magician2000

They must have been doing maintenance over the weekend, as I had an issue with the site around the same time you did, but had no issues today.

I have to agree... Use an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to not only request a copy of your C&P exam, but also all of your VA Mental Health visits (both Psychologist & Psychiatrist). If you tend to think of this as watching grass grow or watching a glacier move you will get the idea of about how fast the VA will move. It may take up to 4-6 weeks to get all of your reports depending on how slow your VAMC is and how overloaded they are. You can request it in person the next time that you are there for a visit or you can mail in your request. At the same time you want to also mail in your request for your C-file from VARO so that you will be able to see what they see. It took me about 40 hours to organize mine in to something that made some sort of sense. Then it becomes the waiting game for the initial decision. If the C&P doctors decision and the VARO is inline with your previous doctors then you are sorted. If not, then you will already have the paper work to file you NOD. Good luck and God Speed...

Have you contacted your VSO? Before you waste any time being upset, you might want to verify the facts first... I would do this before contacting your Congressman's office.

Thank you... It finally makes sense to me... I had both while I was in, but the rating only showed up as GERD. R/ Magic...

The cutoff date for comments is 10-23-09.

Halos... Are you sending in your FOIA requests certified mail, return receipt requested? It took about 6 weeks, but they eventually came. The file was about 4" thick...

Rockhound. One of the filing formats I use is yymmdd 090906-(Subject) This way you will have a chronological order to them. Then break them up into sections (Progress notes)(Hearing)((Specialty clinics-cardio)(etc.) The last time I requested my C-file it came in an envelope about 4" thick, and took me over 40 hours to organize it into any type of rational order. (I was really bored.) After that, I tabbed anything that I needed for my claims and it makes an easy reference. Now about every 6 months I ask the VA for all of my previous 6 mo. progress notes, and keep the file up to date... 40 hours was what it took me to organize about 25 years worth of data, now it takes me about 15 min to organize my progress notes twice a year.

In all of my surfing on facebook... Which has probably been way too much... Besides, hadit and a few other veteran boards, I have never seen such a tweaked out facebook page... Someone had way too much time on their hands, and it was probably on the VA's dime... They even have a youtube box... And we wonder where our $$$'s are going... :o

Just my 2 cents... I only moved 10 miles away, and kept the same RO. I changed my address with both RO and VAMC. VAMC had no problems with mailing my meds to my new address. I didn't have a change of address, I would have missed about five letters from RO, all mailed after I called and sent a letter advising of my change of address. After every letter I received, I would call the 800# again, and ask what address they had on file for me. And is was always my previous address. But this is just my experience... And I just moved 10 miles...

http://www.hadit.com/forums/index.php?act=...e=Alex+Humpfrey

So does this equally apply to those that are partisan to being independent... :o

I have had good advice from county VSO's both in CA and NJ... I was stationed in CA, and he had given me some very good advice prior to getting out... And then again when I moved to NJ... I used a county VSO and he had some very good advice on filing my claim and for filing my appeal... Over all I would give them a thumbs up...

I heard one of the morning show guys do the funnest things to a caller... OK this guy was not a fraud caller... but still... He asked for the guys who was calling him for his entire name, and address. Had him spell it out. Then ID'd him self as a detective in the homicide squad and he thought that it was very interesting that this guy was calling at this particular time. Got the guys address, county and state and they kind of shouted to one of his "deputies" if they had any contacts in this guys county sheriffs office that could go down and interview him... It really was one of the funniest radio morning shows I think that I ever listed to. I like when they call. I will ask them to hold as someone is at the door. I will put the phone down, come back about 5 min later see if they are still there, talk for about 2 seconds and then do it again. I kills there productivity... I love it... 8)

Pete... I don't know about that. On my very first application when I was medically discharged, the Navy gave me 20% for my arthritis and IBS, four months later I got my rating letter from the VA and it was for 60% and it also included my sleep apnea. I did not ask for anything other than a review of my records, and I figured that they were just going to rubber stamp what the Navy PEB said but they didn't. Goes to show you never really know what to expect from the VA. And if pigs are flying in formation watch out for that damn swine flu virus...

Bob... I know exactly what you mean by the mailbox blues... Looking for anything from the VA... And it is usually those damn letters reminding me of an appointment that I already have written down on my calender. I agree with you, not only is it your right to get a fair and equatable rating, but it is there obligation to see that it is done... And I think that the VA has lost site of that... Yes there have been some people that have taken advantage of the system, and gotten caught... But it seems to me from what I have been reading, that the people that have been abusing the system the most are the ones that have been put in charge of it with no checks or balances...<br><br> Good luck with your claim...

Hugh... I am suffering the same thing... Got out in '00 and the sound had increased in volume ever since... I can grind my teeth and increase the volume of the sound as well as change the pitch I can hear... I do this all the time just to break up the monotony of hearing the one sound.... The sound is loud enough that sitting on a jet plane, I hear the tinnitus over the jet engine noise... I am being seen by VA Mental Health now for the past year & a half... My tinnitus is SC at 10% and I am going to put in a request to be rated for my anxiety, panic attacks and depression... I believe that they are directly related to the tinnitus as my Doc pointed out... Not sure if this would help you or not... I just came across this the other day and am going to see my PCP and & ENT to see if I can get treated for TMJ disorder. http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/tmj-38544-5.html Basically she connects TMJ to tinnitus, and there are a lot of things that I have that never made sense before. Specifically: • Hair and/or scalp painful or sensitive to touch (How do you explain a headache where your hair hurts?) • Clogged, "stuffy", itchy ears (I had days I wanted to take an ice pick to scratch the itch.) • Feeling of fullness (They would feel like they were full of water.) • Ear pain without infection (I would have ear aches and go to the Doc and they would look in my ears and not see anything, but still give me some sort of drops.)

Allan... Some really great reference links... Thanks..

Carlie... I really have wondered why you would want to. I have only had one C&P exam, it was done poorly, but I made sure that I made copies of all of my VA Progress Notes (Yes I know that the RO should have access to them, but he never requested them for what ever reason.) and they showed a more accurate picture then what the C&P doctor had written in his report. Because of this, and the fact they I did not know anything about FOIA. I didn't find this out till the first decision was made. But as soon as RO had all the correct info, I got a fair rating. I just had a six month delay in getting the rating.

I have to agree with the others... There is a full face and a nasal mask... I currently use the nasal mask and find it works well for me... But it is worth it... As to those on CPAP... How often do you get replacement masks... I find I need a new mask about every six month... Although the last one needed an early replacement thats to my new puppy chewing the gel pad that goes to my forehead...

:D This director is at what, the GS-15 or 16 level. Making 5 to 10 times more then most of us are living on, or maybe more. And that is not enough. They have to steal from the ones that they were trusted with serving.

Mine came with a SMART card, but no one has ever asked me to bring it in to have the card read. That being said, I was diagnosed with moderate to severe sleep apnea in '00, and then they just did a new sleep study for me in Jan '08 and it bumped up to straight severe. I did gain about 40lbs thanks to meds, and I know that can't be helping. But nobody cares about the card.

I have to agree with you on that... Since the $2M is pretty much gone... I would really love to see the judge hand out the max to set an example...

I know what you mean... I have four and can get enough of their hugs and kisses... The oldest is a girl who just started Kindergarten and the rest go from one to four...

Wow... I don't think that you could have made up a story so incredible...

<br><br> Thanks I have book marked this time...