Kitkat

I think I got lost in this conversation. I’m not sure what’s going on.

Here is another report you might find helpful then Mr. Cue. I was so far back I wasn’t sure if it was old news. https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-21-01237-127.pdf

That’s great Mr Cue. Hopefully this time the wind will blow in your favor!

I didn’t file an appeal, it just generated it in the system. Or maybe the DAV did it.

I do value your input and it has helped me understand the steps I need to take if my faith in the system falls through. So please don’t mistake my current lack of action as dismissing your advice. I value other peoples points of view. With cognitive issues it helps when others give you points of views that you miss. I get a better sense between what is and what should be.

My doctor got involved this time. I just had an exam last week I think. I have no clue what it was for but my son tells me he thought it went well. I always do better when he is with me. This claim started off as just trying to resubmit my claim and I think they changed it to a review and kept all my past paperwork submitted to the current one. That gave me some hope.

I have asked about it and nothing has been found. It was out of Baltimore MD, but my area of MD falls under Washington DC. So I kept the paper because I didn’t know how else to follow it. I posted it to my current claim in hope they might check into it. This recent effort to get benefits changed to the right SC disabilities has been a mess. It currently seems to be looked at by someone who knows the regulations, so I don’t want to jump too fast. It takes me a long time to type things out and line up my thoughts. I want to see how it goes by giving them the benefit of doubt in hope they are doing the same. I have nothing but time sitting here waiting. Having more time then money, I’m going to hope for the best!

Not sure if this post is still followed or relevant, but I wanted to post this to help anyone looking for more on this issue. I too was rated for post concussive syndrome in 1994. I received a tiny increase to 30% in 2006. In 2009 I received this letter (I cut off my personal information). I filled the forms out ant sent it back but never heard about it again. I have submitted the letter to see if it would help with my current claim but I’m still waiting. Hope it helps. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is concerned about veterans who experienced head injuries during military service. Our recurds show that you received a disability rating for a service-connected traumatic brain injury (TBI). Recent medical studies focusing on TBI now provide a more thorough understanding of this disability and the symptoms associated with it. VA responded to these studies by developing new criteria for evaluating TBI disability levels and the compensation payments associated with them. The new evaluation criteria became effective October 23, 2008. You may have been rated before the new criteria became effective. If you still have residual symptoms, you may be re-examined based on the new criteria. This examination may result in a compensation increase even though your condition has not changed. You can request this examination through your local regional office on the enclosed VA Form 21-4138, Statement in Support of Claim. If you qualify for increased compensation, the increase may be paid up to one year retroactively, but not before October 23, 2008, when the new criteria went into effect. As a disabled veteran, you may also be eligible for vocational rehabilitation benefits. The Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E) Program can help you prepare for, get, and keep a suitable job. If you are too seriously disabled to work, the program can help you learn to live more independently. For more information, including how to apply, please review the enclosed forms, "Important Information about Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits, " and the "Disabled Veterans Application for Vocational Rehabilitation." Contact your local VA regional office or veterans service organization representative for additional information. You may also telephone the VA information line toll-free at 1-800-827-1000. Sincerely, CHERYL R. FLOHR VETERANS SERVICE CENTER MANAGER Enclosure: VAF 21-4138 VAF 28-1900 VAF 28-8890

Not sure where to post this. Please feel free to move or delete if inappropriate here. it explains why I have struggled so much with my claim this time. Hope it’s a sign for change on the current one. A few of my old claims they closed are now listed as currently being appealed in the issue tab. Hopefully that just means they will change the effective date. https://www.va.gov/oig/publications/report-summary.asp?id=5194

I have no expertise in this area so it’s just a thought. im not sure where the burns are located but they can cause Chronic Neuropathic Pain in some cases. Migraines are linked to certain nerve pain as the trigger I think. Does he still have residual pain from the burns?

