diabetes Ihd

[rotorhead]

I am looking for feedback from some of you knowledgible veterans on this forum.

U.S. Army 1967-1973 RVN 1969-1971

History; Heart attack in Jan. 05, Triple bypass in Nov 05. Have ISD per private Cardiologist, 2 Stents in July 09, I am currantly being treated at VA hospital in Johnston City, TN for Heart, HBP, Sleep Disorder(severe sleep apenea, use bi-pap machine when I do sleep),Enlarged Prostrate, Restless Leg Disorder

11 different meds supplied by VA pharm.

I filed for SC,ed Heart Disease in 2005 and was denied,now that IHD is AO persumptive, refiled Aug 09 for Service Connection.VSO recomended a new claim instead of reopening old claim, I am working with VSO, but not really feeling as if he is on my side. No input from him, no advise,makes me sometimes feel like I am just trying to work the system.

Also have filed for Diabetes II Blood Glucose has been as high as 252 fasting and have med records back to heart attack with readingof104 to 240 fasting. Cardioligst sent letter stating Diabetes controlled with diet.

Also claim for PTSD , typical problems as most, rage, anger, 3 marriages, 12 jobs in 40 years, nightmares, workplace violence( smacked dude who called me a bi**ch and meant it. 30 days off and anger management.),mood instability,low frustration tolerance, self-destructive behavior, intermittent explosive disorder and PTSD per Psychologist in 1996, darn sure doesn't make me sound good . I do have stressor medaL, Air Medal with V Device, MOS was 67A1F.

Service connected 0% for foot problems.

Denied for Tinnius and bi-latteral hearing loss, denial reason, loss due to being a diesel mechanic and truck driver,

I guess what I am asking is can you change VSO's in the middle of a claim, or ride it out.

Thanks for the chance to vent, but sometimes battle is so fricking hard.

[Pete53]

Welcome to Hadit.

[Berta]

Definitely file fpr the IHD and the DMII and any secondarys to the DMII.(The IHD itself might be a secondary but best to file as presumptive too-

File for PTSD as well-

You will need to prove your stressor-

VA only will concede stressor occurred with PH, CIB, or the CAR on the DD 214.

Give the VA as many detail's on the stressor as possible as to time, place etc.It might be the time to find a buddy for a buddy statement or check your unit's history.

The Air Medal with V devise is a great award and I don't know why that would not concede a stressor-but the VA sure holds to the 3 main awards I mentioned.

Were it's circumstances also what the stressor involved?

Have you ever attempted to get a DD 215?

Edited December 21, 2009 by Berta

[halos2]

Welcome here to hadit, a place where you will find assistance from some of the most well versed people involved in veterans care/claims/benefits/issues.

An answer to your question...can you change VSO's in the middle of a claim?...you can change your VSO whenever you want, but do you think it would be wise in the middle of your claim? You know your claim/issues/relationship with your current VSO. To acquire a new VSO one would fill out a new POA form with the new chosen one...they forward it to the appropriate avenues, ie old vso, VA.

Would it be in your best interest to get your results from this claim, and if unsatisfied then pursue the new VSO? Your circumstance and issues are known by you, and you want to proceed in the quickest manner...how would it impact the current level/status where your claim is now?

How well do you know your VSO, and for how long? Does your VSO return phone calls, as you said no inpute...at all?? Why a new claim instead of appealing the old claim? Has the time period expired? Did you VSO tell you they represent 100's to 1000's of vets? Where are you in the claims arena?

Sorry for so many questions, but I believe in order to give you thoughts/opinions/suggestions we may need to be more informed. Thanks. :)

[Van]

I am looking for feedback from some of you knowledgible veterans on this forum.

U.S. Army 1967-1973 RVN 1969-1971

History; Heart attack in Jan. 05, Triple bypass in Nov 05. Have ISD per private Cardiologist, 2 Stents in July 09, I am currantly being treated at VA hospital in Johnston City, TN for Heart, HBP, Sleep Disorder(severe sleep apenea, use bi-pap machine when I do sleep),Enlarged Prostrate, Restless Leg Disorder

11 different meds supplied by VA pharm.

I filed for SC,ed Heart Disease in 2005 and was denied,now that IHD is AO persumptive, refiled Aug 09 for Service Connection.VSO recomended a new claim instead of reopening old claim, I am working with VSO, but not really feeling as if he is on my side. No input from him, no advise,makes me sometimes feel like I am just trying to work the system.

Also have filed for Diabetes II Blood Glucose has been as high as 252 fasting and have med records back to heart attack with readingof104 to 240 fasting. Cardioligst sent letter stating Diabetes controlled with diet.

Also claim for PTSD , typical problems as most, rage, anger, 3 marriages, 12 jobs in 40 years, nightmares, workplace violence( smacked dude who called me a bi**ch and meant it. 30 days off and anger management.),mood instability,low frustration tolerance, self-destructive behavior, intermittent explosive disorder and PTSD per Psychologist in 1996, darn sure doesn't make me sound good . I do have stressor medaL, Air Medal with V Device, MOS was 67A1F.

