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Berta, Thank you for the answer. Thats what I needed to know.

I filed for Depression as Secondary to DMII when I originally filed for compensation in 2005. My claim was denied in 2006 because the C&P examiner had opined that my Depression was caused by my Heart Disease, here is the actual paragraph from my Decision Letter about my Depression claim: "We have continued the denial of service connection for depression secondary to your diabetes. Upon VA examination, you were diagnosed with depressive disorder, not otherwise specified but the examiner states that this condition's onset was related to your open heart surgery and not your diabetes. Your heart condition has not been service connected so service connection for any condition caused by your heart is not in order." During this time I had an active claim for my Heart Diseases as Secondary to my DMII. In January 2008, I was given a Full Grant of Service Connection for my Heart Diseases. In February and March 2008 a VA Mental Health doc told me my Depression was related to my two tours in Nam and aggravated by my DMII, Heart Diseases, Chronic Pain, Other SC conditions, The Loss of my wife, and the loss of my ability to work due to my Service Connected issues. That is some background information for those not familiar with my previous posts on this issue. So now for the questions: What type of claim should I file? - Should I just file a regular NOD of the Decision from 2006? Should I file a CUE if there is one? Should I file this as if it was a new claim? Should I ask for the Effective Date to go back to the original filing date since they gave me an Effective Date of 2005 on the Heart Diseases? Or should I just get the claim approved then fight for the Effective Date later? Should I only claim that the Depression was caused by the Heart Disease? Or should I also claim it was related Directly to my service as a back up? Or should I also claim it was related to the Heart Disease, My Service, and Chronic Pain? Should I request a DRO review ot hearing if I can at this stage in the claim? I have most of the evidence together and ready to go. I just need to figure out which way to file and get the ball rolling.

I just read your post again, and wanted to ask for clarification of why you got a 20% rating for the DI. I want to make sure I am reading your explanation correctly. Above you said it was due to needing two separate periods of dehydration within a year, but I read the regs to say that you only need to have Polyuria with near continuos thirst and ONE or more episodes of dehydration in the past year not requiring parenteral hydration to get 40%. Again, sorry if I covered something already in here, some of these are long and my eyes can wander sometimes. Just trying to offer any help I can.

Excuse me if I missed this or am covering something already mentioned. I see the mentioning of Frequent Urination. Are you rated for this separately or as part of another disability? I have a claim in for Frequent Urination as Secondary to taking Furosimide for my Chronic Congestive Heart Failure. I do not have a clue what they will say,I have not heard anything back yet on this one, but it is listed in the Rating Schedules. Urinary frequency: Daytime voiding interval less than one hour, or; awakening to void five or more times per night ................................................................. 40 Daytime voiding interval between one and two hours, or; awakening to void three to four times per night .......................................... 20 Daytime voiding interval between two and three hours, or; awakening to void two times per night ....................................................... 10 Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, I have had SSDI since 2004 and it is due to my Heart Diseases and they are Service Connected. It is actually in my VA medical records, Va mental health records, my C&P examiners records, and even on my original application in 2004 that I am unemployed due to my Heart Disease and other service connected conditions. I guess I will go ahead an shoot off a quick TDIU claim tommorow and develope the evidence and such after I get the Depression claim developed. When / if I get the TDIU I will fight for the Effective Date to go back to when my records indicate for the TDIU. My problem is I have so many claims, I am hoping I do not clog the pipe and cause myself a longer wait and more grief because I have to much going on at once. Heck I still have not figured out if I can ask them to change my orignial efetive date of the DMII and other claims due to me being a AO / Neimer vet. If I overload my brain to much at once it will explode, so I am a little slow sometimes.

Good news Berta! Now maybe they will not try to fight you so much. Call me crazy, no its ok go ahead, but I keep seeing that darn tv commercial playing in my head now that I see your post, the one for the lawyer James Scott Farrin or whatever. "Tell them you mean business, tell the you hired NOVA" Ok enough from me for now. Sorry I have to let the little people out of my brain at least once a day and they make me type these things.

