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Penguin

Seaman
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Everything posted by Penguin

  1. It is down for me right now. I tried both eBenefits and VA.gov. It working for anyone?
  2. After posting this, I just realized I initially missed reading your response Phury since it was moved/voted up to the first page and deservingly so! Thank you, that makes a lot of sense as to what happened with my claim and I assume I received the "you need to submit this on the proper form" letter in error. I am torn as to what to do - rescind my legacy appeal and submit as supplemental - OR - continue to wait. I did submit additional evidence (100+ pages) when I filed my initial NOD. Will that be taken into consideration since you mentioned that you cannot submit new evidence in the legacy appeal process? I think the biggest thing against me is my initial C&P exam, which I feel was inadequate and rushed. I also went into the C&P exam still acting tough as if I was still in the military and downplaying my symptoms (pushing through pain, etc.). I am not sure how to combat a bad C&P exam, but maybe I should request to switch to Supplemental lane and submit a letter identifying the inadequacies of the C&P exam and request a new one. Anyone have experience with combatting a C&P exam or have guidance?
  3. *UPDATE* First and foremost, I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to read my questions and offer advice. Very kind of you all! I received a letter in the mail from the VA Regional Office verifying that my appeal originally submitted on March 26, 2019 on the legacy NOD was accepted and will be processed by the DRO in date order. VA.gov now shows my appeal as open and being reviewed by a DRO. Any advice if I should let this play out in the legacy appeal process (The ETA they provide is typically between 10 and 26 months) OR should I rescind and submit via the new Supplemental claim lane (~125 days)? Appreciate your guidance!
  4. Hi Phury and Rhage, I just received a letter in the mail which seems to provide some clarification as to what is happening, but still kind-of confusing. To give a little more back store before I submitted my supplemental claim, I first submitted a NOD 21-0958 on March 26, 2019 because that was what the directions stated in my initial decision letter (pre Feb 2019). I then received a letter stating if I would like the VA to review a claim previously denied I would have to file this request on the proper form and the letter included instructions on the 20-0995 Supplemental Claim. This is when I learned that the old NOD form was phased out Feb 2019 and led me to believe I could no longer file an appeal under the old rules and now had to resubmit under the supplemental claim lane and that is what I did. The letter I just received a couple days ago now says that they actually accepted my NOD to appeal and my claim is being reviewed by a Decision Review Officer (DRO) which I understand is the legacy appeal process. I am not sure I really want to be in the legacy process now since all I have heard is that it takes so long. In summary, I THINK my appeal is in the legacy appeal lane now and with the DRO. The letter also states that my appeal will be processed in date order so we shall see. Thanks for everyones thoughts and advice!
  5. Hi Berta, Yes, the letter goes on to include decisions for the 4 issues that I had "reopened", but it does not address any of the issues listed in the 2nd paragraph which were part of the supplemental claim. Hoping I can find out more this coming week. If I don't get any updates I am wondering if I should request the higher level review to trigger someone else having to take a look and hopefully get the ball rolling again.
  6. Nothing is currently showing "open" on VA.gov or eBenefits and I have not received any communication to indicate that so I really have no idea. I called peggy and was told they submitted an inquiry to find out what the status really is. They told me to give them 30-days and then call back. Also went to my VSO and he told me the same thing. It has been a few weeks now, so I plan to call back next week.
  7. Hi all, I submitted a request to reconsider my initial disability claim and after not seeing much progress and worrying that I would not receive a decision before my 1-year mark, I decided to submit a supplemental claim. Here is my timeline: Initial claim decision received: 10/23/2018 Requested to reconsider/reopen denied issues: 12/31/2018 Submitted Supplemental claim: 4/24/2019 Received notification of both reopened claim and supplemental claim closed in the same letter on: 6/21/2019 I am confused because the decision letter I received does not address all of my claimed issues and has the following verbiage below saying that the appeals will be addressed through the appeals process but when I look on VA.gov it shows that all my claims are closed. This contradicts what they say in the letter and I am not sure what is going on now. Has anyone experienced this before or have advice on what to do?
