mssoup1

Billboy, If you don't have anything in your SMR's showing that you had hypertension while in the military or you don't have any records (within one year of discharge) showing you being treated for hypertension, then I personally think you are in for a fight with this claim. I have been fighting a similar battle with my husband on his hypertension claim and they have constantly denied him due to the same things I mentioned above. But during his C & P exam the doctor looked at his entrance exam, which showed a normal BP and his separation exam, which showed a high blood pressure reading and also the fact that he did have early records of being on meds for HBP. She then wrote in the opinion that it was as least likely as not that his HBP was a result of his military service. We are still waiting to hear the results from this appeal. I wish you luck, but unless you can show the nexus in medical records relating the medical problem to his military service, then the RO will state you have no proof that your HBP was a result of your military service. They don't take your word for the fact that you were treated for this while in service or within one year after discharge. I can only state here what I know as a result of my experience in dealing with this same type of claim. Someone else may be able to tell you something different. Again, I wish you luck. mssoup1

Alex, Thanks for your reply. Will the RO tell you where it currently is after leaving the raters desk? If they will, I guess that would then give us an idea as to what to expect. Also, we don't have a lot of interaction with the SO as he has not really serviced us very well. But, if we call him, can he find out anything more than what we are being told? Thanks, mssoup1

Well, we were told today that my husbands claims left the raters desk last week and we should hear something around the first of May. I guess my question now is where does the claim go from here and what is actually done at each level. I have read some information on this, but it is very vague in content. I do know that from the rater it goes to the adjudicator. What do they actually do and does it take very long. Then from there, what happens. We have been waiting for over 7 years for one of the claims. It is a remanded claim from the BVA. The others are new claims that occurred after the BVA hearing. So, these are about 1 1/2 years old. We are patiently waiting for the next step and only hope that it is good news. I am assuming that the claims have already been approved or denied by the rating board, so the rest of the process is just formality. Would appreciate any feedback from anyone who can give me some insight on what to expect at this point. Thanks mssoup1

I guess a lot of C & P examiners are different, but each time my husband has gone to a C & P exam and we told them the various meds he has been on, we were told that they didn't care what he has been prescribed in the past. They only cared about what he was taking now that could cause him the side effects we were filing a claim for. I thought that any meds which could cause long term side effects had to be looked at, but they didn't even want to discuss the issue of past meds. I have been fighting this issue and will continue to fight it. They feel that side effects of past meds go away once you are taken off of the med. This may happen to some side effects, but not all. I guess this is why getting an IMO is even more important to have done even though I think you should not have to go that route. mssoup1

Billyboy, No, I don't have th book you are looking for. Maybe someone else here has what you are looking for. But as far as establishing a claim for hypertension, it is no different than any other claim. You must first show a nexus which connects it to your military service. You must have something to show that your hypertension did in fact occur while you were in the military or is secondary to an already service connected condition. If you can't get this, then it may be very difficult to show a connection. I have had a very hard time in getting my husband approved for service connection for hypertension, but his C & P went well. Still haven't heard anything on the claim yet, but I am hoping it gets approved. Maybe someone else here who has filed a claim for hypertension can add something to help you out. mssoup1

Moe, I have what I think is a complete copy of my husbands SMR's and not one time did they ever show they took his BP or document any blood pressure reading at any time he was ever seen. He served 2 tours in Vietnam, in the Navy on Tango boats mostly, and if you got hurt or were sick, you were treated as quickly as possible for only what your complaint was and returned to the gun mount to keep fighting. I am sure not all cases went this way, as you stated your treatment was different, but I am sure from reading this and other posts that a lot of veterans were treated as quickly as possible and I think sometimes it is possible that not every visit to sick bay was documented. Depended on where you were at and who was treating you. This information I pass along came from my husband, so I hope that it can help others in trying to evaulate certain things about their medical records. BillyBoy, I am not sure what to tell you. Do you live close to your VARO such that you could make a visit and look through your file yourself. Those records that I spoke of would have to be somewhere. I am hoping someone else can jump in and help you out as well. mssoup1

