Vync

Bump

Someone found a way to get a free one: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article...Burlington-mall

Awesome!

Grats! What was your rating before?

Increase claims are a bit different than initial claims. If you sought medical treatment any time 12 months prior to your increase request, the documented earliest date within the 12 months prior will be your effective date. This also applies to tiered increase requests, as I just did this with my asthma claim: Sep 2009 - Treatment qualified me for 30% Dec 2009 - Treatment qualified me for 60% Dec 2009 - Filed claim requesting 30% as of Sep and 60% as of Dec Mar 2010 - Won increase request with dates of 30% as of Sep and 60% as of Dec Of course, for your pay to change, your combined total percentage would also have to change.

I nominate Berta to replace Shinseki

Bump!

That is a lot of money to pay noobs to toss mail and fetch coffee

I think the part where they said "The VA is going to uphold the law" was rather humorous. Note to self: Get all claims completed before the new electronic system goes online.

Hey Fire, I kinda wish I had your C&P examiner. They really did a good job logging everything. You might be good for 50%, but I'm no expert in the MH ratings area. From what I hear, a lot of factors comprise the rating, not just a single factor. Here's the rating criteria for general mental disorders (http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/regs/38CFR/BOOKC/PART4/S4_130.DOC): General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders: Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name 100 Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships 70 Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to such symptoms as: flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships 50 Occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks (although generally functioning satisfactorily, with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation normal), due to such symptoms as: depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent events) 30 Occupational and social impairment due to mild or transient symptoms which decrease work efficiency and ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or; symptoms controlled by continuous medication 10 A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but symptoms are not severe enough either to interfere with occupational and social functioning or to require continuous medication 0

I don't have one, but my girlfriend does. It's easy for me to sleep through with the noise and all, but she hates it. I hear the first couple of weeks take some getting used to.

"more likely than not" is good. They recognize you have disorders related to service. "speculative" could be a mixed bag. I'm interested in seeing what others say about this too.

My C&P exams were last month and I called the VA to check on the status. I was told that they just received my C&P exam results late last week. That's about 3-4 weeks after they occurred. Like you, I was able to get copies from ROI the next week. RO = slow...

Some conditions can be rated based directly on what they see in your treatment records with no need for a C&P exam. Sending in the IMO/IME was a good idea, but did it use the VA's jargon like 'is due to' or 'least as likely as not' and also include some medical rationale?

I personally think the upper GI procedure would be more bearable if they had a bed with a cushion instead of a hard radiology table. Regarding the exams, I had the upper GI about 13 years ago, a C&P exam for GERD last month, but no repeat upper GI. The doc opined the connection from my VA treatment records and VA prescription history. If you don't already have you C&P results, get them.

"at least as likely as not" equates to 50/50 probability. You might win by 'benefit of the doubt'. Keep an eye on the mailbox and let us know what the VA decides...

Pete provided interesting trivia. Bergie is absolutey correct here. Due to warfarin, you will not be able to clot normally. Even when they take blood samples, it might take a bit before the bleeding stops. If you need any medical procedure which involves piercing the skin, including dental work, it is a good idea to let them know up front. This also holds true to people who take other blood thinners, like Plavix or even daily aspirin. Here is some other information about these meds. Be sure to also read up on the side effects. Warfarin http://www.drugs.com/warfarin.html Diltiazem http://www.drugs.com/diltiazem.html

I just read that link Carlie posted. You can't be any more forthcoming than that. Also, the VA has tried to discredit the claims by www.hcvets.com by issuing a fast letter intended to debunk any claim that Hep C was contracted by jet injectors. Hep-C Fact: You can have it, yet exhibit no symptoms. If you have it, it can go active at any time. The only way to know for sure is by a blood test to detect Hep C antibodies. Stories about immunizations by jet injector take me back to basic training. I remember being part of a long line of recruits. As we were being looped around the room to each injection station, I remember seeing a number of people in front of me with blood running down their arm after receiving injections. After I was injected, blood ran down my arm. No attempts were made to wipe down any of the jet injectors. As previously chronicled here on Hadit (http://www.hadit.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t16731.html), here is something to chew on: http://www.ha.osd.mil/afeb/reports/vaccines.pdf (Chapter C, Page 60) C. Issues of Administration 1. Jet Injector Use "Acetone or alcohol wipes were used to clean the tips after each inoculation, nozzles visibly contaminated with blood were replaced and sterilized before additional use, and all injector nozzles were cleaned and sterilized daily. All services reported using the injectors routinely." ... "Of note is that the AFEB made a site visit to the MTF at Parris Island and directly observed high volume recruit immunization using jet injectors. It was noted that jet injector nozzle's were frequently contaminated with blood, yet sterlization practices were frequently inadequate or not followed." For official VA-related Hep-C info, go to: http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/vahep?page=we-00-00 Hmm... Sounds like the VA was a bit hasty to release that fast letter: http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/vahep?page=basics-05-00 "Who should get tested?" ... "- Had exposure to blood on the skin" My take on this: If you know you were not the very first person in the morning to have been given air injection immunizations, you need to be tested. Even if you were, based on the military and VA record of sterility, you probably should get tested. Bottom line, get tested...

