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I brought in a couple pages of notes with my concerns, symptoms, work life and family life; behavioral and relationship to my follow up exam. It was 5 years after I was rated. My wife came with me, also. I asked the examiner if I could bring my notes in and look at them to make sure I covered everything. He was fine with it and he also allowed my wife to join the exam. I have a hard time with anxiety to the point of hyperventilating at times, especially when I'm in a VA medical facility so having my wife there helps me AND shes not going to let me downplay anything. The examiner did really well guiding me through the exam and I didn't really need my notes until the end when I asked him if I could review them.

The VA requested a C&P redetermination on me at the end ofly '18. Did the exam a like a couple weeks after the call. The examiner had my report posted in 3 days or so. After that report posted, the decision came 2.5 weeks later for an increase from 50% to 70%.

This was my experience, as well. The VA requested an exam 5 years after my initial award for PTSD. The VA determined my condition had worsened and raised my PTSD rating from 50% to 70% which increased my combined by 10%. The entire process only took 2 months and I've never received pay for increased percentage. I just assumed that they went by the date of the re-determination.

Congratulations on that! I was given a 50% rating effective 2011 for PTSD. I had a RFE ordered by the VA as well in August. Exam was done 8/20/18 and I haven't seen any change on ebenny yet. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the welcome Well, I just can't stress out about it any further. Appointment is tomorrow and then what ever happens, happens after that.

Two weeks ago I got a call from my local VA Hospital notifying me that C&P has requested an examination for increase. I have set the appointment for tomorrow (8/20/18) and I have done A LOT of reading recently to prepare for it. I have a couple concerns that I hope anyone with some experience here can help me with. First, a few facts on my case: - My original claim for compensation was received at the DVA on 8/11/2011 - On 08/01/2013 my original claim was closed and I was awarded service connection for PTSD at 50% and service connection for tinnitus at 10%. - On eBenefits it shows that on 07/31/2018 a claim was opened by compensation (current status: Gathering of evidence) - I exited service in 1997 - I have no record of treatment for PTSD before I started my claim and I have not sought treatment since I started my claim nor after the award - The VA requested the examination Since the original C&P examination I thought I could just get a handle on it now that I knew what my symptoms meant. Obviously I was wrong. Some symptoms have maintained, some have significantly worsened (rage, extremely short-fused, constant anxiety, severe memory loss, etc). Sadly, my family are the losers in my decision to just "try harder" to be better. So my question is this: how much weight is the absence of treatment on the examiner's report? Before I got the call for an examination I was succumbing to the fact that I need help and was interested in a couple of programs (fly fishing being one since I'm in Oregon). Can the VA determine that I'm "significantly improved" simply by no treatment in my medical records? I've obviously had my rating for just at 5 years (unless they go by their claim date which was 1 day under, sneaky devils). I'm just really worried about that rating since I and my family are dependent on by benefits. Thanks for any help or advice anyone has. EDIT: Follow up question: Can i bring my own personal notes with me to the exam? My memory is garbage so I'm sure to forget something. EDIT (8/20/18): Went to the appointment and had a panic attack in the waiting room. Thankfully my wife was with me. The doctor called me back and he was happy to talk with me; really great guy. He gladly allowed my wife to join the examination. I informed him I had written some notes and asked if it would be OK to refer to them if I needed. He asked if they had been uploaded into my file because if they had, he'd already seen them. I hadn't done that but he said if I needed to refer to them I could. The doc seemed almost excited to talk with me about what's been going on. The appointment ran about 1.25 hours and he and my wife chatted while I answered the screening tests. After that he suggested a specific counseling called 'Cognitive Processing Therapy' which is 12 meetings, one on one and proven to help. Looking forward to treatment regardless of what the outcome is. Thanks for the advice and support. EDIT (8/27/18): Checked HealtheVet and saw that my C&P exam was posted on 8/23. Status still shows GoE. All there is to do now is be patient which, obviously, I have issues with. EDIT (9/6/18): eBenefits now shows claim is in the "Preparation for Decision" phase and the decision time frame has been updated from 02/2019 as the latest date to 11/18. Anxiety is a mfer. EDIT (9/7/18): eBenefits reporting 'Pending decision approval' EDIT (9/11/19): eBenefits reporting letter and notification sent. VA determined my condition has worsened and increased the percentage from 50% to 70% for an increase of 10% for combined total.