BillyBoy, The forms I spoke of was contained in my husbands SMR's. The top of the form reads "Report of Medical Examination" At the upper left hand corner it reads "Standard Form 88" In the upper right hand corner it reads "68-109" This is about all I have on this form. This was used when he was given his entrance exam and his separation exam. The same forms were used for both. My husband could not enter or leave the military until these exams were done and these are the forms they used to sign off on his medical condition. I did confuse you on one part. The form does not show a picture of teeth. About 3/4 of the way down the page it says Dental and lists, by number, each tooth. The examiner is to use an X or more than one X to show any problems with any teeth. On the second page of the form, Item 57 shows "Blood Pressure" It shows his blood pressure reading in the A section, which is in the sitting position. This form also shows exams performed (ha ha) for just about everything, i.e., eyes, pulse, blood pressure, eyes, hearing, defect and diagnosis, scars, color of eyes, color of hair, build, height, weight and on the front page there are items 18 thru 43 which lists various exams which were performed and whether they were normal or abnormal. The first page also shows his name, address, Id No, date of examination, purpose of examination, place of birth, date of birth, examining facility, etc. Even though throughout my husbands SMR's there was never a blood pressure reading taken whenever he was treated for anything, his blood pressure was normal on his entrance exam, but was high on his separation exam. We used this as evidence of his having blood pressure problems before he separated from the military. Also, the fact that he was started on HBP meds not long after he was discharged. His C & P exam more or less agreed with this, but we have not heard anything back from the RO on this claim, so I am not sure how it will be decided. Hope it goes in our favor, but who knows. Maybe someone else can also shed some light as to the forms that I am speaking of to give you more indication of what to look for or where to send for it. mssoup1

This may be true for the most part as health records being computerized, but not all doctors are using it. As an example. We got a copy of an eye exam that my husband had and the record he received stated that his, the eye examiners, handwritten notes in the file needed to be looked at. Doesn't sound total computerized to me. mssoup1

Look at your exam sheet that gives all of the medical infomation you received on entry into the military. It should show a BP reading. Then look at the same type exam sheet which is in your SMR that shows the medical information at the time of your separation. There should also be a BP reading shown on it. The exam sheets are the ones which shows a bunch of boxes next to different things that the examiner is required to look at and will be checked as yes or no as to whether or not they saw any problem. This sheet will also show an outline of a set of teeth so the examiner can circle any areas of each tooth that was a problem before and after your military service. If you show a normal BP reading at the time you entered the military and then show a high BP reading upon separation, then this may help in supporting your claim. It is amazing that when you mention these exam records, contained in their SMR's, the number of veterans who have no idea of what you are talking about. Some don't even realize they exist, but could potentially help them support their claim. Just a little tidbit of information which I hope may help someone. mssoup1

I like this part of the directive: "NOTE: Close supervision means that the supervising psychiatrist or psychologist met with the veteran and conferred with the examining mental health professional in providing the diagnosis and the final assessment. The supervising psychiatrist or psychologist must cosign the examination report." Not only does this not happen in the mental C & P exams, but my husband has never had this to happen in any of his C & P exams for anything. While the supervising physician does sign off on the exam, they never at any time meet with my husband. How can they sign off on a report done by someone else when they have never even seen the vet for themselves. Anyone else ever have a C & P exam by someone who had to have a supervising physician sign off on the report, yet they never met with the supervising physician? Am I reading too much into this? Your thoughts...... mssoup

If your claims were at the rating board but were held up because a second C & P exam was required (due to the first C & P not getting documented), does your claims folder go to the bottom of the stack or will it be worked on as soon as the results of the second C & P exam are received? I guess what I am saying is, do you lose your spot in the process if a second C & P is required due to the first one being considered inadequate or do you hold your position in the process and it is then started on again as soon as the C & P results are received? This may have been asked and answered at some point in the past, but I'm not sure what the answer was. Maybe someone can shed some light on this process. Thanks, mssoup1

While the PCP at our local VAMC will get you a prescription for Viagra. the pharmacy will not fill it. They say that they do not fill this prescription. If you want it, you must have it filled somewhere else yourself and pay for it. I don't understand why others seem to be able to get theirs filled locally at their VAMC with no problem. It seems if one VAMC will fill it, the rest of them should as well. mssoup

