ptsd Just Returned From My C & P Exams

[TANKERJOE0]

i just returned from 3 c&p exams today.

i am besides myself.

please people dont critisize me for the way i type this post???

im trying to unwind and catch my breath and find some help from seasoned vets with this experience.

the dr who conducted my exam for my ptsd claim was sooo condescending,rude,very impolite and very uncaring or thorough.

i brought my wife with me and he said she was not allowed in the exam????

i asked once again once we got into his room as to why she cant be in w/me and he said because this is what i said is going to be done and thats it???

i have terrible anxiety and memory problems so i needed her to analyize and help me during and after the exam???? about what happened??

he vigoursly interrogated me for about a half hour and it was over.

he did not even touch on any of the problems i face or effects it has on my life.

he asked me more about my child hood, arrest records, drinking problems???

of which i dont have any???

i hope there is a way to justify my claim in another way???

i dont know what all the acronyms mean nod or dro hearing?

i guess ill be reading up on all of this while i wait on the decision to come back??

all 3 exams went almost exactly the same,except the drs were nicer then the phsyc???

i felt like i was on the stand being cross examined by the prosecutor for a capital murder trial???

i was so thrown off, i dont even remember what he asked?? what i said???

i just was sooo uncomfortable and feel violated???

there is no need to conduct an exam like this.

i have severe anxiety issues as it is just going out in public anymore.

let alone have this guy be this way?????

i left the appointment and went outside and literaly cried to my wife that i cant believe it went like that??

ill await the decisions and then i guess go from there.

i guess i should have expected this. from reading so many posts i should have been prepared for a fight till the end.

i already fought in a war??thats whats made me like this.

i didnt think id be home fighting again against my own govt.?

i am so angered that this is how vets are treated after returning or serving our nation.

i thought i truly knew about it from hearing news stories about other veterans, war veterans (vietnam vets) what they were being treated like.

and how they were and are still treated today.

but i truly apologize from the bottom of my heart.

me and millions of other americans dont truly know what vets go through.

its a crime that should be punishable by laws!!!

now that i got just a little taste of what goes on.

i just knew in my heart though that someone could examin me for an hour and just know from what i told them how bad i am actually feeling.

but was i ever wrong.

any body have anything to say???

thanks

tankerjoe0

[john999]

All those questions about your childhood means he was fishing for a personality disorder diagnosis.

[broncovet]

Tanker..

That jerk doc may just turn out to be your best friend. For me, it was the opposite. The c&P lady doc was real nice and complimentary..to my face! But in her report it sounded like she wanted to have me arrested for defrauding the VA cuz there wasnt nothing wrong with me worse than a hangnail or a hangover.

My regular doc, however, is kinda rude and rough..on the surface..like your doc. He is 100% for the Veteran, tho, and wrote stuff in my comp and pension exam that got me awarded benefits! He said stuff like my conditions are most likely related to military service..inside that rude exterior was a ball of "honey".

Your doc may be the same way. Go get a copy of his exam report, from your VA hospital, and you will be able to tell real quick whether he is for you or against you. Good luck..hang in there..even if he is against you, go get another doc who is for you.

[free_spirit_etc]

"already fought in a war??thats whats made me like this.

i didnt think id be home fighting again against my own govt.?"

Tanker - You are NOT fighting AGAINST the government. You are fighting TO get what you deserve. And it would be much easier if the government didn't fight AGAINST you.

Free

[free_spirit_etc]

Go get a copy of his exam report, from your VA hospital, and you will be able to tell real quick whether he is for you or against you. Good luck..hang in there..even if he is against you, go get another doc who is for you.

Yep! Get that report! My husband didn't get the reports on his initial claims. Years later, when we read the reports - the C&P examiner often CLEARLY said that something he had was related to the service. But the VA ignored it.

Like when he went for headaches - the VA doctor wrote that his headaches were caused by:

1. The chronic sinus problems that were treated and diagnosed in service. He even gave dates and when it was diagnosed.

2. Cervical strain - and he gave dates that was treated (and my husband had claimed the strain on discharge).

But the VA said "Service connection for headaches is denied because they were diagnosed as headaches."

??????

I guess having headaches be diagnosed as headaches makes them a "diagnosed illness" - thus, not Desert Storm related. (at least in a rater's mind).

But they didn't even mention that the doctor had related the headaches to two OTHER service connected conditions.

But when we finally got the medical records - wow!

So NEVER let the VA tell you what he doctor said. Get a copy of the report yourself.

Free

[Pete53]

In 1995 I went to a C&P before a panel of three VAMC Shrinks that I had never seen before. They told me that I could not bring my wife in and I told them fine I was not going to submit to the exam without her. They jabbered with each other and than allowed her in.

As I was going out to let them wait I said I am Disabled per Social Security and I want to invoke my rights under the Americans with Disabilty Act and that I want accommodation to help me with having my wife with me.

When you ask for your wife and you suffer from anxiety as much as they don't want a witness is the reason they say you can't have your spouse with you.

I have never been to a VA Doc without my wife or someone and usually the Doc's talk to her a lot more than me.

So the bottom line is you can bring your spouse with you just demand it. Look around the VA next time you go and you will see more Vets with spouses than by themselves.

Good Luck on your claim.

[LarryJ]

This doc was doing a good exam, I think.

He was seeing JUST how you would react to a stressful situation.

I had a psych exam quite a bit like you just described.

Lasted for an hour and 15 minutes!

I just knew that I had "flunked" the exam. Had no hope, none. Some of you will remember how upset I was after the exam.

Doc wound up saying "yes, the veteran had a "bad" childhood and some of his problems stem from that childhood.......but they were made progressively worse and aggravated due to his service..............."!

Hey, ya never can tell.

Get that copy of the exam from the medical records office at the hospital. Just go there and tell them you want a copy. They will have you sign a "release of medical records" form and then give you a copy. Takes about 4 minutes at the VAMC in Dallas.