Depression Secondary Too Degenerative Disk Disease

[rgero311975]

Well i am trying to get service connected depression due to my back which is rated at 40% as of march 1,2009 which was previously rated at 20%.. Well my question is this...I was stabed and almost killed by someone that broke into my house about 4 years ago so i have pstd and depression and panic attacks..the VA know this ....i recieve my medication and have been treat by va doctor and outside dr for these conditions........ My back has gotten worse as you can see my rating just went up recently.... Since I have allready been diagnosed with depression not connected to serve can and how and what should i do.......I mean my back limits me physically and emotionally ...sex, daily activity,mood,personal realtionships,.....yes i was depressed before but my back limits me and it affects me the most..and the pain meds make me depressed...

Thank you ..this site has gave me hope and thank god for all of you guys...rentalguy1 you have a lot of good post ....

[rgero311975]

:) :) the meds you take for back pain might be causing the problem like me i need to take methadone and davarcet at the same time to cope with pain maybe this could be an angle for a claim of deo=pression :) :) :)

Yea i know the va ..lol ..so i am not saying that my back casued my depression becasue i know the va will say that yes i do suffer some depression from my sc back rated at 40% but my previous stabbing issue is the major casue of my depression...my back pain has aggravated my depression bc the stabbing depresses me in mnay ways.. My back which i go to a pain clincic and on pain meds affect me sexually,mood,daily activities,sleep,relationships with my family and others... i just know that i know how it affects me more so than the stabbing thing... i know i have to start telling my theraipist and pain docotor how my back affects me...and write letters and get faimily members and freinds to write this... I READ ALL OF YOUR ADVICE so i know va is going to try to blame my casue on the stabbing so do you think i should say that my back aggravated my depression...? i know i need to seperate the two things in order to get rated for depression bc n\my back pain or the va will say that i suffer from depression but the major casue is the stabbing..........

[rgero311975]

Well i am sc rated at 40% for my back as of march 1,2009 . I WAS 20 % for almost 3 years. Well here is where it gets confusing for me..... About 5 years ago my home was broken into and i was stabed mutible times and almost died lost everything...and from this i suffered pstd and depression etc... the va know about this bc i get my meds from them and have seen dr about this.....well my back is getting worse as you can tell from my rating going up..my back makes my life the worst becasue it effect my emoition and physically i mean i cant do alot of things sexually,bad moods, i get frustrated and deeply depressed by all this... i know that a SECONDARY

sorry my post got cut off.lol i also meant va will try to say that i do ahve depression but most of it ccomes from my stabbing. i trying to say that my back didnt casue my depression but aggravted it and made it worse .how will va try to rate this or what do i need to do..

[121212]

Hey rgero311975 I know you know this but you have to watch how you word things with the VA, they will take it out of context for their own good, not to help you. I also have a back injury rated by the VA, I got my IBS secondary to my medications, it took a long time, they tried no to give it to me but the Doc said it was the medication that caused it. I think you need to tell your Doc how the pain aggravates your depression and tell every doc, nurse and social worker every time you see them and make sure the write it down on your records and get copes. I hope that helps.

Ken

[Pete53]

Chronic pain is probably more likely to be a cause of depression than surviving the knife attack.Talk to Docs and see if you can get one to help you with a good IMO.

Pete

[Pete53]

You are going to have to see a Doc that can help you. Chronic pain probably can trump or at least give you the benefit of doubt

[rgero311975]

Chronic pain is probably more likely to be a cause of depression than surviving the knife attack.Talk to Docs and see if you can get one to help you with a good IMO.

Pete

thank you all you guys no matter what advice are like angel from heaven..i am so worried about my case. my back injury started in service bc im sc for it...so i just didnt know how to word it .you know should i say my stabbing gave me depression bc this is all over my va records,but my back injury was first and over time contributed and even though my stabbing is a factor that my back is more seriously affecting me over a longer time and my back will get worse since it is degerative disease... so should i use the term casue or aggravated?