Berta, I love your response: "They only seem to disregard the good stuff" Does this also apply to the C&P doctor or just the rater? Example: WERE SERVICE MEDICAL RECORDS REVIEWED: Yes PERTINENT EVIDENCE: Several visits for lbp started in May 1990. Separation exam normal spine x-ray. Based on that small write up, how do we know that the C&P doc looked at everything? There were no mentions of physical therapy, medical assignment to quarters, or even profiles for weeks and weeks. There is a big difference between having a lower back pain visit in comparison to being injured in a fall, a motor vehicle accident, or even moving military office furniture. "They only seem to disregard the good stuff"

Good post!

Prolonged NSAIDS usage hoses up the lining of your stomach. This leads to GERD. Then the VA will probably give you some antacid like omeprazole. That puts out the GERD fire, but causes headaches and hoses up your lower intestines. Seems like a chain reaction here, but remember treatment/side effects of SC conditions can also be SC. Secondary SC, Secondary SC, Secondary SC... Another case where the QTC examiners cause problems. My C&P examiners have luckily all been VA staff physicians...

C&P Exam Results Per Berta, get a copy of this. Don't just get a copy of one exam results, but get copies of all exam results. Do you have a copy of the C&P exam results? If not, get them. Knowing exactly what the docs logged will help you formulate a better response. C-File Per Berta, get a copy of this. Don't be surprised if it takes a while to arrive. I have been waiting about six months and still have not received my copy. Back My private neurologist did not use a goinometer, but my VA C&P doc did. Ironically, the numbers were just about identical, but the C&P doc's numbers were in ranges like 0-15 or 0-30. Not using the goinometer is bad. I just checked my C&P exam and it did not indicate if the doc used a goinometer or not, though I know they did. GERD Per Berta, research your treatment records for your DDD. If they prescribed NSAIDS (ibuprofin, naproxen, etc...) it can cause GERD or other gastro problems. They may need to do an upper GI or a scope exam to confirm GERD. MH Revisit the Depression, because you are now SC for DDD. Also, remember you can have only one MH rating, which is for the worst one, regardless of how many MH-related conditions you have. Regardless of your conditions, you should look into being treated. You can get meds and counseling at the VA MH clinic, which might help you feel better. You can also visit your local vet center which is usually more relaxed and inviting, but they don't prescribe meds. You can also see both.

Good question... Sounds like someone just 'hadit' with the system...

Good point, Bergie. I was just describing from personal experience. When I have my pain blocks, they pull me off the meds for a week prior. The first day or two are bearable, but as I got closer to the seventh day, I was hurting pretty bad. They pulled me off of opiods, NSAIDs, and a couple of other meds, including blood thinners. It might be different for everybody.

Hey Cannon, I just had one of these exams a couple of weeks ago. Here is a link to the questionnaire used by the examiner: http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Benefits/exams/disexm53.htm I hope that helps. It pretty much goes down the line of what I experienced. By far, the worst thing was when the doc was assessing my range of motion. The straight leg raise caused some real pain You might consider not taking any medication which could make your back feel a lot better. Do this for about a week ahead of time. This will allow the examiner to see your baseline condition, not a pharmaceutically improved condition. I did this and it was tough to even get some sleep at night because I was hurting a lot. When I got a copy of my results, I was surprised that I was in worse shape than I thought. I'm no doctor so skip the meds only if you feel like you can make it there. You can usually get a copy of the results within a week or two after the exam occurs.