tinnitus Veterans Wife Seeking Advise

[Guest jangrin]

I hope someone can offer some advise B) My Viet Nam Vet husband has had medical symptoms for some time. Because of not having health insurance he put off going to the doctor and tried to handle problems through vitamins etc. He finally consented to going to the VA for help. He has just begun treatment for Diabetis type 2, hypertention, hyperlipidemia, advanced cardiac artery disease, periferal neuropathy, tinnitus and ED which is a result of all the medications). They thought he had a heart attack during the stress test so they sent him for a nuclear profusion test which was positive. We went to private facilty and paid for a CT of his heart. His cardiac score is 1720 well over the dangerous 400 that the radiologist says is very high. The VA cardiologist doesn't want to do an angiogram because he feels the cardiac surgeon will want to do heart surgery. He doesn't think surgery will improve my husband's quality of life. If my husband has a heart attact or chest pain that isn't controlled through medication, then he will recommend further help. Needless to say we are very overwhelmed right now.

We filed some paperwok with VA in February and now they want him to prove related service connected illness. What is our next step and is there going to be more exams or will they take the only medical records we have (which are very recent since last october) through the VA? Is this going to be enough to help us? Will he be elligible for a percentage of service realted disability. Needless to say my 61 year old husband is no longer working and he has filed for SSD which is going to take months (or so we've been told). Any advise or direction is appreciated. Thank you all.

[Berta]

SSA Disability awards are not offset by VA comp-

(SSI is different) and one award can help the other claim.If SSA says a vet is totally disabled by a service connected condition the VA most always has to agree-

"They are telling us to link all physical ailments to the DM II by doctor statement. All of the physical problems have been pretty much diagnosed at one time, since he waited so long before going into the VA clinic."

They do need medical statements that these conditions are all related to the DMII-in order to service connect them too-

If the VA can deny heart disease and say it "predates" the diabetes they can deny and save money-

Oddly enough as the ADA knows- a heart attack can often be the initial reason for glucose testing, revealing long term undiagnosed DMII.

He will probably get the DMII C & P and the heart disease C & P-

"The letter we recieved it seems are asking for specific incidense for PTSD. Also for hearing loss and tinnitus. The paperwork also wants " etc

Do you best and comply with the info they want- always best to get any of this medical evidence yourself and then submit copies of it to the VA.

(just in case they fail to attempt to get it)

They are asking for stressor information.

In responding to this specific part of the claim, they should know where any current psychiatric records are, what meds your husband takes for PTSD, and a brief description of his stressors- the things about Vietnam that caused his PTSD.

It pays to be specific here - names of his buddies that died there ,or date and place of operation or battle with resulting affects of PTSD, or his eye witness accounts and participation in traumatic events-

the awards on his DD 214 and his MOS will help-

I am assuming he already has a PTSD diagnosis?

If so he has already stated these things, possibly- to a doctor-

The VA will need enough information to confirm his stressors.

If his DD 214 might be incorrect he should apply for a DD 215 and get all of his medals and decorations listed on it properly.I will attach the DD 149 form that he could use for that.

You could add, in a separate page to the response to what they need- also that his ED is due to his DMII and he is claiming that condition also as part of his Agent Orange DMII claim.

dd0149.pdf

[Guest jangrin]

SSA Disability awards are not offset by VA comp-

(SSI is different) and one award can help the other claim.If SSA says a vet is totally disabled by a service connected condition the VA most always has to agree-

"They are telling us to link all physical ailments to the DM II by doctor statement. All of the physical problems have been pretty much diagnosed at one time, since he waited so long before going into the VA clinic."

They do need medical statements that these conditions are all related to the DMII-in order to service connect them too-

If the VA can deny heart disease and say it "predates" the diabetes they can deny and save money-

Oddly enough as the ADA knows- a heart attack can often be the initial reason for glucose testing, revealing long term undiagnosed DMII.

He will probably get the DMII C & P and the heart disease C & P-

"The letter we recieved it seems are asking for specific incidense for PTSD. Also for hearing loss and tinnitus. The paperwork also wants " etc

Do you best and comply with the info they want- always best to get any of this medical evidence yourself and then submit copies of it to the VA.

(just in case they fail to attempt to get it)

They are asking for stressor information.

In responding to this specific part of the claim, they should know where any current psychiatric records are, what meds your husband takes for PTSD, and a brief description of his stressors- the things about Vietnam that caused his PTSD.

It pays to be specific here - names of his buddies that died there ,or date and place of operation or battle with resulting affects of PTSD, or his eye witness accounts and participation in traumatic events-

the awards on his DD 214 and his MOS will help-

I am assuming he already has a PTSD diagnosis?

If so he has already stated these things, possibly- to a doctor-

The VA will need enough information to confirm his stressors.

If his DD 214 might be incorrect he should apply for a DD 215 and get all of his medals and decorations listed on it properly.I will attach the DD 149 form that he could use for that.

You could add, in a separate page to the response to what they need- also that his ED is due to his DMII and he is claiming that condition also as part of his Agent Orange DMII claim.

[Guest jangrin]

Thanks Berta,

We are starting to get things on our end straightened out. We will be ammending his AO DM II claim to include the ED, through the service officer. In addition, we are going to go ahead and file for the unemployability, and list the ever worsening side effects of the Rx drugs from his DM. He has not had an AO exam as such but we don't believe that they are questioning his service realted disability. We'll wait and see. Hopefully things will continue on the right tract, so far so good. Thank you for your help...I'll keep you posted as we move through the process.

Thanks again!!!!