AFgal

UPDATE: My official notification arrived today. I read through the entire thing and it looks like everything was rated correctly. Also, nowhere in the rating decision information does it say anything about any of my 4 combined rating issues that a reexamination will take place at a future date. Perhaps it is just understood.

Berta, I graduated basic on Halloween 1997. I did 4 years active duty as an SP.

Thanks Vync for all the information. Broncovet, I did the dependents form on eBenefits yesterday which says it is already approved and the confirmaion letter is in the mail. Yes I like to keep our options open for our kids’ education benefits although I think my husband was considering giving them his GI bill, I already used mine. One daughter is set on going in the AF too so far. They won’t be on my claim as dependents for more than a few years probably as our girls are both teens. My husband has 22 yrs in and had a TIA last Dec. We are waiting for the final RILO decision to come in by the end of this week. Turns out he had a PFO they think caused his stroke so now he has a closure device in his heart to go with his arthritis and an APAP machine for sleep apnea. If he is medically retired I bet he will easily be at 100%. If he is returned to duty he will be C coded for now till he decides he’s done.

Thank you both for the replies. The first envelope (the unofficial notification) did arrive today stating my ratings and my effective dates are all the same at March 23, 2018. My back pay to that date hit my account this morning; I was quite surprised to see it arrive so fast. It was also the amount for a single person for 4 months, so will they send me the difference now that I put in my spouse and two kids for the dependent pay? I noticed yesterday on the site that they said I had no dependents, so although that form was in this envelope I submitted it online yesterday and that approval letter already shows as in the mail now too. There is nothing else in this letter stating if anything is expected to improve, just attached forms, so I assume it would be in the "official" one that I am still waiting on. Thanks for explaining P&T. I was employed part-time over the last year and a half doing medical transcription from home but recently stopped because my tinnitus kept messing with what I was hearing and I was having a hard time with all the sitting. It's an extremely low-paying job anyway (a few hundred a month part time). I regret ever getting into it and would never recommend it to anyone. I honestly haven't been thinking about trying to get bumped up to 100%. I thought that maybe I might get lucky and get 30% and was floored when I saw 90%. I just want to cash out my chips, leave the table, and stay out of their way in hopes they don't come across me again to take it back. I will look into UI for future reference.

This may be a little premature since I am still waiting on the decision packet in the mail which should be today, but my GWI presumptive claim for fibromyalgia was just completed and eBenefits shows my packet as in the mail and my combined disability rating as 90%. I was granted: tinnitus 10% fibromyalgia 20% insomnia disorder severe and chronic with nocturnal panic attacks, moderate and periodic (as a secondary to fibro) 70% Note: I think the panic attacks are part of diagnosed anxiety with adjustment disorder by Life Skills since mil service but didn't claim that as part of fibro, and the last time I tried in 2004 it was denied. I do wonder tho if I should file for that again now, but I only occasionally see a Dr for it and am not currently on meds either. chronic migraines (as a secondary to fibro) 30% I have been over the moon....and then started reading how the VA does reexaminations to try to reduce ones disability, and that took the air right out of my party balloons. My neighbor who just retired and gets 100% says to see if my packet says anything is total and permanent, but then just to make sure I keep going to my appointments regularly. Most examples I see in articles for T&P just mention blindness and missing limbs, what about incurable chronic conditions such as the fibromyalgia, and my records show the chronic insomnia in my records since military service 17 years ago. So I wonder how high on the radar I may be for reexaminations? I mostly keep seeing in articles that it's people with PTSD who keep getting reexamined. Thoughts? How worried should I be?

Ha, yes they will. Hopefully this memo opens up a can of worms.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I have an actual diagnosis from a military rheumatologist and included copies of all the blood tests and radiology where she and my PCM were trying to find out if I had any other diagnosable chronic disease and found none. All of this information is very recent which is why I didn't know if they would bother to do another fibro exam since my rheumy just did it.

Yes, I already know this. This is my first claim for fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is on the presumptive list for Gulf War Illness. I was in from Sept 1997-Sept 2001.

Although this memo only refers to Ft Campbell and Ft Drum, my husband and I both received several vaccines from "bad" lots listed and we were on Air Force bases. It would be nice if compensation for this ever really came about like what has happened with AO.

I was just diagnosed by a rheumatologist with fibro on 22 March and have filed my claim. I was deployed to the UAE in 1998 and Saudi in 2000 so my claim is presumptive. I did not have my Dr fill out any paperwork for me since a nexus is not necessary for a presumptive claim, however part of my documentation does show a neck injury while on one of these deployments. Ebenefits says I should get my results in June or July. Oh, I also made sure to include proof of my 6 anthrax vaccinations.

In March I filed a presumptive claim for GWI for fibromyalgia. I know that C&P exams are not always required and so was wondering if anyone knows if they are usually required or not for a presumptive claim. I also wondered if it matters to the VA that my diagnosis was given by a military doctor at a major military hospital versus a civilian doctor. I included a letter in my documentation clearly stating this was a presumptive claim quoting the 38 CFR § 3.317 reg for fibromyalgia.