vetquest

Sorry to hear that Bertha. I once received medications with my name on them that would have messed me up pretty bad had I taken them. They also once stopped HB medication for me without staging down and I went through a tough time.

I do not know about Dr. Bash or Valor4vet but I found a doctor who lives local to me. I lucked out in that there were two in the state and one worked locally. Mine took all of my medical records and was forwarded a copy of my cfile by my lawyer. He did a one hour examination and then I do not know how many hours background research. Just get an estimate up front though. The other doctor in my state charged $250 an hour and I could not afford him.

Get a VSO to help with your claim. They can look at information we cannot and assist you with the details. I used two different VSO's but wrote my own appeals for seven years. Just be willing to step outside of yourself and look in from the outside if you are writing your own appeals. You can get too much personal feeling in your appeal if you don't and that can hurt you. Keep us apprised please.

I would say not to get too worried about denial at this point. The VES doctors that I met were pretty through. Wait for your ssoc and then decide whether to worry or not. As far as the earlier audio test it can be included in your appeal. Worrying about a case only makes us more irritable and less fun to be around. It also make it harder to continue with or lives. I spent ten years in the process with two remands. I would not be sane today if I could not find something to take my mind off of my case for a while. Good luck and let us know what you hear back. There's a lot of good folks here with knowledge that transcends mine.

Do not worry about the malingering part. I was accused of malingering before I was separated. I was a seven year staff sergeant with a career ahead of me when I was boarded out, and some medical schlep had the gall to call me a malingerer. Yes your medical records are different from the blue button I believe. Do not leave without your medical records in hand.

What Buck said. As far as the nexus, if the military says you developed the condition in service that is your nexus. Jeff

Never had a problem with the ads. I can have them deleted for 5 bucks a month or I can read them. This site is a very nonjudgmental site and will work with anyone. I posted on another site and found myself quickly jumped on by some members who were or are working in claims. The V.A. does not make mistakes and if you thought so refer to rule one. I will stick with the ads.

I do not know all about IMO's but my last two VA C&P examinations were IMO's and they supposedly done well, I do not have the final opinion yet as the V.A. is late on producing the paperwork. The doctors were good to me and the final decision by the board was good. Go in there and believe the doctor is there to help you, if he isn't it will not help either way. If he is there to help you going in with a bad feeling can skew the exam. I always believe the examiner is there to help me. The best advice I can give is to always keep a good attitude and know things will work out in the end.

I would file one claim as they all get put together. Try to get your medical record and copy it before separation, it helps a lot, you are allowed to do this. No experience with the blue button. Your nexus would be the military medical records that show you have this condition. Anything that you submit should be copies and it cannot hurt to support supporting medical documentation with your claim. Good Luck

Yes, any illness will affect your insurance rates. Some companies will outright reject you and some will charge you more. If you have PTSD though I would make the claim. The illness untreated is a dog waiting to bite you. Good luck.

You should be receiving back pay but it can take up to six months depending on whether there was a remand or how busy your regional office is.

Being hard to squeeze the trigger is not an issue with the 380, it is an issue with the make and manufacture of the gun. 380 is not popular in the states but is very popular in Europe. I have carried one on occasion. The S&W shields are good guns, I have a full size model 2 in 45 that is my home gun. I use a 357 Ruger SP101 as my carry gun.

Looks good.

I was able to get TDIU with headaches at 50% and PTSD at 70%. If you can get buddy statements about how your PTSD and migraines affected your work performance it is a good thing. These can weigh heavily in a decision, especially if you can get one from management.

I lost my cool with a jerk VA doctor once. He was being very disrespectful and I made a suggestion to him that was not too kind. For two years thereafter it was required that my psychiatrist be in the room with me when I met with a VA doctor. I do not believe that there is a committee that you can be reported to but there is definitively a procedure to flag vets with attitude issues.

You may see a case bounce between administrative processing and law judge several times before anything is decided.

This is why I went for 100% P&T even after I won IU. My lawyer said I was only gumming up the system to continue my case but I kept at it.

Several times I have had the V.A. make the date of reconsideration the date that the award took effect. The BVA backdated one award back ten years. The local office may make the decision to backdate but if not make sure to appeal.

The C&P may ignore non VA providers but the RO is supposed to take these into account. I had a BVA hearing where the BVA used the non VA provider exam to declare me service connected for neuropathy.

My lawyer took 20% of my award. Better 80% of an award than nothing.

Any VA treatment records should be in your claims folder when it is reviewed. If you have any civilian records you should pull those and attach them. Good luck with your claim.

Yes, it is possible to request a reconsideration of the claim after the SSOC but I am not sure I would recommend it. My claim was kept at the local level for four or five years with reconsiderations. All of this time I had filed a form 9 and I did not get a BVA date. All of my reconsiderations (about four) went back to the same reviewer and it seemed he just was justifying his original decision. I believe the BVA is more evidence based than the local VA and if you want all information considered the BVA is the best place to see this done. One a personal note, watch out for neuropathy. It is related to cold and heat injuries and is service connectable after many years.

Non combat PTSD is possible, I suffered a severe medical injury and have been awarded PTSD for the injury. I was diagnosed for multiple psychological profiles before PTSD but I now am at 70% for PTSD. I believe buddy statements that place you at the Dover site will help in your claim. Make sure they reference these statements in your C&P. You have DBQ's for PTSD but do they reference a nexus between your condition and being at Dover? The VA is very detailed on what a nexus is and how it is determined. The DBQ should also state that is at least as likely that your PTSD is a result of your Dover experience. Good Luck on your claim.

Daniel G. Krasnegor was my lawyer when we won a ten year old case with two remands. I went from 80% to UI to 100% P&T. I do not know all of the ins and outs of VA cases but at one time they got a remand moving by threatening to file with the inspector general over the time my remand was taking to be completed. I highly recommend his services.

That is awesome. Now find a hobby to keep you busy.