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Thanks for the encouragement last year...Got my 100 T&P a couple weeks ago.....could not get on here to post it... They said my app for unemployability was mute since i was 100 T&P...guess that is better than unemployability anyway, right? backdated to dec 04..not bad. thanks all...t

Looking for a software prog to keep a daily diary of my disabilities and how each does each day and when episodes/multiple episodes happen...mainly a medical diary..I suppose a regular e diary would do, but was wondering if anyone had any medical specific daily diary software recommendations? thanks..t

i see a private doctor for most things, but I have fibro, but have had headaches and migraines in the service, but due to many falls over the last 15 years, because of the knees giving or locking and many of those times hitting my head on the floor or whatever(hit a rock last year and knocked me out), the tension headaches are just about everyday and the migraines 3-8 a mo. so would assume the increas in migraines is due to hitting the head on the floor and stuff on falls. I just started topomax. so don't know how it will work. is the torodol all you use when you get one? is it only in shot form? thanks..t

thanks, no have not tried it...have osteoarthritis and stuff in knees ankles and joints, migraines et. tried percoset and it did not work well tried morphine sul(whatever the sul is) did not work too well, now on oxycontin and oxycodone...but va wants to put me on morphine or methadone. My dosage of oxycodone is not high enough now and after the fight to get them to give it to me,(my private doc has me on it for 2 yrs now) they agreed finally recently, I am afraid to ask for increase and wondered if either of the other 2 were as strong or worked as well....I still will have to buy oxycontin outside tho. On the migraines zomig did not work for me, I currently buy the Relpax outside that works good..but va does not have it. So does Va have anything stronger than zomig that will work.... I have a high tolerance to medication..always have....they gave me a chunk of valium for an mri last year..pretty big one and it never had any affect on me whatsoever...t

last winter, dec had xray on hips at local va hosp..radiology report said moderate djd in both. 2 mos. ago, same thing, same place, now it is mild/minimial djd 3 days ago for my p&d I go to a civilian hospital here and have both xrayed and guess what? I AM HEALED!!!hahahh.....no radiography in one hip and none to minimial djd in the other... So now djd heals? I know there is a small diff in the way one person interperates xrays, as opposed to another, but this much difference???? I have probs with the hips.. Any thoughts on how an RO will approach such a thing? I have limited ROM in both hips. Do the RO's REALLY pull up your local va hosp records and read them? If so will he try to use the civilian hospital's to turn mmy claim down? ANy advice? There is a radiology lab here and that is all they do..not a part of a hospital, should I get them to xray them?..thanks..t

hey thanks for the link..just registered and it has all mine..only downside is it is by number..does not tell me the name...but thanks for the link..quick way to refill..t

Thanks Pete...My insurance BCBS pays most of the cost, you would think VA would fee base the copay. Another question..if my local va does not have something is it possible another would or does va have a central prescription mail thing like some insurance companies? thanks..t

One of the meds I take for CFS is Provigil..it is expensive and hard for insurance to approve. VA does not carry Provigil. Is there another replacement drug that VA does have that works as well as Provigil? Same with Celebrex...What is VA's version of Celebrex? Anyone out there take Relpax for migraines? Works pretty decent for me...VA again does not have it so tried Zomig, did not work too well. Does VA have a stronger Migraine medicine than Zomig or should I just ask for higher dose? I had to retire from USPS, so I need to get all of my meds I can from VA, until VA upgrades me or IU..thanks..t

oxycodone, morphine, or methadone? I take oxycodone, 15 mg 4 x day as needed with 20 mg oxycontin 4 x a day. the 15 mg for 1.5 yr now, and is not working as well...dosage needs to be upped.. onlly prob is I just went thru hell to get the oxycodone to be issued by va last month..they wanted me to use methadone. I use a private doctor outside VA and see her once a month...and she does my meds and I take them to the va doc to fill. If they are all three about the same then I may talk my private doc into methadone and make va happy....they already provide 8 of my meds. I have also tried morphine sul...what is the diff between it and just morphine? thanks..t

i am on zoloft and wellbutrin....work ok...zoloft tho makes vision blurry at first..t

my c and p was done all the times by a local doctor..internal medicine, thru qtc. Most of you seem to be going to your VA district medical center and having a va doc do it. Should I be requesting to have a va doc do it? Because as noted the doc i go to here locally just goes quickly thru a checklist for ROM and obvious stuff...in the joints never asking or checking for weakness or ease of fatigue and so on.....is a va more thorough and/or better? thanks..t

