Nsiads And Gerd

[Berta]

Someone had a post about this recently but I forget who and I found this decision at the BVA.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp06/files4/0623407.txt

The veteran's claim for SC of GERD due to meds prescribed for a SC knee condition in 1998 was denied.

The veteran's claim was again denied in 1993.He did not appeal.

The claim was re-opened due to new and material evidence-

In 1996- the veteran's diagnosis appeared for the first time in med recs as stomach discomfort and refluex diagnosed as dyspepsia.

In 1998 an upper GI series revealed GERD and a haital hernia. The veteran had been taking NSAIDs for a SC low back pain condition which were discontinued in 1997 due to the GERD distress.

"The examiner noted that the most important aggravating factor of his GERD and hernia was NSAID use."

"Order :

The claim for service connection for a gastrointestinal disability is reopened.

Service connection for a gastrointestinal disability is granted."

[rentalguy1]

Question I forgot to ask.

Will this medical report be automatic included in my appeal on requesting Gerd as a seconday to my s/c disability? Should I mail a copy of it to the VA and request it to be included with my appeal that I had already mailed in? Or should I let it be for now and wait to hear form the VA?

Also, I just order a copy of my military Personnel/Medical records to see if there were any problems with Gerds back then. If I do find something, can I also add that to my appeal?

Thanks

They won't automatically include it. never count on them to get any of your information. You should alsways send it in if you think it will have impact on you claim.

[Pete53]

Rentalguy is correct never ever count on the VA to include reports that are favorable. Its a good lesson to earn everyone who is being treated at VA should get copies of their progress notes and read them. If they are favorable to their claim they should make copes and send to the VARO to include with the claim.

[Berta]

Pete-that cannot be stressed enough----

"Rentalguy is correct never ever count on the VA to include reports that are favorable. Its a good lesson to earn everyone who is being treated at VA should get copies of their progress notes and read them. If they are favorable to their claim they should make copes and send to the VARO to include with the claim."

I recently had to go over again and again something that my 4th IMO doctor wanted to rule out- meaning to state in his IMO- that a medical follow up for something did not occur-

I had to check and make sure that I had sent him everything I had-

in doing that- I also found old VA med opinion that not only supports one of my claims (the old SOC forgot to put the good stuff in it)

but that this also (separate from the med recs the doc had)

supported that the VA did not follow up on an additional disability Rod had-

I also found something I missed before- when the VA gives a medication and then crosses out the entries- it might well mean they gave the vet the wrong medication-

(I proved this fact anyhow years ago but in all the times I read these med recs-I found even more stuff to prove my claims-things that just didnt register at the time-)

A VA doctor himself sent my his opinion-3 pages that VA reduced to a few statements-in 1997-

the actual report is stunning.

Also the VA stated when they award FTCA settlement that "the nurses were by far more observant than the doctors."

I had disregarded the nursing progress notes when I filed the FTCA case.

I had no idea how significant those notes were as I felt the VA would only read the doctor's entries.

One nurse even told me she had put a notation into the record (the same day she told me they were going to kill him)as to an incident a few nights before- that definitely wasnt handled right-

However-I never found her note but maybe the OGC did.

It pays to go through every single piece of paper in a copy of med recs or a c file copy-

everything- and then put it down and a day or so later look again-

and again-I am still finding evidence of malpractice as well as support for all of my claims-after over ten years of having all this stuff.

[3 years to retire]

Thanks guys.

I will have to wait to see how the upper endosopy test comes out. I feel that the irration in the stomick (mild antral erythema) would help my case. I will have to go back to the va and request the documents and any follow up on the biopsy of 3 Polyps taken out. Here , you have to give the exact date of the procedure to get a copy of the information. The VA states that they can only pull the information by the date it was performed. I will have to figure out when the follow up tests were, to get a copy of them. The VA said that I would be notified by mail of the polyp results. If I had not received it by a month to call.

I mail off a request for a copy of my military medical/personnel file last week to St Louis Mo. In the original request for Gerd as secondary to my s/c disability, the VA quoted my military records as not showing any relationship for Gerd while I was in the military in its' denial of Gerd as secondary to my s/c disability. So I figured that I had better check those records out also.

If there are any medical minded people out there, I typed highlights of my endoscopy report in this thread, please look at it, and maybe suggest if I should/should not include it in my appeal.

Thanks again.

[cowgirl]

Hello, noticed you said you mailed off for your medical records, good idea. I was wondering if you have a claim in at the VA, are you already service connected for anything else? Your servicing VA should have the copy of your Service Medical records especially if you have claim in. Even though the VA has my SMRs I am requesting the 'rest' of the clinical notes and xray reports from St. Louis that are rarely filed in the SMRs. Just a thought, cg

[3 years to retire]

Well I received notice from the Va that my upper egd results were in. Got a copy and talked a little to the dr. who did the egd of the Esophagus, Stomach and Duodenum. Results show that:

1st. the polyps were cancer free.

2nd. Chronic Gastritis was discovered in the Stomach, 2 areas.

3rd. Chronically inflamed Fundic Type Mucosa was found in the Distal Esophagus area.

4th. test negative for Helicobacter pylori.

So the research begins.

I found that the Chronic Gastritis - inflamation of the stomach can cause by 1.)A bacteria, Helicobacter pylori (H pylori), which will infect and inflame the stomach lining. A doctor can prescribe anti botics to kill the H pylori bacteria. Or 2.) Chornic Gastritis can be cause by prolonged irritation from the use of NSAID (Non-steroidal Anti Inflammatory drugs)

I have an appointment with my VA doctor next week.

So I will go to see the Doctor and see if he agrees with my reasoning that 1, I do have Gerd, 2, the Gerd is increased by Nsaid and not H pylori. 3, The Gerd is not going to improve. 4, due to my s/c knees I am taking Salsalate, a NSAID to decrease the pain to my knees. 5, to combact the effects of the NSAID on my Gerd, I need Omprazale. Finally, my Gerd should be consider secondary to my s/c knees since the s/c medication imflames my Gerd,

I will request his medically opinion on it and ask him to write a statement on this issue.

I will then mail the EGD results and the Dr. Statement to the VA to be added to my appeal.

Any comments please let me know.

Thanks.