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Rivet62
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Posts posted by Rivet62
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3 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:
Have to? No, Ive had one but it was for an increase exam. My initial exam was a pin/poke test with various implements on the tops and bottoms of my feet and my legs in various places where the peripheral nerve paths are. You can look that up and see a picture if you google "radicular nerves back picture"
Wow. Good to know.
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18 hours ago, brokensoldier244th said:
Those 4142's, though- SUPER IMPORTANT. We cannot request records from private providers without them, and signed. Period. BLUF.
Sorry to keep asking you...but do I send the private healthcare providers my signed 4142 and they mail it back to me? Or do I ask them to mail it to VA?
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12 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:
Radiculopathy falls under partial paralysis of the peripheral nerves and is usually rated separately. Its not a super high threshold. When I got hurt and ruptured two discs I knew it because I couldn't feel my toes all the way- like coming in from a cold day, but all the time.
Did you have to do nerve conduction studies to prove that?
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9 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:
4142s are for medical information not employment information. They are a release form for records, and are only needed for medical, or investigative records from police, shore patrol, SHARP/SAPRO, etc. They don't have anything to do with your employment. Thats the 21-4192.
AHH ok then. 4142s...Yes I can do that. 21-4192s...ok.
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18 hours ago, brokensoldier244th said:
Try to leave some stuff out in the background that could potentially get worse to file for later.
Does radiculopathy count as a back issue? I don't even know if my radiculopathy is rated as secondary to my back issues. Once again having the C-File would help a lot. How do I find out what the secondary conditions are in my existing claims?
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18 hours ago, brokensoldier244th said:
Those 4142's, though- SUPER IMPORTANT.
Oh dear God. What about self-employment? I did a short stint of occasional cleaning and included those in my tax return with proper tax forms. I stated on the TDIU form the date range of this attempt at something, but I did not list the 3 customers I did work for on the TDIU form.
18 hours ago, brokensoldier244th said:Otherwise, later, when you try to apply for housebound or something if those conditions are lumped in with IU already they don't count towards the 60% you need for SMC's higher than SMC-K. Try to leave some stuff out in the background that could potentially get worse to file for later.
Ahhh that's gold. Ok... I stated Back Issues and Depression (I haven't submitted the form yet) but maybe I can use radiculopathies as the next step, but that's a high threshold...like permanent paralysis. If I use the back issues as the next step toward that 60% you're talking about then it sort of weakens my TDIU to just depression which was largely evident in the last job I had at the VAMC...potentially harming greater retro pay I think. Priority is to pay off the mortgage, and not additional dollar amounts for SMC. I think the radiculopathies could reach 60% in the future. I just read an attorney article on grasping with the hand, etc, for SMC-K.
Anyway, thanks for this. I have to be careful what I do.
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1 minute ago, ArNG11 said:
fight when you are in the right and have the evidence , regulations, laws and medical opinions.
I'm learning
2 minutes ago, ArNG11 said:The law is on your side, sometimes you just have to remind them that the law is on our side and spell it out. I have been successful because of this. It is personal for me. I'm not going to fight for something don't deserve or have the evidence for.
Requests for increases should include the regs, laws, and case outcomes. It takes work doesn't it? I never thought I would be entering a career just submitting claims. I'm learning. It takes work. So much work that it would seem reasonable to deny unemployability if you are capable of enough to present the evidence and the arguments on the proper form and at the proper time. Thank God they don't look at it that way.
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7 minutes ago, ArNG11 said:
Rivet62 did you write you don't have a copy of your Cfile. What about your attorney does he not have a copy?
The paralegal says the attorney has a virtual copy with no easy way to copy it except for screenshots that would have to pasted then printed or stored on an electronic medium. I have made an electronic form request for my C-File through my paralegal's submission. VA can't find that request. Months later I called 1-800-Peggy and they said I don't need a form, just hand write the request on plain paper. A month later I call 1-800-Peggy and the next mouth said that they see the handwritten request but can't process it because it's not on the proper request form. It's a game of 'Mother May I" and the mother is a real mother f.
