Establish A S/c And Nexus

[LOA]

hi, My military doctor tells me that as long as I was diagnosed with an illness and treated for it while in the service (22 years of service), I do not need to have a statement- Was most likely due to... He said because my claim is filed as soon as I get discharged and the illnesses occurred after I entered the military, VA will have to except them as service connected. Is this correct? The reason for him saying this is because a couple of my illness have no known cause.

Also a second question: As far a psychiatric evaluation- I have depression, which is caused by my illness and prolonged stress of MOS. When I go for my psych consult, should I talk about my childhood (not great childhood), if asked. My doctor said yes because although my childhood was messed up, I was healthy and happy and the events of my childhood made me subseptible to the depression caused by military events. I am afraid VA will claim preexisting problem even though I never had depression until about 10 years into my service.

Thank you all for your service to the nation, to veterans and this website. You have helped me alot already.

[LarryJ]

About telling them of your childhood. I had a crappy childhood also (father was an addict, mother was a basket case, etc., etc.), but, I told the examiner everything when asked. After all, these people (psychologists, social workers, etc.) are professionals and they can tell when you are being evasive.....so don't try. The results of my exam for service connection for my Major Depressive Disorder wound up being stated by the examiner something like this "the veteran probably suffered from depression since childhood, but this depression was excerbated and made worse due to injuries suffered in service...........".

He having made the above statement does not negatively affect my claim, but, instead, it is a positive outcome.

Just be truthful, but point out that "Yeah, I had a crappy childhood and, yeah, my childhood might have been depressing......but, I didn't enter service with what I would consider a mental problem. That didn't occurr until I had been in for quite some time." and simply leave it at that.

If the examiner wishes to probe beyond that, then just continue to be truthful, 'cause if you are NOT truthful, then your exam results will very likely contain the dreadful wording "veteran appears to be evasive when asked....."

Remember this, if your induction exam does not state that you are suffering from ______, then you didn't suffer from it when you entered service. Period. Now, if they should make the claim that it was a "pre-existing" problem, then THEY have to prove that claim. Even if you mention it at induction time, then if they go ahead and accept you, and it isn't stated in your induction exam results, then you STILL didn't have it....bacause you made the statement that you DID suffer from _______, doesn't qualify you to make that statement.....because you aren't a licensed healthcare professional qualified to make such a statement.....just the same as if you had a "buddy letter" from a friend that knew you, and that friend tried to state that you suffered from _______, the VA will not accept HIS statement, because HE is not qualified to make it, either.

But, I digress.........just be truthful, no matter what.

[john999]

I think getting statements from doctors connecting the dots is a good idea. I had a urinary tract infection in Vietnam that kept recurring. The VA did not make me SC for that condition based on my SMR's. I had two months of treatment for depression and the VA did not SC me for that condition until I filed a claim and produced a doctor's report saying the condition was related to my service. Most doctors know nothing about VA disability law. They treat people and are not lawyers. I would not discuss my childhood with a VA doctor at a C&P exam. They are not going to get your high school records to dispute what you say. I would say I had a happy childhood regardless of what happened to me. Why give them an issue? A VA doctor did do a job on me when I told him about difficult childhood. He tried to change my diagnosis to a personality disorder based on what I told him. He was a hit man. Now I focus on the military and post military life. These guys are too lazy to check in depth most of what you say. I don't say lie, but you don't have to volunteer information that might hurt your claim. By the way, a VA doctor said he believed I was committing fraud because I had a college degree in psychology. That is what he based my mental C&P exam on which was a single fact I revealed to him. Because I knew the technical names for some of my symptoms after being in therapy for 20 years I was an obvious fraud. If a VA doctor starts to ask about problems in school, fighting, drinking or using drugs as a teenager deny it. If you don't you are headed for a PD diagnosis.

[LOA]

Thank you, I will try again to get my doctor to give me a connection or cause for my illnesses but I am not sure that he will because he says there is no known cause and infact may be caused by many different things. But I will try My C & P is next month.

I am still unclear about the physc eval, LarryJ you wrote

_{The results of my exam for service connection for my Major Depressive Disorder wound up being stated by the examiner something like this "the veteran probably suffered from depression since childhood, but this depression was excerbated and made worse due to injuries suffered in service...........".}

This is exactly what I don't want to happen because I was never depressed as a child, although as I look back on my childhood I should have been. But I was not. See different please will see my situation in a different light and I do not want to have the VA phsyc turn it around. I have never been to a phsyc for that reason. Again I have been diagnosed with depression (by a general DR)and it is due first being ill (CFS and Fibro) and secondary to stress from my military job. I guess I will have to see what happens. Thank you all for your advise. It is very helpful

[mountain tyme]

LOA

wrote: "When I go for my psych consult, should I talk about my childhood (not great childhood), if asked. My doctor said yes because although my childhood was messed up, I was healthy and happy and the events of my childhood made me subseptible to the depression caused by military events"

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Loa...you stated that "I was healthy and happy"...which indicates to me that you had a normal childhood...you were able to cope with the life crisis that went on around you...to put events in balance in order to grow out of the situlation.

So the question is should you tell the VA Doctor about events in your childhood...I would simple say that 'I had a normal childhood period!. Who is to say what is normal or not esp. in today's world of madness...and depending where you are raised would dictate what is normal in that enviorment. For example if you lived in a large inner City area...well for some children it would be normal to see shootings, killings, beatings, domastic violance, addicted parents in there everyday life..and they would adapt to that situlation ...then lets say you were raised in the Midwest Bible belt per say...well normal for you could be the beaver clever family lifestyle...

back when I was a kid it was normal to get a licking if you did something wrong...back then it was spare the rod spoil the child...but today it would be called...child abuse. Yet I would say that most people of my generation turned out fine. And went on and lead productive lives...

I really feel if there are no records of depression or mental issue prior to service no school records that would point to any mental disablities prior to your military service...I would simply state I had a normal childhood.

no reason to stir up a honest nest when there is no reason to.

MT

[Ricky]

You can count on getting such a statement on Fibro and CFS. It will come from your C&P exam. The RO will ask the C&P doc to make such a determination during the exam. Now with that said, and keep in mind the term should, you should not have a problem if they occured during service, was diagnosed and treated during service and currently exist. Now if you do have a problem then yes you are going to have to get an IMO.

On the physc eval they WILL ask about your childhood. It is simply a part of a normal exam. Your requirement is to be truthful. If you feel that your childhood was dorked up then that is just the way it was. Now does that mean it was not normal - no. They will ask you many, many questions about things that may have affected your childhood such as abuse, sexual abuse, drugs etc.... so you see it is not as simply as a point blank question and answer about did you have a normal childhood. This will ask this question, however, even if you say yes they will still ask about the other areas. No matter who says what the Physc guys are not dummies. Bottom line is simply be truthful and insure that you emphasis your diagnosis, current treatment and medications for your other health issues.

[LOA]

Thank you so much for your assistance. I will be truthful and go from there. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas