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New To Forum, Exam Upcoming On Psoriasis And Arhtritis

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diablogun

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Hi all,

I'm a new guy, and I've been perusing the posts, but haven't seen much about my condition. Next Tuesday I am going to my ratings physical (is it called this?) to have my service connected disabilities rated. I have Psoriasis and associated Psoriatic arthritis, and am wondering what I can expect from the rating. I have been on immunosuppressive drugs for more than 3 years for the Psoriasis, so according to the schedule that should be 60%?

For the arthritis, I have it in my back, knees, wrists, hands, and to a lesser extent in 1 shoulder and both ankles. Does anyone have any idea if they lump these all together, as it seems to indicate under ratings code 5002? Any information offered is much appreciated, I am pretty new to this process.

Thank you in advance :-)

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  • HadIt.com Elder

You really need a Doc to say that you have psoriatic arthritis and it is more common than you think. If you can't work you need to ask for TDIU.

This is very personal to me and I do not want to scare you but flare ups can be devastating and the VA is not equipped to treat your problem. You really need a specialist that understands the issues and proper treatment.The only reason I know is my brother had it and the VA completely dropped the ball on treatment causing him intolerable suffering.

75 to 15% of people who have psoraisis and arthritis get the combination which is a auto immune disease and can cause excruciating pain. Please get a qualified Doc to help you

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You really need a Doc to say that you have psoriatic arthritis and it is more common than you think. If you can't work you need to ask for TDIU.

This is very personal to me and I do not want to scare you but flare ups can be devastating and the VA is not equipped to treat your problem. You really need a specialist that understands the issues and proper treatment.The only reason I know is my brother had it and the VA completely dropped the ball on treatment causing him intolerable suffering.

75 to 15% of people who have psoraisis and arthritis get the combination which is a auto immune disease and can cause excruciating pain. Please get a qualified Doc to help you

Pete53,

Thanks for the post, and believe me I know what a bad day feels like. I've been on the immunosuppressive injections or infusions for several years, and have tried most of them with little to moderate success. Some days, it's a hot bath for half an hour just to get up and take on the day. I work because I swore I wasn't going to become the disease, and because my job pays more than 100% P&T. My wife and kids could use the benefits, but I just can't seem to get there. I've had to have joints injected, and have used a lot of sick and personal time when I just can't get it in motion. The immunosuppressives seem to have at least slowed the degeneration of the joints, though. I have private insurance, and should probably get a second opinion for the course of action and pain management. My prayers for your brother - this disease can catch you off-guard and at a time when you can least afford the reminder.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Considering what you have said you should get 60% provided there is a link to your service. My Brother had psoriasis and arthritis diagnosed in military. He fell off a tank and broke his left ankle.

Good Luck

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Dont forget to consider applying for other secondary conditions. I have had psoriasis since 93, it causes depression, irritable bowel syndrome/colitis, can efffect your eyes (irirsitis, uveitis, conjuctivitis) cause heart conditions, and so on. Doctors dont even connect all the dots with psoriasis. All of this is because psoriasis is an immune mediated autoimmune disorder. It effects the entire body. internet "Psoriasis takes center stage in immune mediated diseases". The more you know about your condition, the less you will have to fight the va.

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Dont forget to consider applying for other secondary conditions. I have had psoriasis since 93, it causes depression, irritable bowel syndrome/colitis, can efffect your eyes (irirsitis, uveitis, conjuctivitis) cause heart conditions, and so on. Doctors dont even connect all the dots with psoriasis. All of this is because psoriasis is an immune mediated autoimmune disorder. It effects the entire body. internet "Psoriasis takes center stage in immune mediated diseases". The more you know about your condition, the less you will have to fight the va.

Believe me, I won't. I still haven't heard from IRIS (7 June 2010) or the DAV (last email was 22 May 2010) and am getting frustrated on this topic. The last thing I heard was that the VA was still trying to make a determination on the issue, then that they had no record of any request/appeal/whatever for the weekly injections for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I have another issue in the final stages according to eBenefits (finally), but who knows how long it will be there. I now know why people on this site keep saying 'don't give up': it gets tiresome feeling as though I'm begging for something that should be obvious. At this point, I don't know if I should hire a lawer or not, or if it's even worth it at this point. Tired of being in pain every day, fighting my way through nightmares, begging for at least some sort of response, etc. Oh, and by the way, I now have to have a sleep study done as recommended by my neurologist. I'll file for SC, but again, have to prepare for the same fight. It would be great if the doctors that actually treated you and captured all the data they get from you would trigger an increase as your symptoms got worse.

