johnsoncm

The rating I have is normally at 90% scheduler but they gave me the extraschedular TDIU P&T. That's actually why I'm so anxious about it. If I get dropped back to 90% that's like $1000 a month gone, plus they take the CHAMPVA and college stipend for the kids away. I've been out of the loop so long and I know there's no way I could go back to doing anything like what I did before, the stress alone would put me out of commission. But I'm also not really thriving where I'm at now. Got 4 bedrooms, 4 kids me and the wife and it's a rancher I got really lucky on. If I could just drop a couple of debts, I'd be ok, but tdiu you know? The rules say I SHOULD be able to do this, but after my experience and what happened to some friends, I have a real hard time trusting their word, ya know? I'm just trying to find out if my concerns here are legit, or if it's just my anxiety talking.

I've been seeing a private doc who prescribes the meds I need. I've asked a vet advocate about the working on TDIU and get the regular answer of "this is what the rules say". I guess my thing here is that I know the rules, I know doing doordash should hit all the marks - staying under the poverty threshold, I can work whenever I want like an independent contractor, and it's just picking up someone's food and taking it too them. I just don't know how far to trust that they (DVA) won't try to screw me anyway. There are some stories on this board.....

Right, that's what I've been told by Vet advocates. And I figure if I only do a couple deliveries a day or so, make like $200 or $300 a month, that'd be about what I could probably do and also I'd be way under those guidelines. I have heard stories though, and I'm wondering how truthful they are, that guys have stayed under the limits and still got a letter from the VA telling them they were cutting benefits. Have you heard anything similar?

Yes, I did have a lawyer for the last go round

Yeah, with Doordash, if I don't want to do anything, I just don't hit the button, so it's on my own time, I control how much I do or dont do. So I think that might qualify as protected. I do see a doc on the economy who really just proscribes the meds I need. As for SSDI I did apply but got denied a few times because I wasn't disabled enough by their standards. Other than that, the tdiu is P&T without further examinations, for what that means. I'm just looking to make a few hundred dollars a month, not like a full time income or anything

My question is can you be on TDIU and still do Doordash? Next year will be 10 years TDIU for me. I'd like to make some extra money to payoff bills and think about a bigger home for my family. I know there's no way I can work like I used to, I've accepted my limitations, but Doordash would let me work when I want and if I'm hurting, I don't have to do anything. Plus I think it would qualify under both marginal and protected environment work. Honestly, though, the VA terrifies me, and I've heard stories of vets who followed the rules and got screwed anyway. So I'm asking for advice or anyone with experience here. I tried going on the Board of Veterans Appeals site and searched up "Doordash" to see if anyone has gone through this, but nothing that applied. Thanks.

As for any pending decisions, no. I have not put in for the arthritis or the bulging disk, but someone else said it might not be worth opening a "can of worms" for those to get service connected. It might give the Va reason to decide that they remember how many times they tried to deny my benefits only to be embarrassed because I know where to find information that proved them wrong.

I'll be totally honest here: I have no idea what the "s" award or SMC is. My kids are the main reason I'm considering any of this really. When I was married, things weren't good at all. She was spending like crazy, even forged a couple of my checks - which double sucked because I worked for the bank that those checks were drawn from, so it could have gotten me fired too. We were really poor for a long time, and it just got worse during the separation and divorce. I don't want them to have to go through all that stuff again, you know? I just bought a house, really banking on the state just following through with their tax exemption promise, and them trying to find a loophole to deny me. My entire purpose right now is to better the lives of my kids, but with the bankruptcy my ex wife got us into, raising three kids on my own, making house and bill payments...yeah it's tax free but it's just not enough. It's just not, you know that as much as I do. That's why I applied for SSDI. You have to understand, it took me 10 + years to get here, and it's a huge step down from where I was as a bank manager and financial advisor, to selling plasma and pawning my possessions just to put food in my kids stomachs because the ex was not paying her rent or bills or buying food for the house when my boys were still living with her before I got custody. The stress was so bad, I spent a semi "voluntary" week in Fayetteville in the ward upstairs, if you take my meaning. If I worked again, I'd only be limited in what I can make by how good or how much I want to work...and yeah admittedly whether or not working would drop me again. But if I have to sacrifice myself in order to give them the life they deserve, I've done it before and id do it a hundred times over. I dig my attitude can be negative, but things have been rough, so please forgive me.

