hypertension What Are My Chances For Tdiu Or Ssdi

[mrjenks]

I am about to get medically retired from the Air Force after 23 years of service for Type II diabetes. Even though that is what they are retiring me for, I have other issues that I will be claiming for service connected disabilities through the VA.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Type II diabetes

Bilateral Pes Planus

Hypertension

Recurrent Hemmorrhoids

Lumbago

Allergic Conjunctivitis

Herniated Disks L5-S1

Erectile dysfunction (secondary to hyertension)

Most of the other issues bother me, but not as much as the Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Type II diabetes. I fall asleep at my desk daily. I am in a management position and the people who works for me look after me when this happens. They do tease me about it which is all in good fun. I hate to say it, but I have to fight to keep myself awake when I am driving home from work. It's pretty bad. On days I don't work it is not a problem with driving, but if I have to sit in front of a computer, I am done I will fall asleep eventually. Not for long but long enough for people to notice. Even with my CPAP, it is not the cure all I thought it would be. My job is an office administrator for the past 23 years so sitting at a desk is what I do. With my Type II diabetes, I take insulin and medicine called Metformin. The insulin I can handle, the metformin makes me sick as a dog, but it keeps my blood sugar at the necessary level. It is a necessary evil I guess. With the Sleep Apnea and the sickness from my meds, I am at least 40-50% working compacity. And that is everyday. I haven't felt well for a long time. Being in the military I am kind of supported in a way. When I retire, and get a job in the civilian world, I want have that support in the work place. I know once I fall asleep at my desk the first or second time, I am sure I would be fired. Who would hire someone and pay someone who falls asleep at his desk.

My question what are my chances of asking for TDIU or SSDI...????? I am not the type of guy that just not want to work, but I can't work at full compacity the way I feel daily. It really sucks when you get up in the morning and you feel like you haven't slept a wink, the body gets worn down and that is how I feel.

Any info or advice.....?????

[Pete53]

I would say your chances are good to get TDIU if your symptons are severe and it sounds like they are.And the bbiggie that you can get a Doc to write you up as not being able to work

Good Luck

[jbasser]

I am about to get medically retired from the Air Force after 23 years of service for Type II diabetes. Even though that is what they are retiring me for, I have other issues that I will be claiming for service connected disabilities through the VA.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Type II diabetes

Bilateral Pes Planus

Hypertension

Recurrent Hemmorrhoids

Lumbago

Allergic Conjunctivitis

Herniated Disks L5-S1

Erectile dysfunction (secondary to hyertension)

Most of the other issues bother me, but not as much as the Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Type II diabetes. I fall asleep at my desk daily. I am in a management position and the people who works for me look after me when this happens. They do tease me about it which is all in good fun. I hate to say it, but I have to fight to keep myself awake when I am driving home from work. It's pretty bad. On days I don't work it is not a problem with driving, but if I have to sit in front of a computer, I am done I will fall asleep eventually. Not for long but long enough for people to notice. Even with my CPAP, it is not the cure all I thought it would be. My job is an office administrator for the past 23 years so sitting at a desk is what I do. With my Type II diabetes, I take insulin and medicine called Metformin. The insulin I can handle, the metformin makes me sick as a dog, but it keeps my blood sugar at the necessary level. It is a necessary evil I guess. With the Sleep Apnea and the sickness from my meds, I am at least 40-50% working compacity. And that is everyday. I haven't felt well for a long time. Being in the military I am kind of supported in a way. When I retire, and get a job in the civilian world, I want have that support in the work place. I know once I fall asleep at my desk the first or second time, I am sure I would be fired. Who would hire someone and pay someone who falls asleep at his desk.

My question what are my chances of asking for TDIU or SSDI...????? I am not the type of guy that just not want to work, but I can't work at full compacity the way I feel daily. It really sucks when you get up in the morning and you feel like you haven't slept a wink, the body gets worn down and that is how I feel.

Any info or advice.....?????

You can get some idea by knowing the severity of each condition and comparing it to the schedule for rating disabilities. Title 38 part 4. It requires some effort as the file is large but it will tell you since the Key point is each individual disability and its level of severity.

Here is a link:

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-...1.5&idno=38

[Commander Bob]

You have over 20 years. Will you get MEB, PEB? Why the Medical retirement? Any CRPD disabilities?