Not having ink in the printer (that's coming in a few days, because I'm tired of trips across town to the photocopier shop), I'll print the form out and mail it and maybe one of these years I'll have the C-File. It's a bloody elusive thing. Maybe it's a comet, you can catch a glimpse or you don't.
16 minutes ago, ArNG11 said:The VA is the most formidable entity that I have ever had to deal with much worse than Department of Labor, Social Security, OPM combined believe me that is saying something.
I would have to say that is true. It is unlike anything I have ever encountered. It makes me think the VA is the DoD, which casts a long shadow over everything and anything else.
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10 minutes ago, ArNG11 said:
Emotions and pain get in the way of reasonable thinking at times for me. Well to be frank, it is most of the time but I don't want to beat a semi -dead horse.
I can relate to that, in my own way, as it pertains to me and mine. You don't want to beat a dead horse, but it's hard to keep the mind from cycling through it.
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24 minutes ago, Berta said:This is something as far as EEDs go re: TDIU and an additional one year EED to the date of the claim.
https://cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/09-7104.pdf
Has anyone told you how utterly valuable you are to us here?
24 minutes ago, Berta said:After he died the claim was still pending and the VA awarded me, his surviving spouse, as accrued , an EED of the date SSDI had declared him unemployable due to his PTSD. EED November 1991.That sheds light on a lot of what we're discussing here, but it saddens me that your husband died first. Ideally, the two of you should have enjoyed a well won vacation.
24 minutes ago, Berta said:f he had not died perhaps the VA would have considered an extraschedular TDIU ---(maybe-he was only at 30% PTSD , but had significant medical records to support the TDIU) .But they cant award TDIU to a dead person, so they awarded 100% P % T SC due to SC PTSD back to Nov. 1991.100% SC is made P & T by death.But of the time which elapsed in which he might have received TDIU, you as his wife (and spouse for increased pay) would have benefitted. I'm questioning the VA logic. Not you. On the other hand, TDIU is like a contractual agreement and if the recipient is dead then there is no further tests of continued TDIU. The insight of what you're saying here is life lesson on how VA views TDIU ultimately.
If I were to die, before retro pay for TDIU is realized, then my adult daughter (who is not a dependent) could not benefit at all in my estate. It would be cut and dried if I got my TDIU retro pay, and paid off the house that I have willed to her. If I die before retro pay of TDIU then she would have to sell the house to pay off the existing mortgage.
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1 minute ago, ArNG11 said:
Mind you they don't have to follow suit, however, I didn't really give them a choice.
LOL... Yeah. I think the opportunity for me to press that point is cite SSA's decision in the Remarks section of the TDIU request form (VA Form 21-8940) but darn I am running out of space there. I don't trust attachments.
5 minutes ago, ArNG11 said:Filing for IU, I mean the VA has to raise those issues legally when they where informed that you retired medically. Don't hold me to this conclusion, but it gets into the realm that the VA knew that your service connected disabilities were part of the reason of your difficulties in sustaining gainful employment at which point the issue of IU should come up.
Right. I am sort of hopping on one foot, blind folded with my hands tied behind my back on these nuances...not having a copy of C-File. The best I can do is state that VA had the evidence before them when they researched my VA medical record which led to an additional condition of 10% as stated on the SOC. VA looked through my medical record to arrive at the partial increase stated on their SOC. I have to argue it. I'm not placing my hopes that VA will, on their own, give me the right effective date. I'm pretty sure I'll have to argue it later.
9 minutes ago, ArNG11 said:I would discuss the issues with the attorney as he would be the expert in the interpretation of the law, however, I have learned in my experiences not to rely solely on an attorney.
Gosh. That's similar to my experience too. LOL
11 minutes ago, ArNG11 said:Discuss when there is something that is contrary to the regulations and laws that apply to your case with the medical evidence that was used for your claims decisions.
Yeah, I think my position is to raise that at the RO level in a supplemental claim and submit the application for TDIU on the existing rating.
