ssg_rw_brown

and i thank you both for your input! This forum is the only thing that gives me hope on most days! and not give up

May I ask what symptoms you have that rate you 100% TBI? or is that to personal?

yes it's SC with a low rating 10% We go for the Neuro on the 23rd at the VA it is with the head of the TBI department there, I'm not sure if it's just neuro or neuro psych but i'm going so I will be able to ask lots of questions He has never had a MRI that I"m aware of. He has no paralysis but short term, memory loss, change in personality, problems making decisions, passing out for no known reason, changes in taste, anxiety, depression, ect. ect.

Yes, he is SC at 10% , angry because I think he qualifies for the at least a 40% by what I'm reading.

My husband had his C & P and we got the rating back last week. I am so frustrated and agrivated I just want to rip my hair out. I knew it would not be good but to see it in black and white just made me so angry. First I acutally went into the C & P with him. I hadn't before because they wouldn't "allow"me to. But after research when the C& P rater said "do you need to be here" my husband said I would like her to be and he said "oh, o.k" that simple! Wow! So we go into the room and he asks my hsuband all these questions and when he would say well I dont' think it's a problem but my wife would disgree I would explain. I would even raise my hand and ask if I could comment and he would say yes, and write as I spoke. So i thought he might be listening....wrong....Everything we said he said no, I don't think it's TBI it's the PTSD. Which angered me because at the PTSD hearing they said it was all the TBI! Everything I read about TBI and the symptoms associated with it I brought up. The change in tastes, he said awe that's just a preference. Problems with concept of time and place, when he passes out and comes to he thinks he's in Iraq. The sleep deprivation, the change in personality, the anger and hostility, the paranoia. Not being able to make minute decisions such as what to have for dinner. Calling me 30 times a day to ask me a how to do the littlest thing, the C & P guy just "poo poo" it as irrelevant! and then when we go the ruling letter nothing, I mean nothing was in there about what we had told him! I wrote this long letter with all of it in there and nothing was mentioned about the letter I wrote nor the other 2 letters we sent either from friends and family's observations How do I know they even read them? I just don't know where to go from here! Everything they mention in the rulings says to be at the next level you would have to have x? and he has that and we mentioned it in meeting and in the letters. He goes for a complete Neuro work up on the 23rd of this month so my only hope is that will help and we can possibly get something in writting there but not even sure now. I just feel like I am getting no where and don't know what else to do. Thanks for letting me vent! wife of SSG_RW_Brown

O.k. in fear of feeling stupid but how did yu get all your VA records on CD?

Well we got the appt. for the Neuro it's not until November 23rd.

I had him call his speech doctor and ask if she was putting in for the neuro , she said she had not but would do that at his request. So we just wait for the appt. time now to arrive int he mail. I am thinking I should send int he form request they wait for additioanl informaiton to decide his case. Any thoughts? until the neuro exam is done at least.

TY we had a C & P for the TBI on last Friday. The doctor was not very optimistic for a higher rating. He said he beleive everything pertained to the PTSD and nothing I site was pertaining to the TBI. Now mind you that this is the same doctor who decreased his PTSD. And he said oh he has PTSD bad. I did ask if he would be rated under the new criteria as he was rated in September prior to the October change and he said yes.

I did not realize you could do this? Can you get copies of all yoru C& P exams or only your most recent? This is very good information thank you for sharing that. wife of SSG_RW_Brown

TY, he has only saw his primary once and she was rude and told him it was his own fault for hurting his knee and hasn't went back. Because he chose to beat his knee out of the Upper ARmored Jeep that ran over the IED. He was under fire from insurgents and vs. staying put he chose to beat his knee out of the console because it was stuck and return fire along with his men. That's why I am now goign to all appt. with him because I told him she would have not gotten away with talking to him like that. He said she was a young prior medic but that is no excuse. He sees our doctor locally if he needs and see the Psych at the VA and the Speech Doctor who works with him on his memory loss issues. She is the once who suggested the Neuro work up too so didn't know if she would follow through on it or we needed to do it.

How would one go about getting this testing done? Preferrably by the VA but if I need to I guess thorugh and independent doctor?

Thank you so much! I have redone it and rmoved the link to just that one...the new link is May 22 2009

Yes I did get a reply to it and I do thank you for it. I actually printed out all the replys so Ic ould go over it more throughly and make note of the action I took.

I was asked by someone to post the letters I have received from the VA these are all the letters I have received since my original claim in 2005. Which I don't know what I'm doing (his wife) and he went to all the meetings when he was outprocessing from the miltiary so I'm going on what he does or doesn't tell me on how to do things. Thank you for any advice or comments they are all appreciated. Nov 28 2005 July 11 2007 April 23 2007 Oct 24 2007 Sept 10 2008 June 16 2008 May 22 2009 Aug 13 2009 Misc VA doc Wife of SSG_RW_Brown

To answer our questions: His rating is now 30 it was 50 but they decreased it last month. He didn't take medicine until after her starting passing out.