Morgan, If you can find that letter, I would also like to have a copy of it. Thanks, mssoup

Berta. You asked earlier in this thread if anyone had received a form to fill out concerning their marital status. My husband is currently service connected at 60% and as far back as I can remember we have never received anything to fill out concerning whether we were still married or not. Well, several weeks ago, we received a form letter to fill out wanting this information. I filled it out and returned it immediately, keeping a copy. We do have some claims still outstanding on my husband. One of those is IU due to his PTSD. Since he is currently 60% SC, we have claims in waiting for a decision and one of those being IU, I don't know if getting this form to fill out has anything to do with his claims. mssoup

Thanks for the link. Been looking for one, but could not find one this easy to read. Probably wouldn't hurt to see if you could get it put on the links page for others who may need it later on. mssoup1

Berta, Thanks for the reply. He has been prescribed various meds over time for his PTSD, trying to get the right one which would work for him. I specified what these meds were in the claim letter to the VARO, along with copies of his exam reports showing the med and where his psychiatrist stated that it could cause ED. I highlighted all of this so they would not have to look at the entire report. I got computer printouts showing that those meds can cause ED. His psychiatrist even put in writing in her notes that these meds can cause ED. All of this was sent to the VARO. Even with this information, they requested a C & P exam, which was the one that was inaequate. I took this same information that I had to the C & P exam, but the examiner didn't even want to see or hear about it. He was very adamant about that. While the C & P examiner did state the current med he is on does cause ED, he stated that he was taking it for a prostrate gland problem whichi he is not service connected for. First of all, he does not have a prostrate gland problem, period. It was prescribed for his PTSD and is documented in his records by his psychiatrist. I don't know where the examiner got the idea that my husband has a prostrate problem to even relate this med to. Since the examiner did state that this med does cause ED and my husband is taking it, I would have thought this in itself should show a nexus between his taking this med and his PTSD. After all, the C & P was to get an opinion on whether or not the meds he was taking for PTSD could cause ED. At the current time, I don't know where this claim stands. The person from the VAMC who called me yesterday told me she would look into this and call me back. She was not aware of this problem, only the claim for his skin, but she would find out from the VARO where this stood and if they needed another C & P she would get it set up through the Urology Department, but that she would call me back. Again, I did not hear back from her. This lady from the VAMC who called me used to do C & P exams at our local VAMC. My husband has had her do exams on him before. We have even complained before about the exams she gives. She is one who seems to come up with all of this off the wall stuff that she can to try and write up in an exam report which would result in a denial for the veteran. She is not a doctor. I think she is only a nurse. She would give the exam, then state in the report that the doctor agreed with her opinions. This being the same doctor that we just got through complaining about on these recent exams. These two were the only two that the VAMC had to do general C & P exams and they seemed to work together with one another. Whatever one said, the other seemed to agree. On his skin exam being inadequate, she stated that she would get with the VAMC and get another C & P exam set up for him ASAP. The VARO had already requested another C & P exam for this, but never mentioned anything about another C & P exam for the inadequate C & P exam for ED. I think sometimes you could give the VARO the world as evidence and they would find some statement to put in the letter to use as their reason for denial. This is whether the statement made sense or not. Once they send you a denial and it doesn't make sense, the ball is in your court again to rebutt their statement. Anything to prolong the claim. I have sent them medical reccords to support his claim, SMR records if they applied, computer printouts to clarify the claim, letters from myself, letters from the Vet Center, opinions from IMO's, quoted the code that applied and they will still send a letter of denial based on some ungodly reason that makes no sense at all. It is like they have something in for us and are doing every thing they can to continue to shift the folder from desk to desk to hold his claims up. We can't seem to win for losing. Again, some of these claims are remands back from the BVA, are over 6 years old and we are 1 year along since the remand was issued back to the VARO. Talking about being frustrated. These claims should have been decided long ago. Just when we think we are getting to the last leg of the dedision making process, something surfaces out of the blue to hold the claim up and causes me additional work and stress, which I don't need. I just want them to get it right and make a valid decision. My husband cannot assist me with his claims, we have a lousy SO, so I have to handle all of this myself. We cannot change SO's now because we are in the middle of an appeal and I don't think this is a wise move. But, I have always had to take charge of his claims myself because we have never been lucky enough to get an SO that was of any help. Hope I didn't rant too long, but it does help sometimes to rant to someone else and maybe they can read between my lines I write and give me some advice that I didn't think of. You have been most helpful to me and I really do appreciate all of your time that you have allocated to me. Also, thanks for the link. Again, thank you for listening and giving me your time and knowlege in helping me. mssoup