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58 minutes ago, blahsaysme2u said:
so maybe supplemental is the way to go unless you just want someone to look at your claim as is...but i still feel like you should be able to make an argument to the HLR.
From my understanding, make sure the attorney doesn't file a VA Form 9, otherwise all bets are off for the supplemental claim or any argument outside the issues going to the Board. Berta might be able to clarify this, but she provided a link to a case before the Board that denied claims raised in a concurrent supplemental claim and that those issues weren't properly raised at the Board as they should have been, and the RO didn't consider it because the Board appeal was chosen. Please Berta I hope you chime in here... Or anyone else with more experience than me. My understanding is that VA Form 9 puts everything in front of the Board and so there is no new evidence that can be considered and no arguments of new issues. The HLR option is also voided by the filing of VA Form 9 as it is a request to go before the Board. So be careful.
I know when I had my Board hearing my attorney warned me NOT to raise any new issue during the hearing is that would have kicked the whole thing back to the RO. VA Form 9 is a request to appeal existing issues already adjudicated at the RO level, and nothing more. Just make sure that he doesn't file a VA Form 9, so he can enter the Supplemental Claims path of appeal.
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7 hours ago, Foxhound6 said:
I know my attorney filed for increases but asked that TDIU be considered WITH those increases. For example, I had increases filed and had exams for them. However, in addition to that, the examiner had to fill out another form regarding employment with their increase exam. I would go this route.
Well my attorney didn't believe in standard procedures such as submitting the standard form for TDIU, VA Form 21-8940, preferring to windbag it for years arguing for "an inferred claim of TDIU" so I lost the opportunity to file TDIU along with increases noted in the NOD. It might have worked out, jumping to the Board hearing but that hearing was dismissed based on a technicality of "docket error" (score 10 for my bumbling attorney) and so I'm back at submitting the proper form this time without him but with a DAV VSO instead. The opportune time, for me, to have filed the TDIU form would have been when employment ended, and the second opportunity might have been to file with the NOD. Both were ignored by my attorney. So now I'm at the SOC stage, filing a TDIU, and I'll request the schedular increases as my current medical records grow (hopefully within one year of the SOC.
I don't think I can or want to submit for newer increases with the TDIU (following the SOC) because that would delay the TDIU request perhaps by a year, because I'm still trying to bring my medical records current as of 2022. So, I wish to file for increases separately as I can. Therefore, the TDIU will be based on my current rating. And I want to submit for increases as my records grow to get me to schedular 90% or greater.
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2 hours ago, ArNG11 said:
My IU is based on my bent brain, however, my other disabilities get me passed 90%. That in conjunction with medically retiring through OPM back in 2015 and getting on SSDI put over the hump for being unemployable due to some of my service connected disabilities being the reason for my having to retire medically.
Darn, you do sound a lot like me. Yes. My 10% issues, rated according to my records of 2018, can go to 20% each according to the ratings regs. And yes, I went on SSDI for the same SC'd issues with an effective date of within two weeks of medical resignation from the VAMC. Weird how it all worked out around the same timeframe.
2 hours ago, ArNG11 said:Your going to need increases in those 10% in order to get where you wanna get.
Yes. I'm looking at 2 current ratings of 10% (based on 2018 records) that need to increase to the current medical status as of 2022. There are two other ratings at 10% based more on range of motion, and they were rated based on records of 2018. As of 2022, my range of motion shows that those could each increase to 20% if the regs are followed.
2 hours ago, ArNG11 said:Also you can force the VA hand with having other agencies declare you unemployable. You are on SSDI right? Though they don't have to follow other agencies decisions, it is compelling evidence of you're not being gainfully employed.
Yes, I'm on SSDI for the same SC'd conditions and the SSA decision letter states that my skills and experience are not transferable to other occupations based on the numbers of like-kind jobs in the national economy.