Sorry I crashed the other post. I thought I would start a fresh one here. I picked success stories because in 2005 I found the help I needed to understand everything to put in my claim and got 100% P&T. No I had no idea that I was eligible for more. I’m at a point that I have an Home Aid 4 days a week and my son the rest. My ex-husband that shares a bank account with me has been making sure everything is paid and managed because I don’t have any understanding of time. In the back of a car sitting in park we were hit by a truck going 55+ and smashed enough that I was cut out of the car after being overlooked at first. My entire body has muscular, nerve and joint damage. My head suffers from everything. TBI, Mental, ears, sinus infections, jaw misalignment, TMJ, teeth ground down from nigh terrors, vertigo, low vision and on/off hearing changes. I don’t remember much and the stuff I do might be from learning about it and it becoming part of the story thousands of times and feeling like I remember parts. I thought I remembered before the accident but after my son helping me straighten paperwork and put it chronologically in order I was once again trying to pull my thoughts together so it would make sense. I have proactively gotten tests every few years or so trying to see if anything shows but it all comes back normal. I was 19 when it happened. At some point I met and married my first husband but I have no memory of it at all. I became pregnant and stopped all the pills they had been shoveling at me for 8 months. Real life had taken a wrong turn when I was checked out. My husband threw away my shoes in front of me, I asked him why? He looked at me and said he didn’t and I must be having one of my crazy moments. Then blamed me for the shoes. Several more incidents like that followed over the next week or two. I then walked in on him snorting crystal meth with a friend of his. He flushed it and swore it was a one time thing. I was pregnant, young, confused and scared. I found him doing it again not 5 hours later. I called his father who was a Master Chief and told him. He said I was confused and there was no way that could be. After that things got worse. He no longer cared if I saw him and he worked at the Base hospital. I had met him there I guess and saw his name in my medical records starting about 2 months after my accident. He had everyone thinking I was getting worse with my pregnancy in connection to my head injury. So my last few months active duty I was a bit crazy and missed a lot of what was going on with my PEB and medical discharge. Until about to months ago, almost 30 years later I had not idea I was discharged for Post Concussive Syndrome with skull fractures and lacerations to my face. My TBI residuals are listed as an Adjustment Disorder with them all listed under that. Post Concussive Migraines, TBI, and muscular injuries throughout my entire body. I thought I was discharged for my back injury and just connected by my medical records for everything else rated with the VA. In 1998 I was given 30% for depression. I live in a very rural area and our out patient VA clinic didn’t have mental health until around 2009. I have scattered records for the late 90s, then have documentation for my health care from 2000 until 2006 with my local Dr. Over that period of time I was sick with various illnesses every few months and exhausted. He ran tests for everything and I was always positive for some viral infection. Around my 30th birthday I thought I had gotten bitten by a spider that night. I was horrible! I stopped by his office before work, I had shingles. He had talked me into taking a Federal job years before because he explained how the retirement if I became disabled was worth taking a pay cut. He had given me till I was forty. That day he showed me how I was getting sick more often and my body wasn’t fighting things off. I didn’t want to stop working and he gave me until I was 35 until I had no choice. I made it to 33. I got sick during a business trip to San Diego and never got better. I was treated for bronchitis, strept throat and sinus infections. I kept going to work until one day my boss said I needed to go home, I hadn’t been myself for a few weeks. My memory loss issues had started to show and I had no concentration on top of being really sick. At home I just got worse. My Dr ran tests on everything. Then my EBV Ab and Ab neuclarantibody test came back over 2600 and over 1600 for the second. He told me I had to retire or my body was going to keep getting sick until it killed me. So I retired, put in for VA increase and got 90% P&T, then was given SSDI after my disability retirement that was approved in 1 month and 2 days. Getting sick with no answers for months killed my marriage to my second husband. I thought maybe it was in my head because I was so tired. Lemuel- that’s why finding out I was so sick before my accident has made me wonder if it is connected to why my TBI recovery was so bad and if it has been the root to my chronic viruses. Looking at the medical records with my son we found sinus infections, bronchitis and URI’s every few weeks to 2 months. Then the pattern continues with the medical records I have after the military. I’m not in my prime and fall regularly because my limbs aren’t under my full control. My cognitive and mental health left the building year ago. I’m retired so I just have to deal with it privately which isn’t as bad as it could be. My claims in the past 2 years is trying to get the proper disabilities connected so I will get the right medical care in 10 years when I don’t have enough of myself left to make sure I’m medically taken care of. I don’t want my son to be my care taker so I’m fighting now while I still have good moments so he isn’t left with me as a burden. So I have no clue how everything has changed and I’m here again to try and pull things together and navigate the VA system again. so that’s my tale condensed a bit. I back to try and learn from everyone once again.

I’m not ready for that yet. A good day I don’t walk into a wall, so I’m just trying to understand everything. I’m 100% P&T. My doctor just put in A&A paperwork. I haven’t filed a claim since 2005. I’m a bit lost with everything right now. I will definitely reach out to him when I understand things a little better. My son has been helping me with forms and we don’t have a clue between us.

That’s one of my local area codes too. Do I just call him? Please forgive my ignorance of chat etiquette. Thank you for the warm welcome.

I’m going to write my hello post, but I wanted to chime in on your post before I lost it. (Newbie!) My first thought was what injury did you get both shoulder ratings for? My next thought holds no foundation at this point but is something my Dr. At the Polytrama center are looking at. I was really sick before my TBI. Even ended up in the infectious disease office but nothing could be diagnosed for certain. I was in CA and at one point it was listed as Valley Fever. This was early 90s and until my son found a chunk of medical records and put them in order I had no memory of being so sick before the accident. There are a few articles out about infections being more important to the immune system then injury. That would possibly create issues for a head trauma if you might have been sick at the time. Just thought I would share in cause you might remember something.