clearly that she was instructed by the VA not to write any new diagnoses in any of her patient's charts that they hadn't been rated for. I understood this, and it makes sense given how the VA operates. Neither of us had any problem with that. She wanted, and specifically asked me to come to certain appointments with my husband. She's the one that tried to get him into the PTSD 8 week residential program. Last week was his first appointment after he was denied getting into that program, and she wanted me to come. Last night I was going over his most recent notes in his chart and I found something very wrong. Last week she charted that he had spoken about his dad being physically abusive to his mom during his childhood. Her notes stated that the abuse he witnessed during his childhood could have caused the "trauma symptoms" he now experiences. My husband never said any such thing, and nothing even related to that was even discussed. My husband says that his dad was never abusive to his mom. He drank and isolated himself in his study, but never even verbally fought with his mom. This could have been a mistake. But because of his chart already being chock full of lies and statements from both of us that we're never made, we doubt it. So now the one professional my husband trusted he no longer does. He plans on calling the counselor next week when she is back in the office and asking her if it was a mistake and to fix it. I'm curious what her response will be. But now he no longer wants to get any MH treatment at the VA. I don't really blame him. We will no longer continue to fight for his health benefits at the Dayton VA. If/ once he has a rating, maybe he will go to the Chillicothe VA, but in the meantime we are going to try to find him treatment elsewhere, and hopefully Medicaid. I do find it very curious that right after she had tried to get him into the residential program and had other VA people involved in his outpatient care that this all happened. Sounds paranoid, but it's only paranoia if there aren't facts to back it up. The VA has just been an ongoing nightmare. All we were hoping for was to get him the raved about PTSD care that we've heard about. Even his non-VA doctors were really hopeful that if the VA would help him get his PTSD symptoms under control, he could get stabilized faster. It really looks like that won't be possible, at least for quite a while.

Buck, from what I've read, I think you're right!

My husband and I have talked about the buddy letters and he is working on it. I am working on making him a list of things they need to include. He thinks he will have no problem getting at least 3-5 buddy letters, and he could probably get more if need be. He is going to email his old Company Commander who is currently still enlisted and is a Colonel. He thinks he will give him a buddy letter as well. I'm hoping some of the guys he has maintained the closest contact with will be willing to share their award letters like you had mentioned, Berta. I think they will. The ones that know some of what we are going through are pretty upset with the way the VA is handling this, and I think they will have no problem helping my husband out. I also had another thought yesterday. Yes, the inpatient psychiatrist wrote TONS of notes, but I'm thinking we could use that to our advantage. I'm not sure if it will help, but what if I printed out the DSM V criteria for PTSD and then went through her notes and linked her notes with the criteria, showing that in her own words he meets the criteria? It obviously won't fix the entire problem, but it may help. For instance, Criteria C is Avoidance. She has mentioned my husband's avoidance issues many times in her notes. So I just make a list under each criteria of every time she mentioned him meeting that criteria. I can make a list of the date/ time/ line that she made a written note of each specific criteria for PTSD. Then we have the Stressor covered with his CIB and buddy statements, as well as an easier way for the rater/ C&P examiner to see that in the Psychiatrist's own words he should have been diagnosed with PTSD in the first place. Also, yes, I have copies of all of my husband's medical records to submit with his claim. He was first diagnosed and treated for PTSD in 2012, the first time he ever went for help. That was initially by his family doctor. He was put on medication, started gaining weight (a side effect of his medication) and about a year later was when he developed OSA and began treatment for that. The weight gain is documented. We have all of his medical and MH records from outside of the VA to submit, and in those records there has never been a question of whether he has PTSD or not.

So, in your all' opinion, should I go ahead and submit the FDC without the rest of his SMRs? According to the VA website you don't have to submit VA medical records or SMRs, the can obtain them and it doesn't change you status of filing FDC. And since his DD214 has CIB, in theory they should presume PTSD caused by combats anyway. Or should I keep trying to get the rest of his SMRs? If our financial situation wasn't so critical I would just wait. But even getting a smaller rating right now would help so much, and then we could go for a higher rating. But at the same time, I don't want to screw this all up and get nothing and take years on an appeal. I know nothing is guaranteed, but I've done more than my due diligence and he definitely meets all the criteria under PTSD/ mental illness, and OSA as well. Thanks for your input!

Berta, do you know what ever happened to the vet with the CIB that the VA said he didn't have PTSD?