  8. Hi everyone, I was recently diagnosed with patellofemoral pain syndrome in both of my knees and I strongly believe that it was caused by my bi-lateral pes planus, which is service connected. I have never filed a secondary claim before and hoping to get advice from those that have been successful with a secondary claim and see what pieces of evidence are recommended to have. Here is what I have so far: Current medical diagnosis - Bilateral Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome from private orthopedic doctor Knee and Lower Leg disability DBQ completed by private orthopedic doctor Currently service connected at 10% for bilateral pes planus (supplemental claim in progress for increase due to pronated gait and bunion) I am assuming I will also need to get a medical opinion from my private doctor to link the patellofemoral pain syndrome to my pes planus? Or would the VA schedule a C&P to make that determination? Thanks in advance for the assistance!
  9. Doc25 and Buck52, thanks so much for the info! I did file for bilateral hearing loss. Below is the denial and it says I don't meet the thresholds to establish service connection.
  10. I received my VA disability rating decision on 10/23/2017 and here is the denial for my Tinnitus claim: When I initially submitted my claim, I did not seek help organizing my evidence (which was a huge mistake on my part) and I didn't submit any supporting evidence of this tinnitus claim. But now thanks to the help of this forum, I realize I need to make sure my appeal is good to go before submitting. I was flight crew in the Navy and I remember complaining several times while on active duty during my annual physicals about ringing in my ears. I have been looking through my medical records to try and see if this was documented at all and I found "tinnitus" in the remarks section of one of my annual hearing tests on 7/13/2017: In your opinion, does this support my claim that tinnitus WAS diagnosed while on active duty and is a direct result of my service? Also, would you recommend I submit any additional evidence to support my claim, such as lay evidence and/or a more current diagnosis from my doctor listing my symptoms? What would be the best way to approach appealing this? Can I call my regional office and send this to them and ask that they reconsider? Thanks for all of your help!
  11. In regards to my Tinnitus claim being denied, I remember complaining during active duty during my annual physicals about ringing in my ears many times. I have been looking through my medical records to try and see if this was documented at all and I found "tinnitus" in the remarks section of one of my annual hearing tests (below). What would be the best way to approach appealing this? Can I call my regional office and send this to them and ask that they reconsider? Thanks for all of your help!
  12. That is an interesting question LCK, and made me think of my situation flying on P-3's. Sorry, I don't have an answer but interested to see what others recommend here. Also, if anyone has a recommendation on how to evidence the same question for P-3s (what's a good way to document ambient noise level on a P-3?) I would appreciate the help as well as I try to support my tinnitus claim. Thanks and good luck!
  13. **Update - I do not see an option to include an attachment. I tried to add as a picture from URL, let me know if you are able to see that** I am not sure how to attach my scanned document so I uploaded as an image file and linked below. You will have to click on the image and it will zoom in. Please let me know if there is a better way to post attachments, thank you! https://i.imgur.com/dUIfOmF.jpg I added in some commentary of why I think I am underrating or why some of the issues should be service connected. When I originally submitted my claim, I should have sought help to organize my claims and include statements in support of my claims. I was kind of overwhelmed with the process so I did not submit much information to support my claims, but I now know that I should have asked for some help. Thank you again for your assistance so far!
  14. Thank you both so much for the information so far! I have attached my disability rating decision I added in some commentary of why I think I am underrating or why some of the issues should be service connected. When I originally submitted my claim, I should have sought help to organize my claims and include statements in support of my claims. I was kind of overwhelmed with the process so I did not submit much information to support my claims, but I now know that I should have asked for some help. Thank you again for your assistance so far! Disability Ratings Appeals.pdf
  15. Hello all, I received my disability decision rating for my initial claim about 2 weeks ago. I would like to submit additional evidence to support my claim and receive a higher rating on some disabilities and service connection on the issues denied. On the VA Form 4107, it says I have two options: Start an appeal by submitting a Notice of Disagreement (NOD) Give us evidence we do not already have that may lead us to change our decision I am interested to learn more about option 2, because I have heard appeals can take longer. It is not clear how to submit additional evidence (who should I send to, can I submit through ebenefits online or do I have to mail?). If anyone has experience with submitting additional evidence instead of submitting a NOD, I would love to get your advice on exactly how to submit and how to track and follow up with the VA after submitting. Thank you!
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