[mrjenks]

You have over 20 years. Will you get MEB, PEB? Why the Medical retirement? Any CRPD disabilities?

My MEB has been completed with an "Unfit for Duty". Now it goes up to San Antonio to the IPEB for their determination. If they say I am fit for duty then I am good to go, but if they agree with the MEB then I have 10 days to agree or disagree. If I don't fight it then it goes up to the Secretary of the Air Force for his signature and will have 90 days from that date to get out. Since my commander wrote a letter saying that I am a hinderance to the SQ since I cannot deploy, I should be medically retired (what a great guy). It's O.K., because I am ready....too much stress and my body is taking a beating. With my service connected medical problems, I should get at least a 60% which will get me the CDRP. So I will get my retirement and CDRP. My MEB is for Type II diabetes. I take insulin which means I am not world wide deployable.

[carlie]

My MEB has been completed with an "Unfit for Duty". Now it goes up to San Antonio to the IPEB for their determination. If they say I am fit for duty then I am good to go, but if they agree with the MEB then I have 10 days to agree or disagree. If I don't fight it then it goes up to the Secretary of the Air Force for his signature and will have 90 days from that date to get out. Since my commander wrote a letter saying that I am a hinderance to the SQ since I cannot deploy, I should be medically retired (what a great guy). It's O.K., because I am ready....too much stress and my body is taking a beating. With my service connected medical problems, I should get at least a 60% which will get me the CDRP. So I will get my retirement and CDRP. My MEB is for Type II diabetes. I take insulin which means I am not world wide deployable.

mrjenks,

You post you recieve 60 % service connected disability.

I still do not understand how you can be rated 60 % service connected

if you are still active duty ?

This must be something DOD is saying and not VA.

Can you explain please.

Thanks,

carlie

[purple]

I'm going to be blunt (like I always am). You said in your post "...if they say I am fit for duty then I am good to go..."; yet you are trying to get TDIU if you are medically retired????

Can't have it both ways. Either you can work or you can't.

[mrjenks]

I'm going to be blunt (like I always am). You said in your post "...if they say I am fit for duty then I am good to go..."; yet you are trying to get TDIU if you are medically retired????

Can't have it both ways. Either you can work or you can't.

Purple,

you are who you are....so be blunt....when I say I am good to go, I mean I can retire on my own terms without the Air Force putting me on a time limit (90 days). I have served my country 23 years and I think I deserve more than that. I don't want to be forced out and then given a ridiculous time to get out without giving me time to prepare myself. I can work and willing to work. I have been doing it for 23 years. Like I said in my previous post, I have support within my office as of right now. I fall asleep and they wake me up.....I probably want be able to do that in the civilian world. Yeah I can work within the confines of my office, not sure I can get away with sleeping at my desk in the civilian world. If they say I can be returned to duty, I will apply for retirement like I was going to in the beginning. I couldn't because the MEB takes precedence.

Carlie,

I do not have a rating yet. The 60% is what I am guessing at with my Sleep Apnea and Type II diabetes with my other service connected medical issues. I have already turned in my medical records to the VA and have gotten back the response to my SC issues. I signed that paperwork and now I am waiting for my exam. I have no idea what the Air Force rating will be. Regardless, I want take it because my retirement will be more I am sure.

[purple]

I was just saying by you stating that you can work yet asking about TDIU kinda contradicts itself.

I myself went through an MEB...it's an ugly process to go through.

[Commander Bob]

After Tet of 1968, We couldn't even step foot in a VAMC, until we were officially out of the military... Many of us were reassigned to complete our active duty time at our parents homes, while waiting for our Chapter 60 retirement, or discharge. A real limbo.....been there,...done that...

Edited August 21, 2009 by Commander Bob 92-93 (see edit history)

[mrjenks]

After Tet of 1968, We couldn't even step foot in a VAMC, until we were officially out of the military... Many of us were reassigned to complete our active duty time at our parents homes, while waiting for our Chapter 60 retirement, or discharge. A real limbo.....been there,...done that...

Now, active duty have the opportunity to apply for their disabilities through the VA before they get out, if they are on their way to retirement. You can even have your VA disability payments approved and started upon your official retirement day depending on how much you accomplish before your retirement date.

