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deviant, MSRA? Yikes... I don't want that. One good thing is the VAMC has these hand sanitizer stations all over the place. old joe, I doubt it is carpal tunnel, as it happened suddenly after they injected me, but it has not completely gone away.

The last time I read my paperwork, the C&P examiner diagnosed one condition with specific wording, but it was not used at all in regards to any other condition. However, the BVA decision maker apparently used the specific wording in regards to another condition instead. It's like they got it backwards. I'm not sure if they were closed out or final decisions. I need to dig out my papers to be sure.

Regarding § 3.157, I'm no lawyer, but the statement seems circular, possibly canceling the other out. I just wanted to confirm which date would apply, as I must still be waking up this morning. - All examinations and treatment by the VAMC - Nobody else - Initial date where I met 30% = Six months ago - Initial date where I met 60% = One month ago - Date claim was submitted = One month ago I don't think I will need a compromise, as my evidence seems solid. Thanks

Bronchovet, I appreciate the info. Come to think of it, I am also hungry!

Pete, Thanks for the info. I understand what you are saying here. My original claims from 10 years ago granted me an EED of when I left the service, which was about five years earlier. I just was not sure how it would apply in this situation.

I also have a separate question regarding EMG's and nerve damage. Last month, I was treated with large amounts of oral and IV steroids. As soon as I received the IV steroid injection, both hands went numb and tingly. It has been a month and if I lift my hands up above my shoulders, like when I drive, I experience moderate numbness in several fingers, though not as severe as when I was injected. Does anyone have an opinion on why this occurs? Also, how would I go about filing a SC claim for it? Thanks

deviant, EMG's and MRI's are completely different. An MRI cannot tell if you have nerve damage, but an EMG can. However, an MRI can tell if you have something impinging on your nerve or nerve roots. Relative equipoise may very well apply in your case. Also, don't discount the MH clinic (either VA or private). If they deem your anger is caused by your potentially SC condition, then once you get SC then you could work toward getting SC for a MH condition. A lot of other people here on Hadit have done it too. You might want to start visiting the MH clinic now, so that when you do become SC for your condition, you will be able to file for a secondary MH condition. Some MH conditions might require six or more months to accurately diagnose. Best of luck!

How would EED's work in this situation? I recently filed a claim to increase SC for a condition because my condition has deteriorated significantly over the past year. Could I request EED's relative to when I met requirements for a lower but increased rating a few months ago, and then a further increase when I met the requirements for a significantly higher rating about a month ago (which was also when I filed my claim). Thanks

Hello everyone, I am wondering if anyone can help me with this. I am looking for some old C&P exam questionnaires from 1997 and 1999. Primarily, I am looking for the musculoskeletal exam and any others from around that time, as I was deemed NSC for a few things, which I believe was in error. Anyone have any idea where I can get these? I was looking over my old exam results and plan to compare the C&P exam questionnaire it to the results. If they slacked on the results, I might be able to file a CUE claim. Thanks!

jtg, You might want to look into VA pension. I'm not totally sure how it works, but I understand that some Vets might qualify for it. I think it is supposed to help bring vets to at least the poverty line. I am not sure if you can collect VA disability and pension at the same time, but others here might be able to tell you. CD's and annuities are really not very good methods of investment. The interest rates are lame (less than 5%) and you get taxed on any interest you earn. You might want to look into getting a Roth IRA. These are great because the money you earn is not taxed, because the government assumes people are already taxed on their income before they contribute. Also, you need to find a fund that consistently over years has made 10%+ annually. Granted, the last two years have screwed everyone over, but look at the long term performance. However, there is a limit to the amount you can contribute to the Roth IRA, which is about $5000 annually. After a Roth, find some good mutual funds. They work the same way as a Roth, but the annual contributions can be a lot higher and they do tax you. If you don't do anything else, drop about six to 12 months of cash into a money market account and treat it as your emergency fund. If you are always prepared for the worst, then Murphy's Law is less likely to apply. Also, keep about $150 set aside and go to the Dave Ramsey financial peace university when it comes to a big city near you. It is awesome! Worth the price of tickets and then some, unless you are like me and won tickets from a radio show. When I got my lump sum back in 2000, I bought a new car (about two years old), paid off all of my bills, bought a larger computer monitor, bought some new clothes and shoes, set aside money for my emergency fund, and took a small vacation to Florida for a week. I also sold my old klunker, because I did not want to drive around with a car that smokes. :D Berta, Thank you very much for the compliment. However, I think I have received more good advice from you than I have been able to provide.

