navydoc2

congrats on your success.

welcome, I've learned more here in the last three months than the whole eight years fighting with the VA on my own.

congrats, always nice to hear good news.

congrats on your success. I agree you should ask for IU.

Thanks pete. I will do that today.

Thanks please keep me updated. I lost my job due to worsening depression, I was on wellbutrin and that didn't work and it took over a year for my VA psych doc to change me to something else rather than just upping the dose now i'm on abilify and celexa and that seems to have helped for the time being anyway I still have my ups and downs but don't we all (lol).

I have not applied for Social Security to be honest I was not aware of IU until they sent me the paperwork.

I have a been ten percent right knee service connected and 30% secondary depression for about 3 years. I applied for increased depression and bilateral hearing loss with tinnitis in Feb. The VA sent me IU paperwork I guess since I have been unemployed now for over a year. My previous employer refuses to fill out the paperwork the VA requires only writing an employment verification on their own letterhead and telling me anymore information is a violation of the privacy act even though i've signed a release of information both for them and with the VA. I called my DAV service officer and finally got through yesterday and he told me that it looked like there was a decision made on my tinnitis and it was rated at 10%, he claimed he could not get to the other screens and see what was going on with my other pending claims. Now comes the confusing part, I called the 1-800 number today and the rep tells me there is no decision on any of my claims and that they are still waiting for evidence. I sent the employment verification my former job gave me in yesterday so that should be all the evidence they need i guess. My questions are has this happened to anyone else here? Does the VA issue decisions separately and if there is no decision made why would the service officer tell me there was. If they decided the tinnitis why not the hearing loss? Should I wait until I hear from the VA in writing or should I call my service officer back and tell him what they told me? Finally, what can I expect to happen next on this long winding road? thanks for your help in advance. William (navydoc2)

congrats, thats what we need vets helping vets to get the results we deserve.

I'm seriously thinking about it. I've used them once before when I was rated 10% which was increase to 40%; I don't think they did anything special. Currently I have a claim pending and when I call to ask questions they are never and I mean never available. I've left my name and phone number on multiple occasions still waiting for a call back. I've learned more here about how to handle my case than a service officer has ever told me. Can you tell I'm frustrated :)

Most states will count any and all income when applying for benefits. Voc Rehab stipend is not counted as taxable income, but states do consider it when computing household income. Hope that helps.

I would resubmit the claim with the new evidence from civilian doc and ask for hearing. Is your friend working?

congrats tagandbag, ahhh the sweet smell of success. Good for you.

Thanks. That makes perfect sense. I'm not really concerned about being called back in for follow up cp's since I doubt my hearing will get any better, and my medication for depression keeps me stable. I doubt that would be grounds for decreased rating or at least I hope not :). thanks again rentalguy1.

roflmao thinking and the nominees are ... :)

so if you eventually return to work would you then have to reopen/restart your increase rating claim. I'm thinking I would rather have the increase rating and not IU because although its been a almost a year since I've worked I would like to return to work. thanks for moving for me Carlie :)

I'm getting frustrated with the DAV too for one they never talk to me and when I call them they are not available, but i've received for letters to donate since I started a claim in March.

Are you saying I can request a copy of the QTC exams from the psychologist and audiologist. I did not receive a C&P exam at the VA this time.

I was told yesterday that letters were sent to the jobs I worked. This should be interesting since the job I worked at for over four years told me I was involuntarily resigned and when I applied for unemployment benies they said it was for cause. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. The other job lasted less than six months.

thanks for all you guys help, I wish I had know about you guys 10 years ago before I separated from service. boning up now

No worries I like blunt. will filing for ssi affect my claim with va or vice versa don't want to get caught between two government agencies and slip through crack. thanks

Oops! sorry won't happen again. So as I'm understanding it you are saying that even though my claim was not put in for increased s/c disability until late Feb. The rater may grand 100% schedular back to when I was unemployed and then increase my rating to whatever XX%?

thank you Carlie, I will look into that. Does that mean I would have to stop voc rehab which i'm due to start next month provided I'm still stable on my meds and my doc give the go ahead to my counselor.

I have not applied for SSA was not thinking I would be out of work this long was just not working until stable on my meds which to be honest I was not thinking it would take this long, but financially I'm struggling on what I get now and am well robbing Peter to pay Paul and more often than not someone does not get paid at all.