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So I went in Friday. Saw two examiners. I didn't have time to submit my Statements in Support of Claims (PTSD & knees) my wife and adult children filled out but I had them read them while I was there. I just uploaded them on Monday. The first wa a Nurse Practitioner. She checked my feet and knees. Don't know if this was the smartest idea but I didn't wear my AFO or knee brace at first, because I wanted her to see how I walk, move unassisted. I put it on after her examination and showed her how I'm still not stable on that leg no matter which apparatus I'm using. I explained my quality of life at work sucked becaue there's only one elevator, which means I walk twice as far to use it. I work upstairs and have almost fallen several times. I also told her I was concerned because the last rater wrote I was doing good with my orthotic insoles, when I 100 percent told him that I can't use the Navy issued insoles for regular shoes. My feet rating was decreased because of that. So I made it clear verbally that I was not getting better. For the Migraines increase i showed her my migraine tracker chart and she barely looked at it. It shows that I missed over 100 hours of work last year due to migraines. The second was the Psychiatrist She didn't ask me much about anything my VA psychologist wrote in her nexus letter. She skimmed over my buddy statements. She asked me about 6 questions, pretty much (yes or no) when was my last fight about my job am i taking my medications have I been arrested about my work history about my sleep It lasted about 15 minutes. So who knows what is going to happen. All I know is I left there without any confidence that the evidence nor my exams helped. We'll see. -
There was a post on "flat feet", so I thought I would ask: My VA doc was useless. Even the foot doc was no help. He did give me a set of inserts for my shoes, but I had better luck (and more arch support) by ordering arch support inserts online. Berta mentioned she got insoles fitted by a doctor. I really never have had them fitted by a doc. I have had a total knee replacement, (not service connected but should have been, its moot now since Im already 100 percent plus SMC S). I fractured my leg in the military. Most of my foot pain is limited to the left foot. Pretty much it either feels numb or pain all the time. Fortunately, mostly numb. Im not a diabetic, and have not been diagnosed with peripheral nueropathy, but I think I have that anyway. Even worse than my foot pain is my brother's foot pain, and I want to help him. I have tried some things with some success, but not as much success as I like. 1. Orthopedic inserts. The leather ones from Berkinstock seem to work best, as they support my high arch. 2. Stay off cement. I try not to walk on concrete surfaces, at least not for very long. If I walk on concrete, such as a Walmart, my feet will start to hurt within 1-2 hours. The only relief is to "get off my feet". 3. Nurtirition therapy. I beleive many disorders (diseases) can be helped or even cured with great nutrition, mostly lacking in our diet. For example: a) I use olive oil only at home for cooking. Its rich in poly phenols which seems to help. It has to be good quality olive oil "where you know" the farm it was made. I also eat olives. b) "Deep root" plants. Some examples of deep root plants are all fruit growing on trees, since trees have a long root system and it can pick up minerals deep in the ground. Much of the surface soil has long since been depleted of minerals. But plants with long roots can still get to minerals deep in the ground, where we havent managed to pollute or remove all the minerals yet. Nuts are good, for same reasons. Alfalfa is good, it has roots that go up to 10 feet deep. Corn is poor. Its a surface crop with little nutrition and mostly calories used to fatten animals. It works to fatten pigs and cattle. Carrots are good, they have a deep root. So are beets. c) Only quality meats. I buy buffalo when available. Laws prevent feeding buffalo antibiotics or horemones. When buffalo is not available, I try to get organic or at least grass fed beef. For fish, I try to get "wild caught". Yea these cost more but isnt your health worth a few dollars a month? -
I have 4 C&P exams this Friday. All for increases. (Migraine, PTSD/depression/anxiety/chronic pain/agoraphobia, bilateral foot pain and knee pain increase [including VA issued knee brace and civilian issued AFO foot brace]). Should I have my wife ad adult kids who both witness and suffer from my mood swings, depression, anxiety and antisocial like living on a daily basis? They can also talk about my constant leg pain and migraines. I also want my supervisor to do one regarding my migraines that have me leaving work early, alot. But that is a touchy subject, because I don't want me asking him to affect my employment. Also I hide a lot from them, to keep my job, like just suffer with headaches and migraines at work. Or fake my way through the day, pretending to want to be around people.
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Bunion info/update
Andyman73 posted a question in VA Disability Compensation Benefits Claims Research Forum
Hey all, just found out something very interesting regarding bunions. I know a few of us on here posted about bunions, and I thought this would be the quickest way to get this out. I recently was DXd by my PCP with a bunion on R foot. X-rays confirmed this finding. So then I scheduled an appointment with my local VAMC Podiatry clinic. That was Tuesday the 13th, a few days ago. Podiatrist was very nonchalant and laid back, while looking at my feet. Lots of hmming and uh huh..ing to himself while looking. He said it looks like a bunion, but will need x-rays to confirm. I says, just had some done a few weeks ago. He says; they will need to be standing weighted. Lo and behold, yep, standing x-ray. He says good. Then using his computer he made direct lines with an anchor point to get the angle of departure(such as it is) to show how much the bunion has changed my foot. He said anything less than 15 degrees of angle is usually treated with custom orthotics and looser shoes. I already have VA custom orthotics, have had for years. My angle of departure is 23 degrees. He said that all they can do for that, now, is surgery. Now...here is the real meat of this post....he said that medical studies have shown, and the VA stands by it, bunions are an inherited condition! The medical study showed that shoe type has less effect to cause bunions than previously thought. The study covered native people groups in regions not known for wearing shoes, where people are barefoot all the time. And the study showed the same frequency rate of bunions among the bare foot as among the shoe wearing folks. So...if you have issues with Bunion claims....perhaps this will give ya'll some insight on how to change your attack. For me, that means I will file my bunion claim as secondary to my feet due to aggravation caused by my SC pes cavus bilateral w/plantar fasciitis. Since the VA identifies secondary conditions as caused by or aggravated by existing service connected disabilities.