Congratulations on winning your claim! I got about five years of retro when I won my claim. Pete's right. You can blaze through it very quickly. Be sure you have the funds to cover your auctions before you start bidding. It could be a month, or who knows, when you will see the money. I would strongly recommend checking out the Clark Howard financial radio show on am radio. Even better is to listen to Dave Ramsey. Dave even goes on tour and teaches the financial peace university. I went in 2008 and was totally blown away. It truly was worth the time. Pete's advice sounds a lot like Dave's. Good luck and I hope you get your money asap!

ammodad, The heliobactor pylori is a bacterial infection in your stomach. They draw your blood to see if you have antibodies for the bacteria present. It can be easily treated with an appropriate, and sometimes long, course of antibiotics. The light going down your neck/throat may have been an endoscopy. Typically, they will sedate you or give you some sort of amnesia medicine so you don't remember it. With this approach, they can see if you have a condition called Barret's syndrome, which is where the GERD has caused some serious ulcerations in your lower esophagus. They did the scan on me too. In my case, it was an upper GI examination. I had to swallow some funky stuff really quick, then they put me on a table and kept telling me to roll this way and turn that way. I got to watch some of it on the screen, which was really cool. In the end, they said I did not have a hiatal hernia, but did have GERD because the liquid travelled halfway back up my esophagus. I am also in the process of filing a GERD claim, so I am also still learning about this. The language in your examination and the nexus letter may play heavily into how the VA rates your condition. The usual language they want to see is listed below. You want the language from any of the first three to be in your nexus letter or IMO. For example, if your doctor says your condition "is probably" connected to whatever, they will toss the claim back as denied. Go check your examination records and your nexus letter to see what it says. "is due to" (100% sure) "more likely than not" (greater than 50%) "at least as likely as not" (equal to or greater than 50%) "not at least as likely as not" (less than 50%) "is not due to" (0%) If you drink fluids with a lot of caffeine or smoke and your doc knows, then they will tell you to stop, which could hurt your case. Here is the rating criteria for Hiatal Hernia, which is often used for GERD: 60% Symptoms of pain, vomiting, material weight loss and hematemesis or melena with moderate anemia; or other symptom combinations productive of severe impairment of health 30% Persistently recurrent epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, and regurgitation, accompanied by substernal or arm or shoulder pain, productive of considerable impairment of health 10% With two or more of the symptoms for the 30 percent evaluation of less severity Symptoms of considerable impairment of health could be anemia, severe weight loss, stomach cancer, etc... Here's a link to the service connected disability percentage calculator here on Hadit: http://www.hadit.com/service_connected_dis..._calculator.php I wish you the best of luck in your appeal.

That's an awesome write up and it has me wondering. What would happen if medication is given to treat the condition and then the condition stabilizes? A couple of years later, the VA comes back and says you're ok and they slash benefits. They stop the medicine and the condition comes back. How do you think they would handle that situation?

Carlie, Thank you very much for the link! Berta, No info specific to asthma claims? Darn. Regarding the BVA case you referenced, the Veteran was granted 60% rating for a different reason than I am claiming. In my case, my last FEV test was 10 years ago, but that Veteran was getting them frequently, which is one basis for his SC. Six months ago, the VA started me on daily inhaled steroids, which meets the 30% requirement. Within the last six months, I was treated with systemic (oral 2x/injected 1x) corticosteroids three times, meeting the requirement of three times within the past year in late December. I did find these three cases where Veterans were granted 60% based on the systemic steroid 3x in past year requirement: http://www4.va.gov/vetapp03/Files/0325398.txt http://www4.va.gov/vetapp03/Files/0335621.txt http://www4.va.gov/vetapp09/files4/0928797.txt My evidence consists solely of the VA's own treatment records, including them writing me out of work for almost two weeks. I have everything just about ready to mail out. I hope that this evidence is sufficient to get SC. I also wonder if they will have me come to a C&P exam for it, because I am requesting SC based on what's in their own records. All they have to do is look and see my treatments for asthma, then hopefully I will be granted SC. I really appreciate the advice both of you have given me! Thanks!

Does anyone have any VBM advice regarding asthma evaluation and rating? I am working on a claim to increase my asthma rating from 10% to either 30% or hopefully 60%. Any additional advice regarding how to make my claim airtight and denial-proof is greatly appreciated. I am interested in buying a VBM eventually, but cannot afford it at this time, as I am saving up to pay for a couple of IMO's. Thanks!

Mike, I totally know how you feel. I had about 9 or 10 'lumbar strains' and other back injuriwes when I was in the Army for about five years. When I got out, I was about 24 years old. Just 19 months after I got out, my first C&P examiner opined that I had 'degenerative joint disease of minimal degree' in my back, but I did not meet the requirements for SC. 7 years later, two discs in my back herniated and my DDD became painfully obvious, especially on an MRI. I'm biding my time with epidural pain blocks (from a great private anesthesiologist), a TENS unit, occasional physical therapy, and pain meds/muscle relaxers. My upcoming IMO hopefully will remove the stupidity shown by my previous VA claim denials. You might consider seeing a good physical therapist so that they can give you special exercises and stretching which will take the stress off of your back. They can also re-train you how to do common tasks, so that they do not aggravate your back. PT actually helped me, but after my sessions ran out, my problems came back, but not as quickly. Also, there are a lot of news articles that allude to spine surgery frequently being unnecessary because your back may eventually fusing the vertebrae together by itself. Personally, I don't like the pain at all. I hope I never have to go under the knife. Hope this helps!