Thank you all for your much needed advice. We went to the C & P today one was for TBI and the other for his knee. I was rather disappointed with the TBI doctor he seemed to ask a lot of questions and write a lot of stuff down but at the end he said I don't see and increase in your symptoms and he discounted a lot of the symptoms and said he felt they were associated with the PTSD and not the TBI and that he definately had PTSD bad (this is the same doctor who helped reduce his PTSD because he said he seemed to be doing better). The memory loss, the change in his taste (he said was just a change in his appetite not anything to be associated with the TBI, even though this is a symptom), sleep disturbances, ect, everything I was armed with and told him about he felt were all the PTSD and nothing to do with the TBI! Someone asked if we have had a neuro work up and I don't think so. The TBI doctor mentioned it last time he saw her. She said last time he was so ademate about workign that she didn't push it but now that he seems to be doing worse she felt they could move forward with it. And he was determined to work but now he knows that he just can't take the stress and dealing with people and the memory issues it just realy limits his ability to be employed. So I will look at the websites suggested and tomorrow I will try to scan and upload any documents we have from the VA to see if I can get some feedback on those. We have limited internet at home and if I try to upload anything we end up using all our internet for the month so I will do it from work tomorrow. I am trying to stick in there because I know it is up to me to get this going but it's hard when you have 3 kids, a full time job and a depressed husband. Trying to balance all that but this forum gives me encouragement that I am not in this alone. Thank you again... Wife of SSG_RW_Brown

Thank you for the response. I did talk to a rep here locally and he recommended we request 100%. He told him the forms to fill out and to request a "one on one" (this is coming second hand from my husband) but that is bascially it. We go in the morning for his C & P on his knee and TBI. I have been reading that we should probably ask to be rated under this new rating code but not sure if we should or not.

What does "PTSD" with a verified stressor? I know what PTSD is and my husband suffers from it. Her recently was told his compensation was decreasing because he appeared better? I was so mad! He is better only if he takes his meds and just cuz you caught him on a good day doesn't mean he is "cured" He was at 50 % and now they are moving him back to 30%.

My husband got out of the military in 05. He spent 12 years active duty with a total of 21 eyars with his reserve and guard time. he spen over a year in Iraq in from Feb. 04 to March. 05. He initially received a rating for a knee injury he recived from and explosion in Iraq but several months later after passing out (I thought he had a stroke!)at our dinner table and being hospitalized for over a week, and numerours testing he was diagnosed with "neurocardiosyncope". Told him nothing he can really do just make sure he eats 3 meals a day , drinks a lot of gatorade, avoid stress, caffeine, and plenty of rest. Then to make a long story short we ended up at the Va and not sure how it happened but he was finally diagnosed with " mild traumatic brain injury". this was kind of a releif because we now had and answer. They did a tilt test there, and sent him to speech class to help with the memory loss. From my prospective I had noticed a change in him since the day he returned from Iraq...I chalked it up to the war and things he had seen and done...never sleeps, when he does its on the coach because any moves in the bed wake him up, personality change, irritability, forgetfullness, changes in taste, wanting to stay alone or just with me and the kids (antisocial behavior) little subtle things that I knew were different but never occured to me what or that it was a brain injury. Fast forwarded he received rating for 10 % for the brain injury. So total he gets 10% knee, 10% tintinus, 50% PSD, 10% Mild Tramatic Brain injury.we have put in claims for different things that came up but were denied. Chronic back pain, tried to increase the knee because of the chronic pain but they say it's nothing and he has full range of motion so no increase. Vision problem, he had 20/20 vision his whole life with no problems and now needs glasses which they say is probly from sun exposure (focusing problem and light sensitivity). I have just stumbled across this site and read with interest the new changes with the brain injury. he was rated for the TBI in September of 2008 and when we received that rating I thought it was crazy. He has a combined rating of I think 60 or 70 percent (we get like 1200 per month with 3 kids under 18). Recently we received a letter saying they were decreasing his compensation to 900 because at his last compensation visit they felt he was "improving" (PTSD) which I thought crazy because he's on meds! that's why he seems better! so i talked to a VA guy and he said to send in a letter to say we were appealing it which I got a reply last week that said because it was only a "proposal" they were not accepting it and that now since we hadn't sent in evidence to contradict these claims it was now official and if we wanted to appeal it we coud. I'm so frustrated! I don't feel that we can find any help to wade through these VA paperwork. I really feel like he should be getting more compensation but not sure how to go about it. We did talk to a VA guy a month ago who felt he should be getting 100% and pushed him to try, and told us the form to submit but yet i'm at a loss what else to do. I feel that there should be someone to help him wade through his medical papers and find out what he needs to send in and what claims he needs to file. So far we have submitted individual claims in the past for the passing out, back pain, vision problems but all got denie....but I kind of feel that maybe it should be compiled because basically I think it all goes back to the brain injury. He passes out for no apparent reason, we never know when it is coming on but i can usually trace it back to heat, stress, pain, didn't eat that day. he passes out and then when he comes around the first time he thinks he is back in Iraq, and needs a medic, he says he has sand in his mouth and needs a drink...then he starts to cry and without going into detail goes through a lot of guilt ...eventually he will pass out again and the 2nd time he comes around he's back in the real world....i worry he will do this driving or somewhere that he will get hurt so I have always felt he should be getting more compensation but just am at a loss on how or what do do to obtain it. He does not do good with people and public situations, to much anxiety and gets very agitated very quickly but the main fear for me is the passing out. I know this is getting very long and there is so much more I would love some input on but don't want to bore everyone but plese could someone give us some advice on what do and how to go about it. Thank you for listening.