Ammendments Of Conditions To Persian Gulf Illness

[mags1023]

Hello to all. I have been an active reader of your many posts and they have helped me immensly. I thank you all for taking the time to assist veterans in our attempts to be compensated for the many disabilities that are associated with military service. I recently moved and changed regional offices from Houston to St. Petersburg, FL. When I called the VA 1-800 number the counselor told me what they were showing at the St Pete office and it appeared to me that some of my records/submissions were missing. I decided to write St Pete and identify all of the issues that I was currently working with the VA on. I have a couple under appeal and a couple of claims that are secondary due to medications (NSAIDS) that I have been taking for over 10 years. I also mentioned to them that I was a Persian Gulf Veteran and that maybe some of my conditions should be considered as Persian Gulf Illnesses. When I received a response from St. Pete this week they told me that they were ammending my claim for increase from just DDD to DDD/Persian Gulf Illness and Clavicular Fracture now claimed as Joint Pain Right Shoulder/Persian Gulf Illness.

My questions are:

- These are conditions that I have been medically diagnosed with and I thought Persian Gulf Illness was for medically undiagnosed illnesses.

- I feel like they are setting me up for something bad.

Can anyone enlighten me on if these ammendments are good or bad for me???

Thanks, Pete

[Ricky]

Sometimes you gotta watch those ole boys. If you were discussing your DDD with them and brought the GW service up they noted it so the development team simply added it to your claims.

They can not pull anything on you. They will first see if the claim fits under 1117 and 38 CFR 3.317 for an undiagnosed illness which it does not if you have a medical diagnosis. Then they will determine if they can be service connected via direct service connection via medical evidence.

As Berta stated 1117 and 38 CFR 3.317 are some weird animals. 1117 was basically written to pacify the public amid the claims of the vets who served during that time. All except the IBS and Fibro issues will send you into remand hell for it is hard to get a doc to say that your knee and shoulder pain is due to your service if they can not see it on an xray.

[mags1023]

Thanks Ricky. What was your occupation in the Navy??