tdiu Advice On How To Best Proceed With My Claim

[John Purser]

Hello. I've posted here before and followed the advice I've received. Now some things are coming together and I need to know how to take the next step.

GOAL: TDIU

PLAN: Apply for increased disability (20%) for the nerve damage to my leg while keeping the 40% for my back giving me 60% disability from one injury. And apply for disability due to depression. From the charts I've seen on here I seem to fit the 50% rating easily.

REALITY: An Army jump accident 20 years ago screwed up my back and has left me with 20 years of worsening chronic pain and nerve damage as well as made my depression worse. Today I'm restricted to a recliner for about 16 to 20 hours a day. I lost my last job over 2 years ago and my inability to move about, sit up, and focus keeps me from earning a living or having much of a life at all. I'm currently living off the small amount of disability I get from the VA and bumming money from my girl friend and family. I've filed a claim for SSD but will have to wait until next April or so for the hearing.

CURRENT VA DISABILITY: 40% for my back injury alone.

VA DISABILITY CHANGES: At one point I had 20% for my back and 20% for the nerve damage to my right leg which has numbness, doesn't always do what I tell it to, and occasionally collapses a bit on me. After one attempt to increase my disability level the VA declared my leg "cured" and my back worsened to keep my disability the same. I had further tests done through the VA and the nerve damage was still there. Duh.

REPRESENTATION: I'm doing this myself. My last two VFW representatives told me to pull absurd stunts, told me to file fraudulent claims, don't appear to understand the legal requirements for TDIU, and missed a deadline for filing a notice of disagreement. I can screw this up by myself and making office visits hurts so I'm dumping them.

CURRENT EVENTS: I applied for a copy of my C-file about 7 months ago. There is a 9 month back log for copies of the file from the Seattle office so the wait should be about over if the back log hasn't gotten worse. I've FINALLY found a doctor who will prescribe bed rest for back pain (last three doctors refused to do so under any circumstances saying bed rest is not warranted for someone who's bed ridden with pain!) and if my new insurance will cover her clinic I'll be going back to her. Also my VA psychiatrist entered a case note saying that my back condition was making my depression worse.

QUESTIONS:

A) Should I wait for the copy of my C file to arrive before I do anything? This makes good sense to me but I hate waiting if I don't have to.

B) Can I apply JUST for the additional disability for my leg and depression without throwing the back into it? I don't want to let them shuffle the percentages around again.

C) Should I apply for TDIU at the same time I apply for the additional disability for my leg and depression or make that a separate claim after I get the results of the other claims? Right now I don't meet the legal requirements for TDIU (just the reality ones).

D) What am I missing? Seriously, I think I've got a goal and a plan but if I've dropped the ball somewhere let me know.

Thanks for the help.

[LarryJ]

Have you accessed your VA Medical Records? Go to the Medical Records dept at the VAMC and request ALL of your medical records to include psych records. They'll have you sign a FOIA request and will print out the records to hand to you.

What about the psych records? Apparently you have a VA psychiatrist from what you have said.

And, apparently he/she has diagnosed "depression".

If so, your psych records should show at what level you suffer depression and also what your GAF score is (50 or lower will get you 70% disability most all the time, with a few exceptions).

If your psychiatrist feels that your back problems are causing you an increase in your depression....then it sounds to me like you have a reasonable and caring psychiatrist that understands the relationship between pain and depression.

I would do a sit-down with this psychiatrist and explain the facts. And tell 'em, "I can't work, I need you to simply state that I can't work, either due to the pain, or the depression, or both, and can you help me out."

MDD (Major Depressive Disorder) is going to do it for you, and if you have such a diagnosis, then that is the route that I would travel, were I you.

No, I did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night. No, I am not an expert on ANYthing.

But, I am 100%, Permanent and Total. And, I did it by myself. AND, I did it just as I have described above. The only thing my so-called Service Officer did for me was lose the letter that the VA sent to him, explaining that I was awarded 100% P&T............ B) !

[SouthernBelle]

Larry has given you great advice. You seem to have a good plan, I didn't see any ball dropping with your plan. Now, you just have to do everything in your plan.

[John Purser]

Have you accessed your VA Medical Records? Go to the Medical Records dept at the VAMC and request ALL of your medical records to include psych records. They'll have you sign a FOIA request and will print out the records to hand to you.

No, I haven't done that. Boy that's going to take some printing! Okay, I'll get it done. What am I looking for in these medical records? Are psych records different from medical records?

[John Purser]

What about the psych records? Apparently you have a VA psychiatrist from what you have said.

And, apparently he/she has diagnosed "depression".

If so, your psych records should show at what level you suffer depression and also what your GAF score is (50 or lower will get you 70% disability most all the time, with a few exceptions).

If your psychiatrist feels that your back problems are causing you an increase in your depression....then it sounds to me like you have a reasonable and caring psychiatrist that understands the relationship between pain and depression.

I would do a sit-down with this psychiatrist and explain the facts. And tell 'em, "I can't work, I need you to simply state that I can't work, either due to the pain, or the depression, or both, and can you help me out."

MDD (Major Depressive Disorder) is going to do it for you, and if you have such a diagnosis, then that is the route that I would travel, were I you.

I've had three VA psychiatrists and been diagnosed with depression, PTSD, and bi-polar disease. The one I have now had no problem stating that the 20 years of pain and my current inability in move about was making my depression worse. I'll ask him about Major Depressive Disorder at my next appointment which is in January. Currently the meds he has me on make me pass out for the day. Not a viable solution IMHO.

[John Purser]

No, I did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night. No, I am not an expert on ANYthing.

But, I am 100%, Permanent and Total. And, I did it by myself. AND, I did it just as I have described above. The only thing my so-called Service Officer did for me was lose the letter that the VA sent to him, explaining that I was awarded 100% P&T............ B) !

So you're saying you're only qualification is that you've been there, done that, and got the brass ring? Well that beats the hell out of my current expert (me) or my last ones.

[LarryJ]

"No, I haven't done that. Boy that's going to take some printing! Okay, I'll get it done. What am I looking for in these medical records? Are psych records different from medical records?"

No, your psych records SHOULD be included in with your OTHER medical records.

Only problem is, is that sometimes, if you do not specifically request your psych records, when requesting your medical records, then "they" assume that "they" are doing you a good service by NOT giving you your psych records.........you know, thereby keeping you from becoming upset by finding out that "they" might think that you are "certifiable", hence keeping you from going down to the sporting goods store and purchasing "armament" and doing other nasty stuff that "crazy people" might do........................ B)

You need to be able to assess what you have been diagnosed with, i.e. just what the psychiatrist thinks of your disability. Your GAF (General Assessment of Functioning, or some such). Google "GAF" or look it up here on hadit, it'll give you the various GAF scores and the equivalent %'s of disability. Then, speak with your psychiatrist as I have already mentioned.

Then, armed with the psych records, the GAF score(s) (they are supposed to assess your GAF each time they "visit" with you), and, hopefully, a helpful, beneficial, "letter" or whatever they may choose to call it........then you may very well wish to "file a claim" for the appropriate indicated degree of verified, diagnosed, disability. And, hopefully the letter from your psych doc will indicate that you are TDIU, in which case you need to fill out the FORM for claiming TDIU (there is a SPECIFIC form that you MUST fill out before they will consider you for TDIU, my memory loss renders the recollection of the form number inaccessible at this time, maybe someone else here will chime in with that info?).

Now, it's back to my basket-weaving and drooling.