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Ptsd Claim

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Petty Officer W

Question

I just recently put a claim in for PTSD, my VA rep told me I would probably here from them in a month, and I have not so I called him today and he said oh give them another couple of weeks,

I have not been able to submit my paperwork I have proving my PTSD or been ask to see a Dr. yet to be evaluated. I have been being seen for close to 10 years at the VA hospital near here for depression, anxiety and panics and doctors at the VA have put in the reports that they felt I had PTSD in fact they were the ones that brought it to my attention, now I feel after all these years

that I should submit a claim. Is it normal to sit around and wait a month before they ask you for your paper work and to see a doctor, can someone tell me the proper steps I should take with

all of this?

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  • HadIt.com Elder

I think Carlie is just giving you the facts, Petty Officer W. You have to be able to establish a nexus to military service to win any VA claim unless it is a presumptive claim. Even those require certain facts to be in the record.

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Carlie, First of all I want to thank you for all the information you have shared with me, I do appreciate the facts you have put before me, I was driving down the road today and started thinking about the whole scenerio and trying to figure out why I was so stressed about about the whole situation and this is what I have come up with, my VSO (veteran service office) told me when I first started my claim that even though my social worker and my Dr. told me I had PTSD I need to collect as much evidence as I could to prove my claim. It is on the VA notes about the sexual assault etc...... but he told me that would not be enough proof even if the doctor had put in the notes, also because of other things that have happend which I feel caused my PTSD so he is telling me to compile as much evidence in paperwork as i can to prove my claim and your telling me the evidence that i am compiling could hurt my claim. Do you feel I should just let them search my VA hospital records and my medical records and leave it at that or should I submit all of the paperwork I have collected, please explain to me why you feel if I submitt this paper work it will hurt my claim, I am just trying to understand and not pointing fingers thank you for your help.

Petty Officer W

Petty Officer W,

Here's a link for you to research some BVA documents regarding SC for PTSD

due to Military Sexual Trauma, (MST).

carlie

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/va_searc...0&UA=Search

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  • HadIt.com Elder

You don't want to provide the VA evidence of an alternative explanation of your PTSD that is not related to military service.

Your existing PTSD has to be related to military service and you have to prove it via your military records. If you have proof that your Ex assulted you during your military service that would be a stressor. What ever happened after you got out of service does not count. It is hard to disentangle all these stressors, but you have to provide one that is directly related to your military service. For instance, a soldier is exposed to combat during his service. He gets out of the service and becomes a cop and sees dead bodies and shootings and blood and guts. If he has PTSD it has to be because of the combat experiences. You don't want to bring in the stuff that happened while he was a cop. That gives the VA an alternative explanation for his PTSD besides combat exposure.

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Petty Officer W, I know that it can be stressful when putting together the evidence in support of a claim. Trust me...I fought with the VA for six years and finally won this year a partial grant of benefits, so far. They are still working the other issues.

So, take a deep breath...you have come to the right place for help. But you must try and get a hold of your thoughts and read carefully what others are trying to help you accomplish. First off, most of us started out with a VSO. Some are competent and others...well lets just say the jury is still out. Simply put, they start out of the gate okay. But half way around the track they start to falter.

PTSD claims are not easy claims to win with the VA. I think that you keep overlooking something that has been mentioned in almost every post....WHAT IS IN YOUR MILITARY RECORDS (I.E., SMR'S AND PERSONNEL FILE??) Plus, some of the info (records) you are saying you have are all pointing in the direction of hearsay. In other words, it is information that YOU told your psych doc...but not information that he/she researced or reviewed in your military records on their own or is it. (?) That is going to make a huge difference with the VA, which is also the evidence your VSO should be telling you that is needed.

Your VSO is stating that you need evidence but is apparently not being very clear on what type. The evidence you need in support of your claim is going to be from the service medical records and service records; along with lay statements; and most importantly a letter or statement of record from your doc stating how the events that took place has led up to today and how it all is related to service (NEXUS). Without that EVIDENCE you don't have a winning claim. I don't care what your VSO is telling you.

The other problem I see with your claim is the fact that you have been receiving treatment for PTSD (per you) for the past 10 years but just now filing a claim. Why is that? I know you stated that you were fed some wrong information. But there may be a question as to why you didn't check into it for yourself. Ten years is a long time to be receiving treatment for something that you are now claiming to be service connected. Not to mention, if you are being treated by a VA psych doc, why he/she never "encouraged" you to file a claim before now. That is why I have stated...take your time on this to compile the evidence and don't go forward without your ducks being in a row.

If you heed the advice being shared on this topic, you will come out a lot closer to submitting a meritorious claim than not. I am sure Carlie will give her comments, as well, if not already...to your last question(s).

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Luvhim

I tried to get to the point that no vet wants to give the VA an alternative explanation for any disability they are claiming besides military service. The VA will ignore ten tons of evidence that supports service connection if they can jump on one sentence that could be the explanation for a disability that is not related to military service. This happened to me more than once. If you give the VA a string to pull on they will pull that string and unwind your claim.

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