vetquest

Hi JohnReid Concerning your question on headaches, go to the same site and for diagnostic code 8100 Migraines you find the symptoms and their ratings. For headaches, a 10% rating would result if you had a least one prostrating event every two months. Less than that would result in 0% possibly. If you have a log of when you have had headaches daily, their duration and frequency and whether they were prostrating, down load it into ebenefits before you go to the C&P. Bring a copy and ask the examiner if they have seen it in your record; if no, ask if they would like a copy. If the say no and you happen to be denied, you can appeal because they didn't address your evidence. 

Broncovet gives some very good advice.  My TDIU claim took ten years, that seems to be unusual though.  Saving up for this type of occurrence is a must.  Also do you have long term disability insurance?  You might not be able to get it now but it really saved me when I lost my job due to my disability.  

They say to keep your enemies close and your friends closer.  I had a good job and paid off my house before I was disabled from working.  Very few people know that my house is paid for because people react funny about that also.  

They say to keep your enemies close and your friends closer.  I had a good job and paid off my house before I was disabled from working.  Very few people know that my house is paid for because people react funny about that also.  

They say to keep your enemies close and your friends closer.  I had a good job and paid off my house before I was disabled from working.  Very few people know that my house is paid for because people react funny about that also.  

Paul, you've won the "veterans lottery".

That is so very true. At work I see so many people get jealous when someone gets a promotion, why can't they just be happy for them. This is why I also tell my wife not to let people know when she buys something nice, instead of being happy for them they say something nasty instead. I just hate that.
I am not mad at those who are super wealthy, in fact I am happy for them. I just wish I was as smart or as lucky as them to have the same...hahaha But I would not wish them ill because they are luckier than me. I am thankful for what I have.
Now if I did not have kids I could be very wealthy…hahaha

They say to keep your enemies close and your friends closer.  I had a good job and paid off my house before I was disabled from working.  Very few people know that my house is paid for because people react funny about that also.  

Broncovet gives some very good advice.  My TDIU claim took ten years, that seems to be unusual though.  Saving up for this type of occurrence is a must.  Also do you have long term disability insurance?  You might not be able to get it now but it really saved me when I lost my job due to my disability.  

Paul, you've won the "veterans lottery".

That probably explains the reason behind appeal window, effective date, and CUE laws. If they can keep the veterans in the dark long enough, their appeal window will expire and then they can keep the money. If the veteran realizes the VA screwed up, the options to fix via CUE are severely limited. That makes it an adversarial process, despite what the VA says.

Vync, I am also looking for an EED on my case.  It should have been an easy decision but the VA likes to make it difficult on us.  Good luck.
I also agree with Broncovet, find a good lawyer and if they take your case they think they can win.

I never knew the value of an EED myself.  I believe the reason the VA does not do this is for cost savings.  The same as delay and deny.  In my EED case the VA saved $40,000 by giving me an EED that was not at the time of disability and I am still fighting it.

When you get a C&P exam with a bad opinion you can challenge that with peer reviewed medical literature.  Most of the time, these opinions fail to identify any source proving the basis for the opinion. This can be challenged with medical literature from valid sources.

I can access college library with links to professional journals, as well as Google Scholar that also provides links to professional journal articles. These are  peer reviewed, and considered equal in weight to any opinion that a medical professional can provide. Anyone can use web sites as well that help find articles from journals that are recognized and authored by medical professionals, such as
https://medlineplus.gov/ , 
https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional , 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ , 
and Va HealthEVet also has a library with links.
Example: Opinion from C&P exam states that there is no way that your service connected left leg condition can cause your shoulder injury. Claim denied. Request for reconsideration with new evidence can be submitted without an expensive IMO from a medical professional.
New evidence include studies reported in Medical Journals stating that radiculopathy with foot drop frequently cause falls, and more studies that shoulder injuries are commonly caused by falls. Reconsideration includes 3-6 opinions each on both falls and injuries, which disproves the claim that there is no connection between your left leg condition and your shoulder injury. Results: award of 20% for shoulder injury because you proved that the examiner was a clown.