Berta, I called the Directors office at the VAMC this morning. The person who handles the 8 Regional VAMC's around our area called me back a little while ago. She asked if my husband would see a nurse practioner for his C & P exam for his skin. I told her that as long as he was given a valid C & P exam, we didn't have a problem with that. They don't have a Dermatology Department at our local VAMC, so there is no Dermatologist to do it. But that is okay. The dermatologists that he has seen in the past when they did have this department were no good at all. In fact, most of them never even wanted to touch my husband or never even asked that he strip so they could see his entire body. How can you do an exam when they don't even look at your body? I only hope that this Nurse Practioner knows that we filed the complaint and will be a little better at giving him his exam. I also asked her why the VARO didn't mention anything about the ED exam being inadequate. I explained the inadequacies in the entire report. She said that the VARO never requested another exam for this, even though we told them that the one he got was inadequate. She is supposed to get with the VARO and ask them about this. She is going to see if she can get him another exam with the Urology Department. She also told me that psychiatric research has shown that medications being given for PTSD only cause a temporary problem with ED, therefore, would not be compensable. Is there information I can obtain to prove this wrong? I also explained to her that these exams are holding up my husbands claims with the VARO. She said she would try and get appointments set up for him ASAP. I will keep you posted as this chapter of my book unfolds. But any information you can give me on the effects of ED secondary to PTSD meds would be appreciated. Thanks, mssoup

Berta, He had a total knee replacement and cannot drive a locng distance in a vehicle. We would have to stop every 15 minutes to let him get out and move around, then start again. Would be too much for him. mssoup