I'm not sure why some parts of my posts have a bigger font. I'm not changing it myself. I don't want it to look like I'm yelling! :)

Berta, according to that rule Mike posted, the VA has to assume the stressor is related to his service since he has CIB. So can they even try to blame it on his police work? I know they really can do anything they want to, but wouldn't that be a CUE? I'm still learning all of this from reading various posts! He honestly hasn't had anything traumatic happen during his police work, just things that make him have flashbacks to Iraq. He was involved in some pretty nasty stuff in Iraq. I didn't even know how bad until he was in the hospital and a few of his combat buddies contacted me concerned about him. He had kept it all to himself, but they filled me in on how bad it really was and some of things my husband had to do. He was a machine gunner and had to kill some people that were shooting at them from rooftops more than once. I knew he had been shot at, but I didn't know he had killed anyone until recently. There's a lot more, but he had it pretty rough. It's stuff I wouldn't have made It through, that's for sure.

I'm going to try to answer everything in order so I don't leave anything out! Berta: The VA originally told us he qualified but he would have to pay copays based on his income. We had no problem with that. They also told us to go in February and file the hardship paperwork and then he wouldn't have to pay copays. Now they're just cutting him off. We both plan on going up there Tuesday and spend all day if necessary to get an explanation and something in writing. It seems crazy to me that they flagged his chart for the "High suicide risk" enhanced care for 60 days on November 1st, and now they're trying to say he's not even allowed to go to his suicide support group. Even if he made a million dollars a year, wouldn't a veteran be allowed to go to the suicide support group? And the Anger Management support group? This is all at the Dayton VA in Ohio. My husband was a police officer prior to enlisting, and then went back to it after he was discharged. We have his entire personnel record that his Captain gave him to try to help him out. He's never been involved in anything very traumatic at his job. No shootings or stabbings or anything. That won't be too difficult to prove. He first worked in a tiny town where he just did traffic, then he moved to a bigger department, but not a very bad area. His non-VA medical records specifically cite Iraq as the cause of his PTSD. (I know his non-VA records don't really matter, but they're more accurate.) Really the only issue he had at work was that the dead bodies would set him off because he would have flashbacks from Iraq and those flashbacks could trigger a manic episode. Or a depressive episode. Then he would become obsessed with killing himself. He can get psychotic and he's not in reality anymore and starts believing really crazy things, then he becomes obsessed with killing himself. It's really scary, and not at all safe for him to continue being triggered over and over while carrying a gun. His issues are pretty simple outside of the Va. The VA's preoccupation with keeping him from having a compensable claim is what has drastically affected his treatment there. One of the absurd things about his inpatient stay is that they flagged him with the 60 day suicide risk, they said he wasn't allowed around guns for 90 days, but they said he could go back to work as a cop. The only restriction she put on him was going to dead body calls- suicides, found down, etc... Because it "triggered" him. (The doctor literally wrote this in his chart.) So according to the VA, he doesn't have PTSD, he isn't to be around guns for 90 days, but he can go work as a cop and carry a gun 60 hours a week, but not answer dead body calls because it's traumatic for him because of his personality disorder- NOT PTSD. When I requested his records from NARA I specifically wrote that we wanted all medical records and personnel records. I used the instructions I found online for vets applying for benefits. Buck: This is all going on at the Dayton VA. Last week after one of his support groups, a social worker called him into her office as he was leaving and told him he didn't qualify for benefits. He got really upset and I guess made a bit of a scene. He's trying so hard to make progress and he's getting really frustrated with all of this. I haven't contacted our congressman. I was told in another thread not to, so I've been holding off. But I have kept records of everything that's happened in case we need to. I'm not sure what an R.O. is. MikeHunt: We already filled out his intent to file, and his FDC is almost ready to file. Does he really not need to describe his stressors? I can change allow that and he can just put in CIB instead. We finally got his ebenefits access upgraded to premium, so if they schedule a C&P it should show up on there, right? I can just check it every few days! And they've already diagnosed him with a personality disorder. They say he has Paranoid Personality Disorder. But they put him on 4 mg of Risperdal a day and it helped a lot. The Va doctor ended up eventually diagnosing him with MDD with psychosis, and a personality disorder, and said she ruled out PTSD. None of that diagnosis makes one bit of sense compared to how they are treating his illness. Then his outpatient Dr (non-VA) increased him to 5 mg. He is doing better, but he's far from stable. He needs those support groups. He needs his weekly counseling. And they just took it all without any warning.