Service connected 0% for foot problems.

Denied for Tinnius and bi-latteral hearing loss, denial reason, loss due to being a diesel mechanic and truck driver,

I guess what I am asking is can you change VSO's in the middle of a claim, or ride it out.

Thanks for the chance to vent, but sometimes battle is so fricking hard.

I did a cut and paste from the NVLSP.org website for a veteran like yourself who has previously filed for heart disease. Quote below:

"If you are a Vietnam veteran who suffers (or a survivor of a veteran who died) from one of the three diseases and you did previously file a VA disability or death compensation claim for the disease: We advise you to take two steps:

(1) Immediately file with the VA another claim for service-connected disability compensation (or DIC) for the disease. This will help protect you from the possibility that the VA will interpret your previous claim as a pension claim instead of a compensation claim, or as being for a disease other than one of the three new diseases;

(2) Send email us at agentorange@nvlsp.org and provide the the following information:your full name; <LI>your current address;<LI>your current phone number;<LI>if you are a surviving family member, the full name of the deceased veteran; <LI>your VA claims file number; <LI>the approximate year in which you first filed a disability or DIC claim for Ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, or a B cell leukemia; <LI>identify which of the three diseases was the subject of the claim."

As for changing VSO's it could only slow things down but if you feel he's not doing right by you, there are lots out there. Good luck!

[Berta]

Van-we must have ESP! I was about to post this again from NVLSP and you did- Thank you!

Also there is special division at VA Central which handles any retro AO payments that the VA has either denied or refuses to acknowledge.

I will post that contact info when I have more input from them on how they are handling my AO retro claim.

One of the NVLSP lawyers I know was surprised that this program is still ongoing at VACO- it was established when the VA was withholding proper retro from CLL vets.

VA tried to say Nehmer didnt apply to CLL AO vets but of course it did.

We had one CLL vet here whose retro was wrong and I attached something for him to send to the RO ( part of the Nehmer Court Order)and he got his money pretty fast.

I think this AO retro division might be overwhelmed at some point because I have no doubt that VA will continue to try to withhold Nehmer money from vets coming under the new presumptives.

These claims will fall under Nehmer as well and I remember in the late 1990s when NVLSP went into the ROs and raised cane-

because they found so many Nehmer vets had been denied their proper retro payments.

Unlike all other claims- if a vet or widow was denied in the past for what then became a AO presumptive and they re-open- in most cases (but not all) their EED for retro is the date of the original claim.

VA loves to overlook that -hoping the vet or widow never heard of the Nehmer decision.

In 2003 when I re-opened my AO death claim- my POA rep had never heard of Nehmer. And he was getting AO comp!

I wonder how many AO vets he had who didn't get the proper retro and never challenged it because he didnt have a clue on this important decision.

[rotorhead]

Welcome here to hadit, a place where you will find assistance from some of the most well versed people involved in veterans care/claims/benefits/issues.

An answer to your question...can you change VSO's in the middle of a claim?...you can change your VSO whenever you want, but do you think it would be wise in the middle of your claim? You know your claim/issues/relationship with your current VSO. To acquire a new VSO one would fill out a new POA form with the new chosen one...they forward it to the appropriate avenues, ie old vso, VA.

Would it be in your best interest to get your results from this claim, and if unsatisfied then pursue the new VSO? Your circumstance and issues are known by you, and you want to proceed in the quickest manner...how would it impact the current level/status where your claim is now?

How well do you know your VSO, and for how long? Does your VSO return phone calls, as you said no inpute...at all?? Why a new claim instead of appealing the old claim? Has the time period expired? Did you VSO tell you they represent 100's to 1000's of vets? Where are you in the claims arena?

Sorry for so many questions, but I believe in order to give you thoughts/opinions/suggestions we may need to be more informed. Thanks. :)

halos2, thanks for responding to my post. You are most likely right. It would not help to change VSO.

I guess I am just tired of being ground into dust by the system, never have been good with playing with others! Most of my problems are likely self-inflected, by not knowing how to navigate through all the red tape, tried to do it alone. I guess the VSO is doing the best job that I am making him do.

I currantly have three claims pending with VA, PTSD, IHD, DisbetesII. I have been denied for Heart Diasease, Tinnitus, Bi-Lateral hearing loss, I guess the noise from turbines and M-60's don't count. Flying 7 days a week 12-15 hours counts for nothing. I was awarded 0% SC for Bi-Lateral foot condtions.

The time period has expired for claim on heart disease(2007), was advised to file new, instead of reopening. Same advise on appealing hearing loss and tinnitus(Nov 2009). VSO states that too many claims slows down process.

I doesn,t help that wifes job requires us to relocate every 12-18 months. I am disabled due to heart condidtion and on Social Security Disiability.

Again thanks for the advise.