Berta, To answer your questions: Did we get the results of the C & P exam? Yes. In fact, I get copies of all of his VAMC exam records shortly after he has been at the VAMC. This was another thing that I think the VARO got upset about was because we got the reports on these exams before a decision was made and I quickly responded back to the VARO about them being inadeuate. There are two C & P exans that we are complaining about. One was for ED. The examiner performing the exam is not a Urologist, just your run of the milll C & P examiner who handles non specialized exams, like skin problems, hypertension, etc. When my husband had these exams, there was no one else in the waiting room waiting to have a C & P exam done. We were the only ones there. We spoke to the doctor in his office about the ED. This is when he really jumped my case. Was really beligerent to me. Didn't want to hear anything I had to say about his problem. I'm married to him, I should know. Even his doctor that has prescirbed the medications for his PTSD stated in his records that those meds could cause ED. They even gave him prescriptions for Viagra, which didn't help. After the meeting in his office, we went into the hall, the examiner hugged me and apoligized to me for treating me the way he did. He then took my husband into the examining room and we were then sent on our way. I got the results of the exam. The only thing he had correct in his exam was the name of one of the medications he is currently on. He quoted that this medication was being given by a male doctor in the Urology Department. His psychiatrist prescribed this medication, is a she not a he, and he has never been to the urology Department. He also stated that this medication was being given for a prostrate gland problem. My husband does not and never has had a prostrate gland problem. This medication was being given to him for his PTSD. He even gave a quote that he said was from the Urology Department records. How could that be since he has never seen anyone in the Urology Department. So, this examiner stated that his ED problem was a result of this medication being given for his prostrate gland problem. Nothing contained in the report about our claim being for this medication being given by his psychiatrist and this was the result of his ED. But, with all of this being said, the examiner did state that the medication would cause ED. He just had everything else messed up. We are wondering which veterans folder he used to write this exam report besides my husband. Nothing in the exam report was anywhere close to being accurate. The second exam he had was for an increase in his skin condition. Again, we went into his office and tried to explain how bad my husbands problems were. Instead of starting out listening to us, he told us that my husband should be glad that he didn't have the poblems that some veterans had with cancer all over their body. Well, my husband may not have cancer, thank God, but he has severe problems with his skin. He listens to us for a few minutes, then takes him into the examining room where my husband strips for him, The first thing the examiner says is Well you do have that crud all over your body. He proceeds to write down percentages on his paper he had and then tells my husband that he does have this on more than 60% of his body. This was what we needed to get my husband an increase since the laws changes on skin conditions. We left with a good feeling on this. Well, the only thing that ever showed up concerning this exam was one sentence in his ED exam report that the veteran also had a claim in for his skin condition. No actual exam report was ever written up on his skin exam. The examiner was in a hurry after the exam to leave town for vacation or something, so I guess this is why the reports ended up so screwed up. But now we suffer over this. This is not the first time this examiner has given inadequate exams. He has done it to us before. He even did it to a friend who I was helping on his claim. At what point do they take some action on giving these inadequate exam reports? If we are being done this way, how many other veterans are having their claims denied due to this? This examiner also gives you the feeling that a lot of veterans coming to him are only wanting a handout. My husband did get several bad C & P exams and he cannot travel a long distance to another VAMC due to his recent surgery. We have a VAMC here and the exam should have been performed correctly here without having to go somewhere else. Do you think it would be the right route to take to go to the Director of the VAMC and talk to him about this situation. I intend to take the evidence with me. Has anyone else gone this route and got any results or would we be spinning our wheels? We need to speak with someone about this before they set up an appointment miles away from us that my husband will not be able to keep. This would then throw his claim in the waste can if he says he cannot go. On another note, when my husband went into the examiners office, he made a comment about the fact that he had heard that he was retiring. My husband has seen this examiner a few times before, so he knew him. The examiners reply was that they, the VAMC, would like to see him retire, but that he was not going to and they didn't have anyone to replace him with anyway. I thought this was most inappropriate for him to say, but that was my take on it. I hope that this gives you a little better insight on where we stand at this point. My husband has had other exams done by specialist for other claims he has in and they went really well. We only have problems with this one examiner and it could cost my husband an approval on these claims. By the way, this examiner is a doctor, not a physicans assistant or nurse practticioner. (SP?) Also, you said that the IG did not get involved with the VARO or the process, but do they get involved with the VAMC and inadequate exam reporting by their doctors? Any additional thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks mssoup

This has occirred at the Salem, Virginia VAMC and the Roanoke, Virginia VARO Yes, we do have a SO, but on paper only. I have had to handle my husbands claims myself in order to keep on top of what is going on. When any paperwork comes through from the VARO and we, along with our SO gets a copy, we don't hear from our SO about this letter until after we have received it and I have already respnded back to the VARO on it. He states that he just got it and wanted to touch base with us. Too late. This guy is very nice, but has no idea how to communicate with the VARO on claims. It is too late in my husbands claims to change at this point, so we have to stay with him. Since I have had a little time to sleep on this, I am now even madder at the whole situation. My husbands claims are being held up due to getting incompetent exams and now we have both the VARO and VAMC fighting over who is going to handle getting this problem resolved This is not the first time that we have had to have a C & P exam redone due to it being inadequate by this very same examiner. But the second time around, the examiner was made at us, therefore, it didn't go in our favor. I told the VARO that this time I did not want the same examiner redoing this C & P exam because I knew what the outcome would be. If need be, I will get every body involved in this situation. The veteran has to fight so hard on his claims anyway to have something like this happen on top of it. They won't use his doctors records on his condition, but they allow these type of doctors to perform inadequate examinations on our veterans to use in deciding their claims. I have no doubt that these claims would have already been denied had I not gotten the C & P exams early enough in the process to respond back to the VARO concerning them. As far as getting an IMO, we have already been that route on a previous claim before. Even though the IMO stated in his letter, using those words at least likely as not, the VARO still denied his claim. When we got to the BVA level, they gave him an instant approval on this claim. Please keep those responses coming in on what you think we should do and how we should handle this situation. mssoup

