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

[broncovet]

Carlie and Free

I agree that you can both write clear and concise, and that is necessary to win a claim. Here is my problem. Due, in no small part, to SC conditions (depression), I am unable to write clear and concise..I tend to wander off subject..and the reader gets confused as to what I am requesting.

VSO's wont do it for me. They really wont even look at my case, much less spend the 20 hours or so to review it an summarize it. My medical records are 2inches thick, there are 5 RO decsions..hours and hours of reading...before you even get to the summarize part.

So, is my claim supposed to be denied because I lack that ability? That is like putting the "disability rights" courthouse up 40 steps with no elevators so that wheel chair individuals can not get their rights.

Now, I am turning "my life" over to a lawyer. This VA stuff is my life and my livelihood. And now, I have to trust someone with "my life" that I barely met whose industry's reputation is pretty bad. I feel like I am on the operating table with the surgeon operating on me who just got out of prison for "faking" medical certificates...

I am sure that I am NOT the ONLY VETERAN who is not good at writing clear concise paragraphs. I WAS good at it. I have a college degree, and, no I didnt send in two kellogs box tops to get it. But, after my depression, it is nearly impossible for me to seperate my emotion from my writing. So, I write what I think! And I think I want to strangle the people in the Regional Office for screwing up my claim so bad that my kids didnt get to go to college, and ...you dont want to know the rest...

I wish I could just send Carlie or Berta, or someone like you my cfile..then have you write stuff to "fix the mess". I will sign it, and then, pay you. Kind of like how the poor writers got through college..they paid others to write their "English Comp 101 Research Report" for them. Well, I did not "fake it" in college, but I just cant do it anymore..cant stay on task and on subject.

Edited January 23, 2009 by broncovet

[MikeR]

Bronco,

I know just what you mean. Having an MBA I have the skill set to write well, however there is just something about PTSD that makes writing the VA a really tough task. I can get so angry that I know I could punch a hole in concrete.

When I went in for the C&P there were no questions of my childhood and I gave him the down and dirty with complete honesty. I am not homicidal, but I told him on my worst day I did not mind dying. I was in a car crash(no fault of my own) where I was sent head on into a concrete highway divider at 60 MPH and my thought was well at least it's over. Whatever I had been living with just needed to end. This guy told me before I left I needed help ASAP. He did a good write up, and the experience prompted me to seek treatment. What the BVA does with it is anyones guess. They recently notified me to say that my file was going to the rater, and has all the info that I sent in.

If someone had asked about my childhood I would have told them the truth. It was pretty nice, it all went wrong when I joined the Army.

[timetowinarace]

Carlie and Free

I agree that you can both write clear and concise, and that is necessary to win a claim. Here is my problem. Due, in no small part, to SC conditions (depression), I am unable to write clear and concise..I tend to wander off subject..and the reader gets confused as to what I am requesting.

VSO's wont do it for me. They really wont even look at my case, much less spend the 20 hours or so to review it an summarize it. My medical records are 2inches thick, there are 5 RO decsions..hours and hours of reading...before you even get to the summarize part.

So, is my claim supposed to be denied because I lack that ability? That is like putting the "disability rights" courthouse up 40 steps with no elevators so that wheel chair individuals can not get their rights.

Now, I am turning "my life" over to a lawyer. This VA stuff is my life and my livelihood. And now, I have to trust someone with "my life" that I barely met whose industry's reputation is pretty bad. I feel like I am on the operating table with the surgeon operating on me who just got out of prison for "faking" medical certificates...

I am sure that I am NOT the ONLY VETERAN who is not good at writing clear concise paragraphs. I WAS good at it. I have a college degree, and, no I didnt send in two kellogs box tops to get it. But, after my depression, it is nearly impossible for me to seperate my emotion from my writing. So, I write what I think! And I think I want to strangle the people in the Regional Office for screwing up my claim so bad that my kids didnt get to go to college, and ...you dont want to know the rest...

I wish I could just send Carlie or Berta, or someone like you my cfile..then have you write stuff to "fix the mess". I will sign it, and then, pay you. Kind of like how the poor writers got through college..they paid others to write their "English Comp 101 Research Report" for them. Well, I did not "fake it" in college, but I just cant do it anymore..cant stay on task and on subject.

That's why I strongly disagree with the common phrase "The Vet is his own best advocate". For many it is true.

For me it was a nightmare because learning is difficult, consentration is unlikely, memory is sparce due to my damaged brain.

That phrase used to send me into fits of anger. The mentality of it causes some vets to be left behind.

The failure of the VA to assist claimants is the source of the problem. The common practice of using usually poor VSO representation seals many veterans fates.