It has been about 10 years since my second C&P exam, but I seem to remember being told in the special C&P appointment letter specifically what my exams would cover. It has been a long time, so their process may have changed.

I called my local DAV yesterday and left a message asking if they could recommend any Vet-friendly doctors to do my IMO's, but not necessarily rip me off in the process. I'm still waiting to hear back from the DAV.

Anyone want to place bets that their C&P exams were performed by QTC? I'd like to see an undercover IG investigation of the QTC examiners. I also wonder if the IG adequately reviewed the case of the soldier who was supposedly not in Vietnam and claimed AO exposure. AO exposure could happen in a lot more places than just Vietnam... This makes me feel more grateful that my claim will hopefully be processed at the Montgomery RO. I already have low expectations of their quality of service, so I know what I to expect.

I was on 100mg 2x/daily for the past month, but yesterday the doc boosted me to 150mg 2x/day. I noticed I was able to concentrate a bit better, but occasionally was moody. Ironically, I had an absent minded moment where I spent five minutes looking for my car keys, only to find them in my hand. Anyone else have problems like this? Also, the 50mg and 100mg tablets are regular release, but I was surprised to find that the 150mg tablets are sustained release. Good bye to the yo-yo effect. Anyone else get these too?

The Birmingham VAMC's Release of Information office is also in the basement, way in the corner after a walk down a long hall. When I was there yesterday for my appointment, I asked if they have the ability to provide my records on CD or DVD. The woman's eyes got really big and she said it would be great if they had the ability to do that. I asked her to look into it. Also, if you get an MRI from a private facility, they often give you an option to get your data on paper or CD. I always get it on CD. A lot of times, the medical archiving programs are somewhat proprietary. I am very interested in seeing how the data is delivered. I also was told by my RO that they do not accept medical records on CD either. Regardless, I am going to send in my data just like akwidow. They are going to get a CD and hardcopy, whether they like it or not. :D

Sounds like a plan. However, if I get an additional 10% rating, it should push me to 50% and co-pays would not matter any more. Another way to skin it too! Thanks!

gbsepter, Who are you asking at the VAMC? My VA primary care doc knows I cannot breathe through my nose. He also knows the dental clinic makes me these thick night guards to wear, to prevent tooth grinding at night, which also decrease the amount of space in my mouth when I sleep. I just asked him about it one day and he instantly wrote up the referral. I have seen some resident docs who had no clue at all. If your regular VA doc is not a staff physician, then you need to see if they can place you with one. What were the results of your sleep study? Did you get a CPAP machine? When you had your sleep study, you should have been required to take a sleep survey and fill out a long questionnaire. Check your records from the sleep study. It is possible that the evidence you need may be in your records. If all else fails, you might need a good IMO. See if your private physician opined (or can opine) that your sleep apnea is secondary to a SC condition.

Hello everyone, The VA gave me some tylenol 3's and tylenol 4's to help me address my SC chronic TMJ pain, depending on the severity. It helps tone down the pain, but there are a couple of side effects. The way I see it is like this: SC chronic TMJ pain --> T3's/T4's --> depression/constipation In both situations, I got a bill from the VA for a bunch of $8.00 co-pays for antidepressants and laxatives. The docs are telling me that I must be SC for constipation and/or depression before they will waive the co-pays for those meds. I believe that they should both be SC, because the meds are used to treat side effects caused by the medication initially used to treat SC problems. Who's right? Me or the VA?

hj232, It seems that the more symptoms you have, the higher the rating. Below, I also listed a couple of BVA cases where 30% or 60% was granted. Getting a 30% rating requires you to have a lot of the symptoms. You have to be in really bad shape to get the 60% rating. A strong IMO and supporting evidence to warrant a 30%+ rating is probably your best bet. §4.114 Schedule of ratings-digestive system 7346 Hernia hiatal: 60% Symptoms of pain, vomiting, material weight loss and hematemesis or melena with moderate anemia; or other symptom combinations productive of severe impairment of health 30% Persistently recurrent epigastric distress with dysphagia, pyrosis, and regurgitation, accompanied by substernal or arm or shoulder pain, productive of considerable impairment of health 10% With two or more of the symptoms for the 30 percent evaluation of less severity 10 30% rating granted http://www4.va.gov/vetapp09/files3/0919620.txt The record reflects that although his symptoms are not constant, the Veteran experiences recurrent gastrointestinal symptoms including dysphagia, pyrosis, regurgitation, and substernal pain that has consistently been determined to be related to his gastrointestinal disorder. He has additionally been diagnosed with mild anemia. These symptoms are productive of considerable impairment of health. Accordingly, giving the Veteran the benefit of the doubt, the Board finds that he is entitled to an increased rating of 30 percent under DC 7346. 60% rating granted http://www4.va.gov/vetapp09/files3/0921609.txt http://www4.va.gov/vetapp09/files3/0920777.txt