sort of off topic and on..Berta please jump in with advice if any or help. First, Elmer, is DVA=DAV? My claims are thru DAV too if that is what dva is. I was not aware that DAV rewrote paperwork...all mine that I submitted to VA thru dav, was given to va that way, in fact they just took my papers and gave them to va as they got them. Am i missing something? Was DAV supposed to redo my writeup and submit it initially? I know what you mean on your neck elmer. Right now my SC is the knees and ankles..and the cervical is one of the things I am trying to get as residual from the numerous falls over the years from knees giving or locking, and hitting head on the floor and things and whiplash from many falls. xray and mri show mild djd and significant narrowing of the foraminal whatever in there. Don't know how hard that will be to get connected, but I certainly know the pain you have..it is terrible many days. I take oxycontin and oxycodone for the knees and all of the pain. My doctor is writing a letter to state the likely as not caused by the falls and whiplash, so hopefully..but I wish you luck. I don't know what all those things are you have as technical terms and what Berta called them but I know that there are many times that the nerves and things up the back of my neck literally are agonzing..10 on the scale is not high enough and then the joint another story in itself....t

Hi, I understand that a 50% SC vet is entitled to get all their prescription medications filled at no cost. What happens if the VA facility does not have a particular medication? Do we lose the entitlement to that particular med? Or is there a way for us to get VA to fee base out for that med? thanks..t

hi Fla. Please forgive me, but I am new to the mental portion of all this and have no idea of what you mean? what is a DSM4? My diagnosis is depression/anxiety secondary to sc condtions w/ passive suicidal ideations, some symptoms of PTSD. So What does that mean in conjunction with what you said? thanks..t this is a civilian psych, so i will definitely give her the diagnosis letter from my psychologist, and a 4 page letter I wrote of how it points to each thing tho..t

thanks..no did not ask for a copy....figured i was pushing it talking him into an extra 10 degrees...and when he said that they send him a letter that he is not allowed to discuss the numbers and ROM's with the patient, i figured it best not to push the issue. But for having 10 or 11 things he went thru it fast... Just what he said at the end bugged me about him saying that it was hard to impossible for him to diagnose all of the things... but surely he will finish his form and send it in instead of sending a note saying he could not evaluate anything, to find someone else or a specialist also he was frustrated because with fibro everytime he touched me i flinched and it was hard for him to tell diff between the actual joint pain and the fibro...fibro is not service connected, that may hurt...but i am hoping to get it connected to the traumatic injury originally to the knees and when they were to do arthroscopic surg on one i had an allergic reaction and almost died. ...t but him giving me the 10 may have been guilt too, I asked him when i first went in how i can prove to va that I have bilateral knee instability and he did not know and asked why..i told him when i saw him 3 years ago that they took it away from me, and i was wondering if the drawers test was the only way they judged....he did not know but apologized all the way thru the exam saying he hoped he did not put anything down to get it taken away...t

i think went like crap, but then maybe not.. I had a lot of conditions, this was a local subcontracted dr....nice guy but very quick. only time he touched me was reflex hammer test and drawers which naturally was negative. He did note subluxation in the right knee, and put 20 deg and 10 deg loss of extension on the left and right knee. I asked him at the end and told him to get 40 percent on left knee i needed 30 degrees or more loss....which when I extended it for him had to be at least -40, but he eyeballs these things and put 20...finally he agreed and did change the 20 to 30 and the 10 in the right to 15 which will be 40 percent in left and 20 in right for ROM. I just hope he does not rechange it later. I don't think so..but if he does we will appeal based on the fact that a goniometer was not used. I have fibro and when he touched me most of the time I jumped..he said i was very sensitive to pain. CFS was the last thing and he kind of got frustrated and said he could not diagnose CFS, what were my symptoms, and I told him, he felt lymph nodes and moved on..no idea what he put... don't know what he put on ROM of hips, ankles, wrists, lumbar and neck but I know that they did not go all the way, so if he eyeballed them i may be appealing because no use of the meter. He also knew that I was guarding on the ROM and told me so..I know where the pain gets bad and so on. So I don't know what he will do. He mentioned at the end that he would prob put a note that I should see a specialist(s) as it was hard for him to diagnose my conditions due to his lack of expertise in areas and my sensitivity to pain.... Any ideas what will happen then? He did agree and I watched him change the ROM on the knees, so maybe VA will look at his eval first. Would I have the opportunity to see and accept VA's rating based on whatever he did, and decline a specialists if the rating was what we wanted? Or would they force me to a specialist? I mean he put the measurements all down and has my paperwork I filled out for him...maybe va will go with that? any thoughts? thanks..t

well i just happened to look at a letter that my psychologist did and the diagnosises and she put a gaf of 50..i did not even realize that was there... but she and the psychiatrists i will see tomorrow know each other and respect each other, my psychologist said I should not have to worry too much about proving as her diagnosis should stand well. I can post what I have written as far as symptoms and how i feel if anyone cares to read it..will give it to shrink tomorrow.... Carlie, that one statement in your post , if it is secondary then will be considered as same as the disabiliy, is that true with all? i.e. my right knee and ankles are residuals of the left knee so is that all just one? thanks..t

one other question, I read a post on here about someone rated for the medication they are on for disability...is this true? Because since my last reeval when I did not take anything I now take 15 mg oxycodone 4 x day as needed, and 20 mg oxycontin 4 times day and celebrex. So will the medication help with the rating somehow? thanks..t

