ptsd Filed For Increase In Pdst

[jessie0054]

Hello:

I just file my husbands claim for an increase in his PDST.

I have for the last year or so been keeping a diary of symptoms i have noticed in my husband's condition. The lastest was on Oct 4th, we were driving on the interstate and a car went to pass us and when it did it back fired which sounded like a big gun going off. My husband drove off the side of the road nearly hitting a road side before we got stopped. The most of which i hate is that he has become so suspicious of my daily actitivies without cause. I have caught him twice with voice recorders hooked up to our telephone lines. The first time i found it while cleaning and had to move to sofa in the basement family room which is rarly used. I just called it to his attention and he said he was sorry and i said i didn't want this to happen again. I thought that would be the last of it until a couple months ago i was cleaning out the car we were giving to one of the kids and found the instruction sheet and recept on a tiny voice recorder he had bought a few months ago. He first tried to lie about it until i showed him the evidence and said i wanted it now. he then went into the garage and i was more than surpized where he had hidded it. It took a lot of work to run that phone line out there.

He now checks the caller id to see who has called. He thinks i don't notice because i'm in the other room but i can still see the phone from where i sit. This is just a couple things i have on my list.

After this i demanded that he call his Mental Health Physican and make an appointment, I just got that report of his recent visit.

The Dr said that he was seen with a worsening of his ptsd symptom being intrusive memories, nighhmears with night sweats, Hypervigilant and arousal, Social isolation, Irritability, depressed mood and avoidance behaviors .

At the end of the 45 min session he wrote that his ptsd is chronic and severe with job related problems and gaf score of 49.

Axis 1 Clinical Disorder: Anxiety Disorder: ptsd Chronic

Axis 11 personality disorders / traits none

Axis 111 Current medical conditions: see medical history

Axis 1v current psychosocial stressors: Financial & job related

So with this information where would he stand on an increase? He is currently 30 %.

We also file for secondary conditions related to the ptsd such and his heart condition and sleep apenia with the use of cpap.

His Mental health dr signed an Nexis form relating the Sleep Apnea to the ptsd

Thanks Jessie

[Ruffcreek]

Purple..We may be talking about 2 different things here. But the first one I was in was a 6 week program and it was an orientation program. Don't know if it was the same as Yoggie referred to but it seemed to me to be a basic program to get you sucked in to the next step of the program which is the Coping Skills program which lasts about 6 months. I just finished it today.

Anyway it didn't seem to hurt my cause for an increased rating. But I can see where it could maybe be used against you. This has only been my experience with it.

[jessie0054]

First!! Sorry i guess i was going to fast, But you all know i mean PTSD!!

And thanks for all the suggestions.

As far as group, I'm not sure my husband is ready for a group. He hasn't yet totally confided in his Dr about all the things that happened in Vietnam that haunt him. It's only been in the last few months that he has told me a few things and we have been married a long time and have known each other since before high school. He is a very private person and if i push a little to hard even i am pushed backwards and it could be a long time before he will let me back in.

He spent 6 months in an over seas hospital for gun shots wounds, shot through the bottom of a helicopter. He hasn't told them this because it is so embarrassing to him. I have tried to encourage him to file a claim on this but he won't. But then the Va doesn't even have a record of this. When i sent for his Service Medical records and personel records there were only 6 pages for the whole 4 years of his life he was in the service. Only 1 mention of the gunshot wound to his leg but nothing else, No treatment records for anything.

So how would you go about filing a claim with no records to prove you spent 6 months in a hospital on your stomach waiting for the wounds to heal not to mention the residules left over from this very senitive surgery.

Jessie

[mobie16r]

jessie,I understand some of the things your husband going through,i am also a Vietnam veteran,100% service connected for post-traumatic stress disorder,i still have nitemares,panic attacks, about the horrors of vietnam but i just make peace with them, and try to go ahead with everyday life, and when i am trying to help a veteran, it give me relief and help, on my feeling of guilt.If your husband was in a hostpital for six months,it is recorded somewhere,six months is a long time to be in a military hospital and no medical records.You said that your husband is s 30% service connected and planing on retiring Jan 2009 and getting ready for a physical this month,he need to let his employer know that he have ptsd,about time his paperwork is finish it will be Jan.Like i said on early post,when you are trying to get a total disbility,Va is going sent his employer a form 21-4192 (Request For Employment Information),what was the reason he retire or what medical disability cause him to retire from his, job and if your husband is unemployable because of his PTSD,which he is already service connected for,va wil have to consider him total disable.I was also 30% ptsd when i got in a counseling program at the varo and i didn't get any better but it sure did make me feel better to be around people like me that i could talk to openly.By the way i went from 30% to 100% PT in seven months.

mobie16r

Edited October 29, 2008 by mobie16r

[octdevildog]

Don't they video tape those PTSD programs?? I get the one on one here at home and been there every week over a year but you know I find it strange they have a program for PTSD (weird). Its like 6 weeks or something isn't it? How is this short time a life altering or changing event, not to take away from it. I guess I just don't understand it............

Any medical treatment you seek even if you share in an open setting with others is considered confidential. If they record you one of two things need to take place, (1) they ask for your permission and get a consent form from you giving them permission to study and use the film. The (2) is if they do not get a consent form, and you find out they did this you need to contact a lawyer.

[Pete53]

Early retirement is not so bad and from what you said driving a truck is not a good thing.

I wish you both the best.