I agree with pete wait a couple of weeks, sometimes it takes the docs a bit to sign off on the reports also you never know you might have a decision by then. On my first appeal, I received a decision about 10 days after my C&P exam. On my secons appeal, I received a decision for one part four months after the C&P exam and the other part was eight months after the C&P exam. As is eveything with the VA there is no consistency. I will pray for the best for you, and I wish you good luck.

I received notification earlier this month that I was approved for SDV-I Life Insurance. They automatically filled an informal calim for waiver of premiums based on my medical records indicating that I am so severly disabled. I did not formally request a waiver of premiums at any time. Now today I get an approval letter for Waiver of Premiums. The letter states : "We have found that you have been totally disabled and entitled to waiver of premiums from March 1, 2008, the effective date of your policy." If you recall some of my earlier posts, I am working the Service Connected Heart Disease Rating, and have not officially filed for TDIU. I am currently in the process of working up the paperwork for my Depression claim that was denied. TDIU was third on my list. The question being do you think this statement will hold any weight with the VA for my TDIU claim since this comes from the VA Regional Office and Insurance Center? I wonder if it will trigger an informal TDIU claim before I get a 21-8940 filed?

I received notification earlier this month that I was approved for SDV-I Life Insurance. It was a great thing, becaue I can leave something behind for my son and his family who have dedicated so much time caring for me. Now today I get an approval letter for Waiver of Premiums. So I do not have to pay for the life insurance premiums on the ten thousand dollars in insurance. Also it says I can purchase upto an additional twenty thousand dollars life insurance for a small monthly premium. Its not a back pay claim or anyting like that, but it sure felt good to get this. Its not often I have a happy day. Today is.

Pete is absolutely right. This is something that needs to be defeated. We can only hope that enough people push and prod the ones that have the clout to strike this dead. In my opinion this would reverse most gains (what little they are) that veterans have seen in the past 20 years.

Berta, I do not want to lead your post of topic, but I do have a question about SMC. Is SMC due to any veteran who meets the qualifications for any particular SMC level? Doy ou have to have served any particular amount of time or any other odd stipulation like that? I might be confusing this with combat related disability or something, but it keeps running through my head SMC was for retiree's or something like that.

VSO's are just like any other person in life. Sometimes you get a really good and dedicated one that will do everything in their power to help you, even when they are bursting at the seams with workload. Sometimes you get one that only does only whats required to keep thier position and that is it. Sometimes you get one who wants to do a world of good, but lacks the resources, time, ect. because of the tremendous case load they have. As stated by many Haditites before, YOU are the only one truely vested in the outcome of your claim, YOU are the only one who is going to suffer if your claim is shuffled away or pushed to the side, so YOU need to be involved at all times. To me haveing a VSO is like having a second mind, set of eyes, ect on your claim. They do have some benficial access at the RO to find out some things before you normally would. From what I understand, some have access to talk to the raters directly and the DRO's. If nothing else, they can go into the computer or go pull your file and find out whats the current status of things. I personally have had some negative and positive experiences with VSO's. I finally realized, that I needed to do everything I can to work my claim, and I have a VSO's to assist, double check, bounce ideals off of, be a mounth piece, ect.. I honestly have found HADIT.COM to be more help to me than any VSO in the past. With all that said, I still think VSO's are an impotant part of the puzzle, I think it can be an asset to have one in the waiting when you need them.

Great news!

Yes, welcome to Hadit. And for my two cents worth, I would agree with getting an IMO. Having a docotor with credentials is the best ammunition in a situation where you believe their examiner errored. Also is a good ideal to go ahead and apply for the SSDI. A lot of vets use the SSDI determination to help get TDIU. Good luck!

Yes, they are the department that administers that program. They will have a counselor go over the types of things you want / need and they will make up a plan for you. As pete stated thought, sometimes it is limited due to funds.

You need to apply for Vocational Rehabilitation services. They are the ones who administer the Independent Living Program. You can either goto the VA web site and apply online or you can use the attached form. Godd Luck! va_form_28_1900.pdf

Page look awesome. Great job.