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Believe me, I won't. I still haven't heard from IRIS (7 June 2010) or the DAV (last email was 22 May 2010) and am getting frustrated on this topic. The last thing I heard was that the VA was still trying to make a determination on the issue, then that they had no record of any request/appeal/whatever for the weekly injections for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I have another issue in the final stages according to eBenefits (finally), but who knows how long it will be there. I now know why people on this site keep saying 'don't give up': it gets tiresome feeling as though I'm begging for something that should be obvious. At this point, I don't know if I should hire a lawer or not, or if it's even worth it at this point. Tired of being in pain every day, fighting my way through nightmares, begging for at least some sort of response, etc. Oh, and by the way, I now have to have a sleep study done as recommended by my neurologist. I'll file for SC, but again, have to prepare for the same fight. It would be great if the doctors that actually treated you and captured all the data they get from you would trigger an increase as your symptoms got worse.

Well, this is just my own opinion, (based on 12 years experiance and how I got to 90% sc for Psoriatic arthritus) but here goes,

the only things the va respects (and even then only about half way) are attorneys and non va medical evidence.

The va claims adjudication system is in a state of transition. Alot of their problem/process originates in the fact that they are still operating with a 1920's mentality that you are not disabled unless your limb/s are missing or dont work, your not disabled. Technology as it relates to medicine has simply passsed them by. Also, just like social security, which began as non adversarial, that to has changed. Simply put, the only way anyone is going to get anything out of the va anymore is to have a lawyer and insurance so that you can be treated by doctors outside the va. There is a differance between non va dotors and va doctors. va doctors are company doctors, they see more patients than they want to, non va doctors are trying to build practice. You have to choose which one you are going to use. Private practitioners (PP) hate patients who jump back and forth between them and the va, while the va docs could care less. I no longer tell a PP that I go to the va if I am seeing them. I very rarely discuss the Indipendent Medical Opinion (IMO) until threee or four visits and I do not say why I want it. I usually say my insurance company promoted a question about one. If I do otherwise, I state that that is my objective at the first visit, usually with a speciallist to whom I have been refered to. If they are going to crawfish, I want then to do it before they have a chance to run up a big billl. If I get it I can apply it to my claims. I can predict with a large amount of certainty that the rates have told you that they could not seee evidence of your Psoriatic arthritis in your xrays and denied the claime based on that. Psoriatic Arthritis does not show up on xrays until it becomes Psoriatic Mutaligens, and only 10% of the people who develope PA develope PM. It doesnt mean you dont have PA.

As to the va RATers, simply put, I dont like them, I have never had anny SOC where they completely followed the law or applied all of the medical evidence provided with the claim. I have had them ignore, malign, and misapply clearly expressed medical evidence in any way that they could to deny claims, until it became obvious that if the claim went to the board that it would get tosssed back in their lap as the denial being ludicriss. But denials saves them (the US government) the interest on the money. And I think thats what alot of it is about.

As for you decision to get a lawyer, I got myself to 90% on my own. it took me eight years. I went from 10% to 80% over night. I had a cue case and the va knew it. But they refused to grant me my back pay. I had previously tried to use the DAV. I now despise that organization because they refused to help me when I refused to join them. After I got myself to 80% I was going to have to appeal to the CAVC. This was because I had the VFW representing me, and from what I read of what they sent to the Board, it was like they asked the Board how they wanted them to write the appeal so it could be turned down before it was ever written. The VFW cannot, from what I was told, afford to retain attorneys to represent veterans. Again, I am not a member of the VFW ether. Both the DAV and the VFW get their power from the number of members that they have, IE election votes. I then decided to get an attorney. How do you find an attorny, you go to the internet, type in cavc, and click on the box that says practitioners. Did that mean that my claim was instantly solved, no but alot of the BS stopped. I dont have to deal with the stresss. Im waiting, but at this point my life wont be made any better by a lump of money. I have alot of claims, the va should have offered me TDIU when they first received my claims as to the duty to assist. But the duty to assist is just lip service. If they had I probably would have never presented another claim unless it was really important, meaning something I would die from that would effect my childrenn and wifes benefits. But no, they played the game, so now They will never get rid of me. They can deal with the frustration of dealing with my claims after Im past 100%, and if anyone thinks this really delays other veterans claims, they are fooling themselves, because the va's whole game plan is to delay any claim as long as possible, regardless of the circumstances. Dont geve up, dont get mad, dont beg (they like that-they know they are pushing your buttons) just keep pushing.

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