2 hours ago, ArNG11 said:I noticed that your nerve ratings for each side have a 4 year gap, was this due to not having symptoms of both consecutively or did it progress? Did medical records not show notable symptoms of both or did it progress?
There is a 4 year gap, only because one of my doctors finally entered the right side radiculopathy, but the symptoms were there all along as I described them in MyHealth eVet messaging (which ended up in my medical record. So the RO just gave the effective date of the first doctor that addressed that, without digging deeper into the evidence of symptoms all along.
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2 hours ago, Buck52 said:
As for as filing for another condition seperate from your original condition that made you Unemployable,
you should file for that in your increase , because if you have TDIU and another seperate distnk condition RATING AT 60% OR MOREthat makes you eligable for SMC S.
I'll look at the regs and diagnostic codes, I'm not sure if I can reach for 60% together with the TDIU request but that would be THE PLAN. I am awaiting the scheduling of a spine specialist to help bring the whole thing current as of 2022 and hopefully he can identify if more joints are involved. I'm getting there though. I can FEEL I'm getting closer to needing SMCs.
2 hours ago, Buck52 said:substantially confined to his or her dwelling or immediate premises as a result of a service-connected disability.
I don't think I'm there yet, and I'm saying this as a matter of lifestyle.
2 hours ago, Buck52 said:SO ANOTHER SEPERATE CONDITION RATED 60% OR MORE WOULD RENDER YOU A 100% RATING WITH SMC S AND THATS ANOTHER 380.00 OR SO ADDED INTO YOUR 100% RATING.
I'm pretty sure the back issues will get me to this rating, in time.
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2 hours ago, Buck52 said:
unless you have medical records eariler from a quilfiied Dr rendering you unemployable due to your condition injury from your military service ect,,ect,,
I do have the records, and the records are very thorough as to dates, times, and medical opinions) and processes leading to time off in various forms, because I worked at a VAMC (federal gov't loves paperwork). Anyway, I'm hoping it plays out that way.
2 hours ago, Buck52 said:Is when a ''quailfied Doctor after examing you and reading your medical records render in his/her opinion that you are unemployable due to your service connected condition .
or facts found. which ever is eariler.
I had two things going on in my employment at my local VAMC. One was manual labor that had me medically transferred to a sedentary job (very excessive time off and FMLA in that) and then sedentary position revealed mental health issues plus physical issues (I couldn't sit or stand for long) and so once again lots of paperwork and FMLA. Yes, my back has gotten worse and so that's the conditions that warrant the increase.
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I need assistance please with filling out the TDIU form, VA Form 21-8940.
Do I need to break down the dates that I was under each doctor's care?
It's all at the same VA Medical Center.
Thank you
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4 hours ago, blahsaysme2u said:
what type of outside referrals are you getting from your PC?
Specialist for spine, anesthesiologist for nerve block, physical therapy, and that's it so far. I'm new there.
- blahsaysme2u and Vync
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10 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:
You fill out a new 21-22 with your new rep. Then upload it (or they might). This will trigger the removal of the other POA.
Yeah the DAV VSO submitted the new 21-22 this past Tuesday, and the attorney is out.
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5 minutes ago, brokensoldier244th said:
You can't 'request' P&T. Its not a rating action. Its something that usually kicks in after about 5 yrs or when your conditions are all static (usually 5ish yrs of either no change or at least no changes for the better).
I would like to file increases, in response to an SOC. Inching toward 100%P&T. Meanwhile, my VSO wants to file a request for TDIU right away.
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Hello all,
My new appointed VSO seems to just want to do the TDIU request. Meanwhile, I am gathering more and more evidence toward 100% P&T.
Can I have him do just the TDIU request, because the monthly increase of money comes sooner (I think), and after we finalize the TDIU then do I drop him so I can submit things on my own?
When I went to eBenefits to "Manage my Representative" I could only see options of choosing between an Attorney POA, or VSO, or Claims Agent (I think).
Where and how do I establish that I am representing myself when I want to submit new claims or request increases?
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Assistance with TDIU form 21-8940
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted
Thank you so much