I cannot find any record of him being given an MMPI combat related. During his inpatient stay he was given the short version of the MMPI-2, but I have been told that they will not release his scores. The PsyD that gave it to him said its against VA policy. He did tell me that the test pointed to Bipolar or schizophrenia, but the psychiatrist said that wasn't true and that it proved he had a personality disorder. I'm not sure what they did during the PTSD screening except ask him some questions. He said they asked him multiple times about substance abuse and seemed disappointed that there was none. He went to the PTSD clinic for it. He did have health benefits with the copay. We were getting billed $5-8 for prescriptions, etc. But we got a bill yesterday and now they are billing us far above the copay rates. He doesn't get SSDI and doesn't qualify because he doesn't have enough work credits. He was a police officer for 18 years and is going through the disability pension process now, but it won't be a very big pension. The retirement board made changes several years ago and the disability benefits are pretty bad. During his inpatient stay his psychiatrist made several notes about him doing all of this for financial reasons because he would be getting a 50% retirement benefit from his police pension. I have no clue where she came up with that, but he definitely will not be getting 50%. She also wrote that I was making him do this because I couldn't handle 5 kids on my own and wanted him home to help me. That is also crazy. Having my husband home more than doubles my workload, and I was worried about having him home all the time long before he was found unfit for duty. As I have said, I saw it coming long before anyone else. I have never had an issue taking care of the kids. We homeschool and I manage just fine! :) I managed much better when he was at work all day. I know this is from a different thread, but Berta, his medical file is well over 700 pages and that's just since mid-October. About 20 pages of that is his heart/ blood pressure stuff. The rest is page after page of notes from this doctor. I was a critical care RRT for 12 years. I know medical records and what a chart should look like. I've never seen anything like this. It seriously makes me think the psychiatrist has a personality disorder! Who has the time to write that many notes, all attacking the patient. Anything Objective she completely ignored. She never addressed his dilated pupils that were so bad the nurses had a neurologist consult. She never addressed his liver enzymes or blood pressure issues. (Both related to his medication.) And now they've canceled every future appointment with no notice and no chance to appeal, and saying he can't get benefits.

He served in Iraq from 3/1/03- 01/16/04. He was honorably discharged on 10/8/04. He has CIB on his DD214 but not CAR.

I will add this also- his security clearance paperwork had some redactions on it. I was joking with him about how funny it is that he has redacted stuff in his paperwork and he insisted that he never filled out security clearance paperwork. But it's right there with his signature. Does every infantryman fill out security clearance paperwork? My husband is very, VERY intelligent. He always said he went in infantry because he wanted to be on the ground, and because if he decided to be career he would advance quicker. My grandfather did the same thing in the marines, so I never questioned it. However my husband is very quiet about what actually went on in Iraq. I assumed he just didn't like to talk about it. This sounds crazy, but do you think he could have been involved in secret type stuff? Would that explain some of this situation? (I swear I am not a paranoid person, but I'm sure wondering what the heck is going on here!)

As far as I know, nothing he did was classified. He was a regular old infantryman! :) His DD214 has the CIB listed, and yes, he has talked at the VA about his stressors. He was involved in numerous firefights and was shot at and shelled. (Please forgive me if my military combat vocabulary is off!) He was on the ground and involved in many situations that would easily be considered major stressors. He has flashbacks and aggressive over-reactions. He shuts down very easily and completely but then will flip and rage for weeks. He has very serious paranoid delusions and has psychosis issues. They continuously focus on the fact that he doesn't have nightmares and isn't addicted to a substance. That's seems to be their main focus as to why he doesn't have PTSD. Sounds very simplistic, but it's what I've been repeatedly told and his medical records show the same thing. Apparently if he had nightmares and was an alcoholic they would diagnose home with PTSD. But they would probably come up with another reason to not diagnose him. This is a man that can get so triggered that he once freaked out in downtown Gatlinburg on vacation, left me and the kids in a restaurant, called a cab, went to the Knoxville airport, rented a car, and drove 7 hours home. Then he realized he had been triggered by the mirror maze the kids drug him into, drove the rental car BACK to Tennessee that night and then had to drive the rental car back to Dayton airport because he had rented it for a one-way trip. These types of things have happened our whole 9 year marriage. Just a few weeks ago we went to a Christmas festival in our small town and there was a loud noise. He almost lost his mind. He's been like this since a few weeks after he got back from Iraq. He always refused treatment and denied there was an issue. But it's these types of issues that are greatly compounding his Bipolar. Every specialist outside of the VA tells us the same thing. The PTSD keeps getting worse without treatment. He's finally SET on getting treatment and trying to get better and now the VA is denying him even a support group. The VA has diagnosed him with MDD, which everyone outside of the VA says he doesn't have, but for rating purposes we will claim. But I'm more concerned about him getting treatment.

