cbayless1984

thanks for the replys and all the good info. nice to know that i'm not the only one going thru it. thanks for the support and i'll let you know on the c & p, as for now, well my wifes water just broke and i'm runnin around crazy. chris

No, your right pete, and thanks again for the responses guys. I didn't look at it till now, but i guess i am lucky if there actually looking into my medical records already. That sounds like a good thing I guess. Hopefully i'll get my letter today stating the time and date of my c & p exam. 10-15 business days is what i was told, today is the 10th bus. day so we'll see... Thanks again Chris

I'd like to say thanks to pete and john for replying, however, to pete, what exatctly did you mean by guardian angel at the VA. I considered it a horrible experience but if there's a bright side to it, please let me know. Thanks again. Chris

Just to make it clear, what i'm saying is while i was on active duty, i was seen at the physical medicine clinic at womack and prescribed opiates for 2 years. I got out and made an appt w/ the VA, that's when they told me they don't prescribe narcotics for my injury. I've never been in any kinda pain program with the VA. The docs were at the physical medicine clinic at Womack while I was on active duty. Just wanted to clear that up, after reading my post, it sounded confusing.

Thanks again for the reply. I know the addiction thing has been dealt w/ several times. That why I'm suprised I can't find much info on it. I had never been prescribed a narcotic in my life before that injury. From that day (may 2003) to july 2005 they prescribed all my medications. All prescriptions were written by docs. in the physical medicine clinic and they were filled at the pharmacy at womack. If you read in my original post, they have my opiod addiction pretty much summed up w/ anxiety for depression secondary to my back condition, i was also wondering if anyone could give me advice on whether that means anything positive or ...? I know the VA medical has failed me, but while I was AD, They prescribed me narcotics for 2 years continuously, even made me sign a narcotic contract w/ them, and i followed it. Cutting me off from the dose i was at is sure to lead to addiction (you'd think). So i have my prescription records to send in from womack showing that everymonth i filled my prescriptions from their docs. Then they did nothing to try to help me, not the docs at womack (which i think they should have) or the docs at the VA. Maybe a slow taper, some kind of help, anything, could of kept me from doing what I did. I'm not trying to put my addiction on anyone, but they sure as hell didn't do anything to prevent it from happening. I call it addiction, in my records from womack it's listed as dependance? think that means anything. Thanks again Chris

Thank you for the reply, seems like you had a pretty similiar experience (however, i'm most certainly not trying to compare mine to vietnam vets) but were pretty much in the same boat. I never went back to VA and couple a couple prescriptions from docs from the time i got out, but nothing continous or long term. I was hoping someone could give me some advice on how the VA goes about rating it. I've got med. rec. from 2 diff. rehab centers (never VA), and I'm on suboxone for the rest of my life to treat my addiction. So if anyone is familiar with how its being handled please let me know. and john, i feel for you bro, they do some f*cked up things as far as cutting people off. That's pretty much turned me from being someone who could manage their pain and attempt to live a normal life to someone who's main concern was getting opiates to treat pain. Thanks for the reply. Chris

Thank you J

Just a little background first. I got out of the army after serving 3 years on a medical discharge for a back injury substained on a jump in germany for my foreign wings. The paper when I got out said 0% but i was told that didn't have much bearing on my VA claim. For some reason (no good one) I waited from july of 2005 till october of 2007 to file my original claim. I'm gonna go ahead and be upfront. I filed for (and have plenty of medical records documenting each condition) Chronic back pain, Advanced degenerative disc disease, herniated intvertabral disc(s), opiod addiction, anxiety, depression and insomnia. That was in October of 2007. I just recently, after sending a formal complaint, was called and told my file was personally carried somewhere and they were scheduling me for a c & p exam. About a week ago I recieved a letter, alot like the first one, stating "We are amending your claim to include service-connected compensation for depression secondary to your back condition (also claimed as insomnia, anxiety, and opiod addiction)". As of today, I haven't recieved a letter saying when my c & p exam but the guy said 10-15 bus. days. Basically, and I was told this on the phone from a supervisor, my claim has been sitting on someone's desk since march but there "on top of it now". I'm telling everybody 1. to introduce myself 2. ask if anyone is familiar w/ the opiod addiction part (i've researched it as much as i can, I was given percocet after my injury, then sent to physical medicine at womack where they gave me more percocet, then morphine and percocet, then fentyl patches and percocet, then finally oxycontin 50mg twice a day and 4 percocet for breakthru, the oxycontin and percocet went on for about 8 months till i got out and my physical medicine doc told me to go to the va and they'll give em to me. yeah right. I was told they don't prescribe narcotics for my type of injuries) that's pretty much the only time I've went to the va. They went from prescribing me 60 40mg Oxycontin, 60 10mg Oxycontin, and 120 5mg percocet a month to zip. No taper, no anything, and I have all the prescription records showing it, everything was filled at womack, they had to special order the oxycontin. I got off subject but I wanted to shed some light on that issue. the 3rd reason is if that statement the second paragraph I have, the one the VA sent me about amending my claim, does that mean anything good for me, I was hoping someone could shed some light. The last reason I guess, I've been thru all the pointers for the C & P exam but if anyone has anything specific for my situtation i'll listen. Thanks for having me. Chris