1st Psych Visit At V.a.

[smilen66]

Good Morning All,

My private Psych moved away a couple of months ago. He suggested I go to V.A., because visits were too costly ($40.00). Long story short, I had my 1st visit last week. I received a copy of mr(this week) and I do not understand the medical jargon, please help if you can.

Axis I: Mood d/o sec to GMC, Cognitive d/o NOS

Axis II; def

Axis III: s/p CVA wR sided weakness. chr pain (I understand this line)

Axis IV: Mod-prim support, sig limitation in functioning

AXIS V: 50%

By the way, I did not file a claim for this because I don't think it is sc.

Thank you in advance for your input and have a great day!

Lenora

[LarryJ]

Hi, Lenora.

What are you service connected for, or what have you filed, claim-wise?

[john999]

What they are saying is a mood disorder secondary to general medical condition. If the medical condition is service connected then the mood disorder should be SC.

[smilen66]

Larry and all:The claim filed was for my neck (bi), right shoulder, hip (bi) and upper and lower back (right side). My accident occurred more than thirty years ago...It is well documented in smr and private medical records. MY C-file is in the rater's division.

The results from the 1st exam (according to xray report) are as follows:

Shoulder: Degenerative changes noted of the acromion (with osteophytic spurring),coracoid,humeral head, glenohumeral joint inferiorly (?) and cystic changes at site of rotator cuff.

Hips: Bursitis

Neck (cervical Spine): Degenerative changes with bridging oteophytes of c4-c7. Chronic compression noted c5-c6 estimated 10% for each. Foramen narrowing on the of c5 and c6 right (claimed) and c3 through c5 left. Bilateral carotid calcifications. ( I had mri this week because of nerve pain)

Back: Muscle spasms, dull ache.

John and All: The medical condition is a stroke and not sc.

Thanks to both of you!

[LarryJ]

Okay, Lenora.

I'm going to tell you a "story".......hypothetical maybe, maybe not.

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a US veteran.

This veteran had suffered an injury, oh, say 40 years ago.

He had documentation of this injury, both in his service medical records, and after discharge.

He turned in a claim for this orthopaedic injury, and another claim for Major Depressive Disorder secondary to the pain that he had suffered for 40 years with the orthopaedic injury.

The orthopaedic injury was service connected at 20%

The MDD was service connected as secondary to the ortho injury at 70% and his VA psychiatrist was very helpful in getting this vet's Total Disability due to Individual Unemployability (TDIU) Permanent & Total (P&T).

Now, I'm not advocating that you do ANYthing. Understood.

But, if I were you, I'd take this vet's hypothetical example. With a GAF of 50, chronic pain (due to your orthopaedic injury(s))and significant limitation in functioning, I'd say that you have a very good basis for a claim for MDD (and, in turn, if you so desired, a claim for TDIU).

And, remember, the sooner that this happens, the earlier your "Effective Date".

[Pete53]

LarryJ:

For the hypothetical Veteran this is why VA is actually better than Social Security and after all VA pays better than SSD.

[LarryJ]

B) (I'm hypothetically smiling, which is not to be construed as a real smile, only hypothetical)