Let me start off with saying this: I understand now how some might have thought when I asked my question about a hospitalization at the Va helping my husband get his disability I was trying to game the system or something. I didn't mean it that way at all. Back then (it feels like a lifetime ago) I saw my husband completely falling apart and I was being told by friends and family that he needed to be hospitalized. I saw it coming, and I was naive how the mental health system worked. My thought was that if he needed to be hospitalized anyway, that using the VA would help the situation in its entirety. Yes, I was very wrong. I had read how amazing the VA's PTSD programs were, and I guess I figured getting him into the Va system then would sort of kill two birds with one stone. He could start getting help in a place he felt more comfortable by being around other vets, he could get the hospitalization he needed for much less than $2,000 a day (the price of the private hospital he had his outpatient care at) and he could go ahead and be in the VA system. Well, if you've read my other posts you know nothing good came out of his 18 day stay at our local VAMC. It's been a nightmare ever since and keeps getting worse. Sorry if I sound defensive. Being married to a man (whom I love very much) that has major paranoia issues has kind of made me this way. His paranoia tends to focus on me... I'm poisoning him, I'm holding him hostage, and on and on... Sometimes he has good days, and other days I spend most of my time trying to convince him I'm not working with Barrack Obama to have him put in a straight jacket. Anyway- on to my current questions! First, my husband's FDC was ready to file, we were just waiting for his SMRs. They finally came today and I was so excited. But there are NO medical records in the envelope. There is also no records pertaining to his deployment. It is basically just his enlistment paperwork, his security clearance paperwork, and his discharge papers. On the ebenefits site where we put in his paperwork, it says the VA can get all of his medical records from DoD hospitals. Should we go ahead and file and let the VA get those records? The website says it can still be submitted as an FDC and they have access to those records. That's my first question. My second question has to do with his ongoing care at the VAMC. This past week they told him he is now ineligible for all care and they canceled everything. They refuse to give us anything in writing, but they have canceled every single appointment he had, including his support groups. They say it's because he makes to much money. But he was already enrolled and paying co-pays! I've read everything I can find, and he is completely eligible for care. We were fine with paying the copays for now. The first week of February his income will be dropping by 2/3's, and then he was going to file a hardship and then they said we wouldn't have the copays anymore. We we really need to file his claim. The faster we file the faster (hopefully) he can be service connected and we won't have to worry about them cutting his Health benefits. Would you guys just go ahead and file now without the rest of the SMRs? There isn't going to be anything in there to really help a whole lo anyway. He didn't have any mental health issues while enlisted. Nothing became an issue until a little while after his discharge. His deployment was towards the end of his enlistment. Also, what's the best way to fight them canceling his health benefits? The VA flagged him as a high suicide risk for 60 days of "Enhanced care," and now they're refusing him ALL care! It seems we should have something in writing so we can file an appeal, but nobody will even tell us who made this decision. This all happened yesterday, and this coming week is Christmas. I'm thinking we need to go to the VA in person Monday or Tuesday and get some explanations. One more thing- my husband had a PTSD screening because his outpatient psychologist was trying to get him into the 8 week inpatient PTSD program. While inpatient his psychiatrist said he did not have PTSD. That's a crock because every single professional he has seen outside of the VA has said he undoubtedly has PTSD and it is greatly complicating his other MH issues. But that does us no good with the VA. So he had this PTSD screening at the request of his VA psychologist who has been trying to get him further help within the VA. The PTSD screen doesn't say anything. He was denied getting into the program, and his psychologist told him that she has been told to make sure not to chart any diagnosis in his chart. It's just frustrating. Isn't the point of a PTSD screening to see if he has it? Oh well, forward we go! As always, any help is extremely appreciated. This site is invaluable. I have learned more here than anywhere else!

Thank you both so much! This is where is care is at right now: This week we have marriage counseling at the VA. This is the first appointment. We are hoping to explain to the counselor that he needs individual counseling and maybe he/she can set that up. The psychiatrist insisted on marriage counseling vs. individual counseling because she kept saying we had all these arguments. But every argument we have is him accusing me of absurd things (his delusions and paranoia) and me just trying to convince him I am not doing these things. If not, he has his first GP appointment the next day. Maybe that doctor can set it up. Then Friday he has his first Anger Management group. The psychologist that leads it is the same man that did his MMPI-2. My husband says that psychologist was good and was trying to help him. So if all else fails, hopefully he can get my husband into individual counseling. We will also call the VA tomorrow to inquire about this Veteran's Choice thing. He doesn't even have a card, and I read online that they are supposed to have an insurance type card? So hopefully we can figure out if he can indeed pick his own doctor. You're right, Berta, that part doesn't make sense. They told us to wait 30-60 days, and the NP said it may take even longer. That's insane. Barring all else, I had a friend recommend a psychiatrist that can get him scheduled in about 2-3 weeks. That's fast around here. So he can at least get an appointment there as long as they take his insurance. I completely agree that him getting all the help he can is the most important thing. But I'm also trying to save our home and farm. I should have my professional license reinstated this week and then I will be putting in applications!