You are so right about reputable and credible research treatise/studies being used by vets as legal evidence in support of your claim/appeal and here is just one of several federal court (precedent) decisions agreeing with you. The key word to use is "TREATISE" as this is the term the BVA uses in most decisions.
Federal Appeals Circuit court in Hensley v. West, stated:  "A veteran with a competent medical diagnosis of a current disorder may invoke an accepted medical treatise in order to establish the required nexus; in an appropriate case it should not be necessary to obtain the services of medical personnel to show how the treatise applies to his case."  Hensley, 212 F.3d at 1265 (citing Wallin, supra).  
However knowing all this and using this evidence in your claim will probably only help you only upon your appeal to the BVA as the initial VA raters routinely ignore this and state you have no evidence in one short simply sentence.  I know as it has happened to me and they do not consider it as new evidence when you request reconsideration.  Not fair or just or maybe even legal for them to do this but it is what it is.
Thanks for those very useful links.
My information is not legal advice as I am not an attorney, paralegal, or VSO.

I might just do that to see if I get banned dustoff.
I also believe that the old system was adversarial in the 80's and 90's.  I was medically discharged as unfit to perform my military duties due to a service injury in 1986.  I first received 0% from the VA and then 30% back to 10%, and then 50% in 1991.  So much for the statement that the VA was there to take care of disabled vets.  

Over a 30 year period I learned to trust only myself in filing claims and appeals and in order to achieve my legitimate service connection ratings has been a semi full time effort on my part.  I have compared my claims and appeals to those that were granted by the BVA and with nearly exact same evidence and conditions as my situation and know that i had correct justified claims from the very beginning but like them had to go thru unnecessary hoops and delays to receive the proper ratings.   
Those that are in special groups never have to go thru that appeal BS and get everything on the first go but that is life in America.  I do not mourn the loss of any..........................................

I might just do that to see if I get banned dustoff.
I also believe that the old system was adversarial in the 80's and 90's.  I was medically discharged as unfit to perform my military duties due to a service injury in 1986.  I first received 0% from the VA and then 30% back to 10%, and then 50% in 1991.  So much for the statement that the VA was there to take care of disabled vets.  

I wish someone on here who is also active member of the Veterans Benefits Network (VBN) forum would post the above excellent article on that forum as the people who run it are ex VA raters, DROs and VSO.   Thank you.

This is a short article from 2015 which discussed how the Caluza ruling introduced adversarial factors into the VA's non-adversarial claims process.
 
Daniel L. Nagin, The Credibility Trap: Notes on a VA Evidentiary Standard, 45 U. Mem. L. Rev. 887 (2015).
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/27814585/Nagin_CredibilityGap.pdf?sequence=1

For you benefit, work up the timeline of everything from the time you got the TBI. Use the records that are listed in your denial (evidence) and go date by date, line by line, every event that has transpired.

You do this with reference to the evidence of record. If there are two TBI incidents that need to be documented, refer to both by date and incident every time you refer to a TBI. Every medical record, every RO statement in every denial that contains an error should be logged. The rebuttal of the error should be referred to by footnote, you can include an attachment to the timeline to document the error, which is usually the failure of the rating official to check the medical records at hand. 

These should not be extremely long.  Be short, add only the issues that are relative to the claim, and explain issues only one time, including errors so that you are not duplicating efforts of the reader. Example would be when 2 or more examiners have the same conclusion, and made the same error, you only need to explain what the first one did, because that error was just rubber stamped by the next reviewer in line. They did this to me in an original claim, an SOC, and a higher level review. 

Good luck and watch some grass grow too.

I do not have that information but I know there are members on this board that have had the same problems.  They will chime in for you.

Without medical records, ~~ perhaps you could retrieve a Buddy (lay) statement from someone who witnessed an injury during service making sure that they explain objectively what they heard/saw in regards to the details of an injury that occurred in service. Dates and other details (ex: we served in the same unit, lived in same barracks etc.)
In conjunction with this would be to provide you own written testimony, aka, statement in support of claim (VA Form 4138) giving as much detail as you can of the circumstance(s).
In either statement(s) do NOT diagnose yourself, or your buddy - let the doctors/medical exams do that.
Without having a copy of your medical records, and if the va continues to be "unable" to retrieve them, I'm afraid this may be the only route you have of recourse.

Congrats, my first rating was 0%.