I have applied for SSDI and was denied twice. I now have a lawyer and we are going on a year plus. I also applied for my state's disabled vet personal property tax exemption but that too is dragging on because someone misinterpreted the law. Honestly that is one of the reasons I was considering going back to work. I'm tired of all the fighting for what these people say I deserve. It's like the old 'bait-and-switch'. I make the requirements for SSDI based on their own, printed, regulations. I make the requirements for the tax exemption. But no matter what, someone is always trying to screw me out of this stuff. And yes, eventually, I'm sure it will all be fixed, but that does nothing for me or my children in the mean time. What good is it to say that it got fixed after 10 years, when that's 10 years of hardship? My middle son is 11. In 10 years he'll be 21 and out of the house, my youngest is 6 so he'd be 16 by the time it's all corrected. What good does it say "yeah it took 10 years but I finally got it done" when those were 10 years of them not getting to do things, or as many clothes as I would have liked to get, or a more reliable car to go to games or school plays or dances, or Christmas and birthday gifts, or anything like that? That's most of his childhood gone. The government says they will take care of us, but we stay pretty much just this side of poverty, with our 'healthcare' being managed by overworked, underpaid, understaffed, and undereducated people who just want to farm out more pills on us. So why wouldn't I work if I could? Make the money the government is not willing to give me just to achieve a tolerable standard of living? And get rid of the social stigma that comes with my answer every time I get asked by some parent or another, "Oh, and what do you do for a living?" As to my disabilities: Generalized anxiety disorder with major depression - which comes with chronic insomnia and a memory like swiss cheese PTSD (not service connected - ironically it came from my 15 marriage to my ex wife) Severe Esophagitis Hypertension IBS Chronic thoracic strain of the mid thoracic spine with minimal scoliosis and now, though it's not service connected because I have not put in a claim: Osteoarthritis in my hips and lower back A bulging disk in my lower back

yeah, I'd heard that too, but I've also heard the horror stories of those that tried to go that way. The regs state you can work at marginal employment - earning below the poverty limit for one person per year. But I'm saying if I did get up to a combined rating of 100% with out it being extraschedular, then I don't need the IU. I'd still get the 100% pay, the benefits, the health care for my boys. And that way, if it turns out that I was majestically wrong and go down like a lead balloon again, then I wouldn't have to reapply for the 100% like I would if I just said "Take away the TDIU now" and went back down to 90%

Seriously? That's ludicrous.

So either way, I'd still be stuck with the IU? I was hoping that if I put in a claim for the arthritis and the disk, and if they service connected them and that put me from 90% combined to 100% combined that they could drop the IU and maybe I could at least do something to make myself feel like I have a purpose beyond playing Suzie Homemaker all day. If I can handle a job - big if at this point, I'll grant you that, I would like to at least TRY, just so long as doing it doesn't screw my family and lose them benefits, you know?

I'm trying to find out something that I have seen no info for on any VA or VA related website: I am at a normally combined disability rating of 90%, however I am being paid at the 100% rate for TDIU P&T. I was rated TDIU about 4 years ago and the award was permanent and total. Since then, retirement has been difficult since I'm only 37. I miss work. That having been said, about a year ago I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and last Friday I found I have a bulging disk in my lower back, both of which are ratable under VA disability - they are however not currently rated since I didn't put in a claim, why bother, right? I'm gettin paid at 100% and my care is all taken care of. However, if I were to apply to service connect these as secondary to my existing service connected back injury - the only reason for the new stuff is the damage done to how I walk, move, etc from the old stuff - then I could possibly be rated from 90% combined to 100% combined anyway and retain the Permanent and Total aspect. The difference is, if they drop the TDIU off of my rating, I might be able to get a job again and easy my financial worries and get something of my old self back in the process. Is it worth it? Can I even do that? Or would the VA find some way to thwart me here and I end up losing the money I get and the benefits for my kids? My biggest fears are: The VA will find some reason to mess with me, somehow, someway. I'll open myself up to more scrutiny and all of a sudden I'll be getting all kinds of people trying to figure out how they can save Uncle Sam a few pennies by taking my benefits and decreasing them. And honestly, what happens if I do get a job and can't hack it? I was in the emergency room too many times from the last job I had and I am frankly a little worried by that. Will my kids still get their coverage? Will they even drop the TDIU? Or will they try to accuse me of fraud or some crap and try to sue or fine or imprison me? That may sound paranoid, but I've read some horror stories on this and other sites......

So what do you recommend? Should I send something to the VA to change from PTSD to GAD?

Thanks for the welcome. I am getting disability now at 20%. 10% for exercise induced asthma (a major part of the stressor argument, because I passed out from it once, they miss-diagnosed me and made me continue to run for about 6 months or so. Scared the heck out of me everytime, it's like almost drowning or running while breathing through a straw) and 10% for chronic thorasic strain with minimal scoliosis of the mid thoracic spine. The VA came back with PTSD as far as treatment goes, but said I had generalized anxiety disorder when it came to C&P. My medical records can confirm the back injury and asthma diagnosis, and the limited duty board I was put on for the asthma (which they canceled when they discovered I would EAS and not re-up)