Tues I also have appt with a psychiatrist to evaluate me for depression/anxiety and minor PTSd...the depressions/anx. is secondary to current disabilities and from not ever "civialianizing". My current psychologist diagnosed me with depression/anxiety for the never civilianizing and secondary also because of my current ortho disabilities and outlook, passive ideologies, and some PTSD. I have a letter with that from her. The psychiatrist i am seeing is a civilian out town subcontracted to QTC. I will show her that letter, will it help? My psychologist also said to tell her that since having to retire, my depression and mood probs have intensified as I used the work to run from the probs. But she also a year ago did the tests of concentration, memory and such and I passed but i was on meds then and was working. Should I use this letter? Advice? Any references to study so I can prepare as i have never dealt with the psych realm before. How hard is it to make one of theirs see that your depression is partially secondary to the service conditions? I read a lot about GAF scores and saw a chart....I see some of mine on there in different places...but don't understand. I have "passive" suicidal ideologies, but on the chart there is only one-suicidal ideologies.....so where does the passive part fall? All I know is that if given the chance to die without me doing it I would take it in a heartbeat. death has as much attraction to me as life, But anyway, any reading I can do, or advice on how to deal with one of their psychiatrists and get the conditions across? thanks...t

exam is in the morning. 3 yrs ago they took away my 20 percent for right knee instability because the doc rushed thru the drawers test and it was not enough. My right knee is the main cause of all my falls and locking and such. HOW can I prove it tomorrow so they will rate it for instability and not just ROM? Is the Drawers test the ONLY test they use to diagnose instability of the knee? I know over the last 10 years they don't listen to you when you tell them it llocks an buckles and you fall and so on...so surely there is another test or tests other than a drawers...my God...anyone can advise on how to convince them of instability? I even thought about blowing my knee the rest of the way out just to fail the drawers but that is wrong and I would not do that...but surely there is a way to convince them? ALso any other advice other than give my doc the my worst day tomorrow? They are doing bilateral knee DJD, bilateral ankle DJD, bilateral knee instability, Biltaeral Hip djd, lumbar/si condition, cervical condition, right wrist condition, IBS, and CFS......any advice on any of these...I filled out the qtc forms...not enough room so typed a page with what I wrote on each one and added to make it easier on the doctor...but I can list symptoms and affect on life all I want..but they dont listen..seems they have to see something happen, i.e. loss of ROM..so advice appreciated..thanks all...t

also the QTC guys did not leave enough room in the boxes on the forms and told me I could use additional sheets. Does anyone know if the dr will send these sheets in and they will get back to the va with the rest of his and qtc's findings? thanks..t

chuckling... here too plus they would rather dump a bunch of methadone or whatever it is on me instead..t

hey 3 i just retired thru disability with USPS in AUg. I am 50 percent in knees and ankles..trying to get that upped and some stuff added..My DAV rep is supposed to be helping. Curious what all your doctor put you thru at the c and p? I can't squat or twist...will they make you do what your doctor tells you not to? What all did he put you thru? and if you don't mind what is your 30 on...loss of ROM? that is all they rate me with is ROM..not pain or anything else. My right knee locks and buckles and dislocates and they dropped it from 20 compensatible to 10 noncompensatible 3 years ago...but I don't go to the VA center..they send me to a local dr who really could care less, he rushes thru...ie straighten your knee as much as possible, looks, and ok, now do this...and so on..One of the guys who went to him prior to me said you could just about tell him what you wanted in a manner of speaking. tho he does look at things. t ps on the IU, I was told you could not be working at all..t

why is it so hard to get VA to give you oxycontin? I have been on it for 2 years and they keep saying they don't have it and I keep saying they are lying because I know a couple of folks who get it from there? what do I need to do to get it from VA instead of buying it? i mean they are giving me oxycodone...t

please don't forget me other thread ..still need guidance and advice there and encouragement... But spoke with RO today and he said what happens, I go to the physical, the doc get's all together and dictates his findings, then that goes to QTC to check for completeness, then to the VA board, and then to rating officer, then once decision is rendered the ro puts it out on shelf for my dav rep to review. Then if he finds an error he can go in and discuss it with the RO. So is this basically, somehow close to how it works? since the RO has my power of atty, will they show him first anyway? Anyone with any experience with this type of thing? Berta? Heck i have to send everything thru the SO to va but VA sends directly to me..seems to me it should go thru dav and to me. thanks..t