Jayq, If you are asking what does "2+ swelling w/out effusion(?jg)" mean; They are saying that you have swelling without abnormal buildup of joint fluid. Hope that helps some.

You use form 21-8940 (attached) to file for TDIU. They will send the required forms to your previous employer to have them filled out. I know there are copies of the actual employer forms floting around, I saw them recently, but I have no ideal if the VA will accept them if you just get them filled out and sent in. Maybey someone can attach the forms or provide a link them. VA_Form_21_8940_Application_for_TDIU_Printable.pdf

First I would like to say I am glad you finally got your hearing aide and it is helping you. It sounds like you got your hearing aide due to getting a new doc, and that has nothing to do with your claim. Did you mean C&P exam? If not what is cmp? Sorry so many abbreviations mean so many things these days. Do you have a Veterans Service Office assisting you? Did you file a formal claim with the VA's Regional Office? You can call the VA Regional Office for your area and inquiry about the status of your claim to see if it is just sitting or actually has movement. Sometimes a claim falls through the cracks and can sit for 10 years or longer if you do not inquire and get it moving again.

Yes, there are so many of these now. In this day of technology, seems like any chance they get, the scammers jump up and get to work. Even if they only get a 1% responce to their scam before it is shut down or just finished, they make a ton of money. To me though its even more shameful that their intended victim is usually disabled people, elderly people, or veterans.

This is a great thing, this helps you prove your not able to be emloyeed. I can only offer my opinions and observations but I am glad to do so if it helps. Forget about being nice and cordial. They use that against you. When they ask how are you, DO NOT say good, fine, excellent, ect. They have been known in the past to use that one single question and answer to say a vet was doing ok. If something hurts, say they ask you to bend down, DO NOT wait until its so bad you can not take it anymore. As soon as you start to bend, stoop, flex, say it hurts when it does and stop. Refuse to push yourself, they will use that against you sometimes and say you have better range of motion than you do. Make sure you explain to them how these things have affected your life and how they prevent you from being employeed. Sometimes they try to cut you short or lead you past your comments, DO NOT let them do that, make sure you present your point and let them know how it affects you. When they ask about severity or say how does it feel daily, make sure you tell them about the worst it feels not that sometimes its ok. If you state at any point that for instance every other tuesday if feel ok but 90% of the time I can not do anything, they might put it in the report as you are ok most of the time or you are ok all the time. Not all examiners are out to trap or get you, but the exam sheets and the actuall exam request and instructions sent to the examiner before the appointment are often loaded to lead you to a low ball rating or no rating. Just my opinions and observations. Hopefully more Haditite will chime in.

Yes, that is what is great I plan on using their own words to prove the Service Connection. Here is a quote from the Decision I received March 30, 2006 : "We have continued the denial of service connection for depression secondary to your diabetes. Upon VA examination, you were diagnosed with depressive disorder, not otherwise specified but the examiner states that this condition's onset was related to your open heart surgery and not your diabetes. Your heart condition has not been service connected so service connection for any condition caused by your heart is not in order." It is my thought that this little paragraph means they proved my service connection for me considering that now all my heart conditions are service connected, even the open heart surgery. I originally filed for service connection for my heart conditions on April 1,2005 and they were on appeal until the full grant of service connection on January 8,2008. They gave me an effective date of April 1,2005.

It sure never hurts to file. Send in a claim for it, if they say its all part of the same then you have a year to decide if you want to go forward or not. If you have this and believe it might be service connected, my opinion would be its worth the time to see what they do. You never know what might happen later in life. If you fall and your DISH results in a fracture or break you might have a hard time fighting the claim. Just my opinion. I will be filling a claim for this if the doc says he believes it is caused by my DMII or CAD.

The RO sent my claim out for a medical opinion in December on my Heart Disease claim. The opinion just so happened to partially benfit me so I am glad they did. I would agree with hoppy at least you know they are trying to work the claim.