C&p For Depression

[huskerfanfl]

I had a C&P examination today to increase my disability rating for depression which is currently 30%. I cannot remember everything but can remember the following

1. Loss of engaging in pleasurable activities Have not been interested in sex for six months. He asked if I could, I told him yes but have had no desire. He asked if I had friends I hang out with and I told him no. I pretty much just spent time reading and isolate through the reading.

2. He asked about my job. I have been written up for arguing with a coworker, have been denied a promotion and have continued to argue with coworkers and been short with the residents at the facility at which I work. I also told him that I was having trouble remembering what I was going to say when doing class with PowerPoints and had missed meetings because I did not feel up to going.

3. Wife has to remind me to take my medicine, have three calendars and still have to be reminded about appointments.

4. He asked if I was a church going man. I told him yes. He asked how often. I miss 75% or more.

5, He asked about temper. I admitted I through things at work and home to keep from hurting anyone. He asked if I thought about killing anyone I told him yes, but it is fleeting.

6. Asked about spending and income. I told him I have direct deposit, do not use my debit card because I had forgotten to tell my wife the last time I used it and we had bounced 3 checks as a result. He asked how I got cash and I told him my wife goes to the bank and gets me money. If I need to purchase something and do not have the cash we go to the store together.

Asked me to start at 100 and subtract 7, which took a while on each number but I did. Asked something about a low brook and noise and what I thought it meant. Asked me to spell world which I did and then spell it backwards and misspelled it I think.

He asked about my anxiety attacks and told him I still get 3 - 5 a week based on physical difficulties.

Finally he asked if my medicine I was on for depression was working and I told him that it was keeping me from killing myself so I guess that is the most I can hope for.

Forgot, he asked me about hygiene. I told him that wife has been having to remind me about that as well

All of these are true answers. Any comments?

Edited August 5, 2008 by huskerfanfl

[LarryJ]

Huskerfan:

You are very depressed but from your profile you have an 80% overall rating. I would say that as long as you are working it is unlikely that VA is going to bump your rating as it is.

However, if you can no longer work you should have little or no trouble going to 100%.

Your symptoms are 100% but working moderates it. If you went to 50% from 30% maybe it would move you to 90%

I hope that this makes some sort of sense.

Yeah, Pete, it does make sense.

Quite possibly I got 70% out of "suicidal ideation" simply because, if you remember, the VAMC in Dallas, where I got my psych C&P, had just had two or three SUICIDES in a row, there, in the Medical Center.

Wouldn't surprise me if the PhD that did my C&P wasn't somehow involved.........?...cause I think if I'd gone into that C&P complaining that my head hurt, that I had a headache....that I'd have come out with 70%.

just sayin

[huskerfanfl]

Pete53.

It makes perfect sense. If there is one thing I have learned from this site, it is to position yourself to win your claim. At this point I just want an increase in rating to show that the depression has gotten worse. I am still working and plan to continue for as long as I possibly can. To be honest though, if I were not working for a former soldier with whom I had been stationed I probably would have been canned long ago. There have been two week work periods when I have been there less than half the time, and I am really not doing well in teaching the classes I need to teach. My boss told me to just get to February becasue I will be vested at that point and will receive some retirement at age 55. He is really trying to look out for me.

[john999]

If you can afford to retire on disability due to the SC conditions then you could get IU. The waiting for IU is what many can't afford to do. I mean the VA could fool around for a year with your IU claim and meantime you have to have an income. They know this I am sure. If you could retire with some money coming in then you could also go for SSD and IU. Together you can survive. You have to plan your 100% disability so you don't go bankrupt in the process. If you have a IRA or 401-K you could live off that until the IU comes through for you. I think most vets end up broke and almost homeless while they wait for the VA to give them the correct rating. It is part of the plan.

[purple]

Huskerfan,

You wrote something that sounded a little backwards to me:

"At this point I just want an increase in rating to show that the depression has gotten worse."

In fact you have to prove the depression has gotten worse to get the increase in rating.

[rentalguy1]

Here are the rating criteria

for a 50% rating, you need:

Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and

productivity due to such symptoms as: flattened affect; circumstantial,

circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once

a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment

of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned

material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired

abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in

establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationship

For a 70% rating, you need:

Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas,

such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood,

due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals

which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical,

obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting

the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively;

impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods

of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and

hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including

work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain

effective relationships

I'm guessing that you are going to fall into the 50% category. I say this because you told the doc that you were having trouble remembering how to complete the classes you are teaching. This is called "circumstantial." I am also guessing that you displayed, or carried yourself in a depressed manner. That is a flattened affect (among other names). You stated that you had panic attacks more than once per week, although if this is the first time you have reported this, it may be disregarded (personal experience). You displayed impaired short and long-term memory disturbances. You told him that you have disturbances of motivation and mood by "not feeling up to attending meetings." Lastly, by being written up for arguing with coworkers, you showed that you are having difficulty in establishing and maintaining work relationships. Things that could hurt you might be if you were well dressed, and if you've had a lengthy marriage. These things might not get in the way at all, but they could, depending on the C&P doc and the rater.

Again, none of this matters at all until we get to see the C&P report. Everything that you told the doc has a 50/50 chance of being completely turned around. When we see what the doc has written, then we can better determine what your rating might be. Even then, the rater may read it in a totally different light.

What Pete said about your depression going from 30% to 50% possibly bumping your total rating from 80% to 90% may or may not be accurate. It all depends on your seperate ratings, of course. Say you are exactly at 80.000%. If that's the case, you would need to get an additional 30% rating to get bumped up to 90% (100% - 80% = 20%, 30% of 20% is 6%, 80% + 6% = 86% rounded up to 90%). If you are at 80.000% and your depression goes from 30% to 50%, then your total rating would only go up to 84%, which would round down to 80%, of course. If your total ratings add up to say 83% or 84%, then the bump to 50% for depression might move you up to a total of 90%....whew ;) I'm even confused after that...lol

Could you post up what your seperate percentages are?

[Pete53]

I believe that Huskerfan does have the symptoms to move higher than 30%. Going from 30% to 50% is not that big a jump. 70% much harder.