oceanorange

personal opinion based on personal experience. just to go to yearly VA check ups, feel free to use private doctor otherwise... this will keep your VA active (JUST IN CASE you loose your private for any unforeseen future reason). I had stopped using anything VA for 20 years, thank God I kept some kind of activity back 20 years ago which kept an active record and I was able to re-activate easily when I desperately needed it..20 years later, at that time in the past, I said I would never ever involve myself with anything military... low and behold.. here I am full circle.

"My husband received 100% t&p" Agreed, yes, send copy of va proof of disability and golden.

Thank you, your response means a great deal to me, an affirmation that it's ok to speak up, I was second guessing myself as I'm not one to talk or write about such private matters. NEVER BE AFRAID TO WALK INTO A VA CLINIC AND ASK FOR HELP! NEVER> no matter what.

I've been reading topics for a few weeks, and decided to share, maybe this can motivate some of you to start or continue your claim. I was a very successful Marine, Guide, honor graduate, 300 pft'er, Iron man, top of my class, followed orders to the T, leader, honored to serve my adopted country AMERICA, as a first generation immigrant from Colombia, South America. Not to go into details, I was honorably discharged three years in... it was catastrophic to me, I felt shame, failure... guilt. Many hospital stays, loss of all hope and finally distancing myself completely from military and VA for 20+ years. Nothing ever really changed, I just bottled it all in and changed jobs at least once every year +... highly technical, but not good working with others.. in the last three years, lots of things have gone down hill. I started a claim two years ago and just let it sit, out of fear of being labeled again, out of being cast in the shadows of mental disorders. My world spun out of control again and I panicked. I had been volunteering, taking out disabled veterans on outdoor trips and one vet told me, Jaime, it's ok, go file your claim and at minimum get some help through it. I took his advise to heart, as he meant it. All I wanted was some relief from this pain and guilt, 20 plus years of suffering in silence, pain, hurting, crying, nightmares, hallucinations ... just awful sadness. It's hard for me to write this, but I want all of you that read this to know that I found I was not alone, in reading what you all go through, I found common ground and my guilt has settled a little. I received my 100% P&T within 3 months with little effort, through my records and accepted that it's ok to not be ok. I was only asking for medical support and now I'm working through medications and support, it's not easy, I still hurt, I still feel like I failed my brothers. Even though most people that win their claim feel success, I don't feel success, but I feel it's a step in the right direction, it was extremely difficult for me, still is. I hope this brings those of you hope, I hope this testimony shows that the VA system will be there for you and all you have to do is ask for it. Thank you, Jsim, USMC.