[Commander Bob]

I am about to get medically retired from the Air Force after 23 years of service...

I understand your dilemma. It sounds like you enjoy your duty assignment. The U.S.A.F. is a great family to work for. No matter how the PEB goes, I just want you to receive all the benefits you deserve as a career service member. Good luck.. Please keep us posted. Best wishes.

[carlie]

Now, active duty have the opportunity to apply for their disabilities through the VA before they get out, if they are on their way to retirement. You can even have your VA disability payments approved and started upon your official retirement day depending on how much you accomplish before your retirement date.

Is this through the BDD program ?

carlie

[john999]

I don't think you should be kicked out just because you are not world wide deployable. There are many things that you could do in countries that have good medical. I think the military has a desire to get your out due to cost liability of treating you. They just want you off the books. I had a friend who was in the AF. He was in his 19th year. He was a little overweight. The AF did everything possible to humiliate and abuse him to get him to get out early, but he stuck it out. Now he makes twice as much as a contractor. I do think the military is ungrateful to enlisted guys. If you were a 3 star general with one eye and one leg they would let you stay for 35 years.

You know documenting your conditions is going to be the most important thing. Now you guys can do this before you get out. In my day you were lucky to get an exit physical. I never got one, nor did most ETSing from Vietnam. They told us they would have to hold on to us an extra 45 days to get an exam. Now all these old vets with in-service injuries and no documentation get denied by the VA. The army knew what they were doing.

[Commander Bob]

When the army changed my duty station to my family home in 1968, I went to the local VA.hosp. and asked for help. I had just gotten blown to pieces in RVN, 5 months earlier. VAMC told me that technically, I was still in the army and that they could not see me. So, I drove two hours, in severe pain to a military base, and was told that technically, I was not on active duty and did not have my retired ID card yet, so they could not help. After four more months of waiting, my chapter 60 retirement papers, and a nice letter from the president came in the mail. Fifteen years later a purple heart showed up in the mail box. LOL.

[john999]

DOD

Dear Commander Bob

Thanks very much for your service. Now don't bother us anymore. Here is a Ph. What else do you want from us? We gave you a chance to serve your country. Many don't have the opportunity to have their leg blown off. Consider yourself lucky.

Yours Truly

Richard Nixon (Tricky Dick)

Veterans Administration

Mr. Commander Bob

Why do you keep asking for things. Didn't we give you a prosthetic leg. What else do you want? You Vietnam vets are so ungrateful. We refer you to the DOD.

Yours truly

VA Secretary

[LarryJ]

After Tet of 1968, We couldn't even step foot in a VAMC, until we were officially out of the military... Many of us were reassigned to complete our active duty time at our parents homes, while waiting for our Chapter 60 retirement, or discharge. A real limbo.....been there,...done that...

So THAT is why they kept sending checks made out to me, to my parents house! My dad kept putting them in the bank and after more than a year, he put that money into my bank account and I held onto it for a couple more years.

I'll be darned. I kept trying to contact them (USMC, SAN DIEGO, 29 Palms, El Toro....) never could get an answer WHY I kept getting paid.

I do know that they had my discharge ALLLL screwed up (MOF, they STILL do). On three different "decisions" from the VA, I have three different entrance and discharge dates. It varies by up to more than a year.

Amazing whut ya kin larn on this here hedit bord, ain't it?

[Pete53]

About 2 years after I got out I got a letter from DOD telling me I had been over paid and I owed US about 500 bucks. I made a copy of the notice or letter and wrote on it that 500 bucks was about 2 months pay and they could eat crap and die before I would pay. I had just fopund out that I paid more Income Tax than our President Nixon who earned over 800,000 and my wife and I together earned 39,000

Not only that I think that the Army paid me about 4 grand for 2 years of my life

[john999]

You know I see active duty guys at my VAMC all the time. There is MacDill AFB just about 15 miles away, but they come to the VAMC for treatment or to private doctors. Active military see my private psychologist. He gets the spill over since MacDill has only one shrink. MacDill is home of Central Command. Why are active duty coming to the VA for treatment? I can't go to MacDill for a thing except the base exchance.

[Commander Bob]

You know I see active duty guys at my VAMC all the time.

I remember the DOD - VA co-sharing plan, introduced sometime ago.