My husband has several claims in to the VARO. Some remands from the BVA, some new claims as a result of the BVA hearing. He had C & P exams set up for all of these claims and he went to each. One of the C & P exam reports was horrendous. Nothing in the report was at all accurate. Wrote the report based on a condition that my husband does not now have or never has had. What happened to what he was supposed to be writing the report on? We can't figure that out. He also had another C & P exam, by the same examiner, whereby he never even bothered to write up a report at all. During the examination, the examiner really seemed to be speaking in our favor, but that is as far as he got. Never wrote anything up. I did get the results of the inadequate C & P exam and discovered that nothing had been written up on the other exam. I sent this information to the VARO and explained in detail to them why these were inadequate exams and should not be used in deciding his claims. I also told them that we did not want this same examiner to redo the exam. Never heard anything. Called the VAMC and talked with someone affiliated with the Directors office in charge of the C & P examiners. I explained the problem and she told me that I would be contacted back by someone in that office. Never heard anything from them. I wanted to file a complaint against this examiner, as this is not the first time he has done this. Well, after several calls to the VARO during the last few weeks to find out where his claims stood, I then sent an e-mail thinking I would get more information. Well, I did, to a degree. Here is what they had to say: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. , Your remanded appeal is awaiting the processing of your new claims. With one exception, we have received the examination reports for your claimed conditions. The exception is the skin condition. We asked the VAMC for completion of the inadequate examination. They responded that because of your expressed disappointment with the examination, they were asking us to have another VAMC complete the examination. We replied that we had no such authority, that their manual said that this is their responsibility. Their manual says that they must find a facility willing to accept the examination and that you, the veteran, must agree to travel to the other facility. I assume that they will contact you soon on this matter. Veterans Service Center Manager -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First, I am upset that I never heard back from the Directors office at the VAMC. Think I will call them again tomorrow and tell them that we want an appointment set up to speak with them. Secondly, since my husband just had another complete knee replacement (NSC), he could in no way be sent to another VAMC in an area that would be that far away. He couldn't make the trip. Also, from the response that I received back from the VARO (as I showed above), neither the VARO or the VAMC knows what they are doing. They assume I will be contacted. When? In the next century. Also, there were two inadequate exams, not one, but according to the reply from the VARO, they only spoke of one. How was the other inadequate exam handled? I am so frustrated with this whole system that I could scream. I have been dealing with some of these claims for over 6 years and those are remands back from the BVA back in February 2005. Questions for the group: Should I call the VAMC tomorrow and set up an appointment to speak with the Director over the C & P examiners in order to complain about these inadequate exams being done by this examiner and also about the problem my husband would have in making a long distance trip at this time to go to another VAMC for something that should have been able to adequately been done here? How do I go about finding out what happened to the exam that was written up, but was considered inadequate based on the fact tht the exam was reporting on a condition my husband doesn't have and was not what the C & P exam was set up for? Should I get the VARO involved with the problem in sending my husband to another VAMC? Since my husband would not be able to make the long distance trip, how would he be able to get a new examination and would this go against him in any way? It kinda sounded like in the VARO reply to me that my husband would have to agree to travel the distance to another VAMC for an exam. We have had other claims held up because of this examiner. He is not out to assist the veteran in any way. In fact, I think he does everything he can to help get the claim denied. We have filed other complaints in the past due to the inadequate exams that this examiner is giving. Why is he still employed there? Any help or assistance on what direction I should take would be geatly appreciated. I am getting more frustrated and worn down as each day goes by. Trying to cope with my husbands needs with his knee replacement, along with his other problems, taking care of everything else by myself, along with my health problems, I don't need all of this on me as well. Sorry for the ranting, but where else can you go, except HADIT, to be able to do this and everyone understands what you are going through. Thanks for any help you can give me. mssoup

I'm not sure if you can get a copy of the video as I don't think that it is taped. It is basically a phone conversation, but you see the people you are talking to. You can request at the hearing that you would like to have a copy of the transcript. I'm sure you will be shocked at reading the transcript. So many errors and mispelled words were in my husbands transcript. But, none of that would have changed the outcome of the decisions made, so I didn't press the issue on the errors. When you speak, try to be as clear as possible. If need be, spell out some of the important words, such as a doctors name. This way you have a better chance of it getting into the transcript correctly. After all, it is being taped and someone else then takes the tape and transcribes it. If they are unsure of a spelling or pronunication, they just take a guess and put in what they think they heard. This transcript is then used by the judge in making their decision, so you want it as accurate as possible. Hope this helps. mssoup

