From Personality Disorder To Adjustment Disorder

[blanco63]

I was honorably discharged from the navy in october, 1983 for personality disorder of mixed schizoid and schizotypal features. in november, 1983 i filed a claim for mental disorder. in may, 1985 i had my c & p exam and was diagnosed with adjustment disorder but they said it was non-compensable which was true. was i service connected at that time? in 2000, i reopened my claim and was told the same thing, you have adjustment disorder which is non-compensable. well, as of 11-7-96 it had become compensable. should the va had given me a percentage in 2000? did they make an error and would this be a reason to file a cue claim? if so, what is the best way to do one? do you fill out a certain form and send it to a certain person at the varo? i will be very grateful for any advice and opinions on this matter. thank you!

[blanco63]

Blanco63

Click on this link or copy and paste it into your browser.

http://www4.va.gov/vetapp09/files3/0922300.txt

Service connection is determined by the medical evidence. The medical evidence specifically needs to state that it is more likely than not that there is there is a link between a current diagnosis and in in-service diagnosis. If it saysw "as likely as not" that will also work. The raters who service connect do not read between the lines. If the Dr. does not say that your adjustment disorder was related to service I do not see how a rater could award service connection for adjustment disorder. Adjustment disorder is not often considered chronic. The condition must be chronic to be considered service connected. A cue cannot be based on the failure of a Dr. to make a diagnosis or fail to establish a link between the current condition and the in-service condition.

It does not appear that you have a current diagnosis for adjustment disorder. As I said adjustment disorders may come and go. However, bipolar disorder can be service connected even if it is diagnosed for the first time after service. You need to show that the symptoms in the military were early symptoms of bipolar. I'm going from memory and I think I remember correctly. Bipolar is often misdiagnosed because the symptoms develop over a longer period of time. Bipolar disorder often displays early symptoms that go undiagnosed. It is considered common for the condition to show early symptoms around the age of 20. You need to continue researching BVA decisions on bipolar. I'm sure that I remember several cases where doctors wrote opinions that the symptoms as noted in the veteran service medical records were early symptoms of bipolar and service connection was awarded. If you have trouble finding these types of cases let me know and I will continue to search on my own.

The assessment that wings outlined in her post will be considered. However, I have seen personality disorders rediagnosed to a service connectable conditions by C&P examiners and treating physicians in one short paragraph. Paragraph specifically said that review of the service medical records shows that the veteran had an anxiety disorder which onset while in the military. What we are saying here is that you definitely need to have the entire history of your bipolar disorder or any other current diagnosis reviewed for the purpose of establishing any relationship between a current condition and the symptoms noted in the service medical records. Whether or not you have a claim will be determined on the medical evidence produced by qualified clinician. We hear on hadit can only point you in the direction of learning how to be the master of your claim. A good way to start is by reading BVA cases. I just found a good case and posted a link above,

hi hoppy, sorry for the dealy but i was busy ramming turkey down my throat. probably not the best way of saying that i was eating a lot but that's me, ha ha. as i said i think that i am going to forget about all of that old stuff and concentrate on these new claims, ie, secondary. i think it will be easier to prove something is related to an established compensated condition, ie, pain and fatigue to migraines. i have seen a lot claims approved for that just like that without any problems. then i will probably apply for bipolar secondary to migraines. have also seen a lot of mh claims approved as secondary too. i have a question for you. what is that best statement that a doctor can write to show this. bipolar is most likely as not due to, the result of, or related to his migraines or doesn't it really matter? how about something simple like john's bipolar do is due to his prostrating migraines? will that suffice along with examples of everything on the 50, 70, and 100% list? let me know. thanks for everything, john in pa

[john999]

I don't think you are going to get bi-polar as secondary to migranes. Bi-polar is a disorder that stands by itself. You could sure get depression and chronic pain disorder as secondary to migranes in my opinion. Bi-polar is usually something that runs in families. Now if you can show that you were showing bi-polar symptoms in service that is different. Then you were probably misdiagnosed as a PD. This happens all the time. When people are in manic state they often do crazy and sometimes illegal things.

[blanco63]

I don't think you are going to get bi-polar as secondary to migranes. Bi-polar is a disorder that stands by itself. You could sure get depression and chronic pain disorder as secondary to migranes in my opinion. Bi-polar is usually something that runs in families. Now if you can show that you were showing bi-polar symptoms in service that is different. Then you were probably misdiagnosed as a PD. This happens all the time. When people are in manic state they often do crazy and sometimes illegal things.

hey john999,i am pretty sure that i will get something for chronic pain and fatigue secon to migraines, 10% for one or 20% for both and i will be happy. then i will be applying for bipolar do secon to mig because my actual diagnosis is bipolar do II because i suffer from a lot more episodes of depression than hypomanic episodes and my psych will explain that in his report to the va. i am also pretty sure that i will get bipolar. i know that i am elig for 70% but if they say here's 30, that will be ok because 50 mig, 20 pain/fat and 30 bipolar and i will be elig to apply for tdiu down the line. also i want to put bipolar because my ssdi was granted for bip and migraines. you areright. i was misdiagnose with pd way back when i was doing a lot of illegal things and had a lot of craziness in my life. after i completed navy boot camp i went to my class a training school where no knives were allowed on base. i remember i was studying and another sailor would not shut up and gave me a headache so i just stabbed him. nothing happened. the base police just wanted the knife and swept the event under the rug,jan 1982. well during may of 1983, i went offbase for a few drinks because i was deploying in a few days. some guy wouldn't shut up so i had to stab him. was in a florida county jail for 3 weeks, missed deployment, but the navy kept me in for another 5 months. nothing happened and even got an hon discharge but with that damn pers disorder. i think they should have given me some type of compensable,medical discharge or some payable diagnosis when they finally gave me my c and p exam in may 1985. well, got to go, getting a headache. what do you think of all of this? sincerely, john d, pa