When my husband and I went to his BVA hearing with the traveling board, I figured I would get really nervous. He has a SO, but he was so useless that my husband basically told him to shut up and let me handle his claim. Our SO started interjecting about his own problems. My husband told him that we were at the hearing for his problems and not the SO's and to shut up. I guess the law judge got a little sample of his PTSD. Well, before we went to the hearing, I spent a number of days trying to do a writeup up of what I wanted to make sure got into the meeting and on the record. I also took copies of the most important evidence I had, including medical records, in case I needed them. Well, since I myself have panic attacks, I asked that I be able to read from my letter what I wanted entered into the record. They stated that that would be fine. This way I insured myself that I didn't forget anything I wanted heard and I felt more comfortable reading what I wanted to say instead of trying to try and remember everything. There were various times when the judge would stop me and ask either me or my husband some questions. Also, when I would bring up specific things about his medical records or other evidence, they kinda looked funny and asked if I had a copy of that that they could look at. I stated I did and gave them the copy. They wanted to look at the evidence, but couldn't find it in his folder. One specific piece of evidence I had was from an IMO and he stated that it was as least likely as not that his problem was due to an already service connected condition. The VARO turned this down, even with this statement. The law judge really looked puzzled over this. Needless to say, this was one issue that we got an instant approval on from the BVA. We also received another instant approval on another of his claims. The rest were basically remanded back to the VARO with some pretty sound demands on them as to what they didn't do and should have done. But, we are still waiting on these issues to be cleared up by the VARO. A hearing before the BVA is really no more than the same type of hearing you get when you have a hearing before the Social Security judge. It seems kind of scary at first, but they seem to really put you at ease with them. At least the judge we had did. I guess this could vary depending on who you get. I hope all goes well with you. Try to be as relaxed as you can and just keep thinking that these people put their pants on the same way you do, therefore, they are no different than you are. Try to stay as focused as you can on what the subject is and answer their questions as specific as you can. Just keep thinking that you are there to try and win your case and don't let them intimidate you in any way. You also want to make sure that you keep them focused on you and not let them wonder off somewhere and appear to not be listening to what you have to say. They cannot ask questions if they are not listening to you and all of this goes on the record. Hope this didn't scare you anymore, but maybe helped a little. Good Luck, mssoup

A blood pressure medication that works for one person may not work the same for someone else. The doctor needs to keep changing his meds until he finds one that works for him. My husband has had HBP for years. He was finally put on a med that seemed to control his HBP better than anything else he had been put on. But, as usual, the VA changed its formulatory drug list and this med was taken off the list and replaced with another. We were told it was esentially the same drug and worked the same way. Didn't happen that way. Since that time, his blood pressure has consistently been high each time it is taken. But it seems it takes an act of Congress to get a drug that is not on the VA list. HBP is/can be a very bad medical problem with anyone with it, if it is not gotten under control. mssoup

Jim, Thanks for your reply. When he changed doctors, no records from the previous doctor went with him. He didn't like the doctor he was seeing, so he just changed doctors and apparently did not ask that any records be transferred. The only thing we could find documented was that this new doctor did note that he had been previously treated for some time for HBP by Dr. ? This has been 30+ years ago and kinda hard to remember exactly what happened when he transferred doctors. Also, at that time, we knew nothing about filing claims for service connected issues, therefore, it would not have seemed that important at the time. I'm sure that has happened to a lot of veterans and now they wish they had known more at the time and done things differently. But, no one at that time was out there telling Vietnam veterans that if they had problems which could be service connected that they could file a claim and receive compensation for it. Now years later and they need this type of evidence, it is long gone. But, his discharge exam did show a high blood pressure reading and the C & p examiner did relate his current HBP to his military service. Also, the doctor who stated that he had been seeing Dr. ? for some time for HBP should have some bearing on the claim. This in itself should be enough to grant him service connection. But, I have thought before on other issues that all the evidence was in his favor only to have the VARO deny it. The most you can do is send in everything you can and keep your fingers crossed that you are lucky enough to get a rater who will read the evidence and rate it fairly. mssoup