hypertension My Introduction

[chr49]

I spent 36 years trying hard to deny any connection to the VA. In 2007, a kind man convinced me that I was dealing with PTSD and needed to be seen by a professional. I entered a VAMC in August 2007, while hitting my bottom, and have been under their care since then. I filed claim for PTSD in February 2008 and am currently SC'ed for PTSD at 50%. Along with my PTSD, I deal with hypertension, bilateral peripheral vascular disease with occlusion of my right femoral artery and carotid stenosis with occlusion of my right carotid artery. I am not SC'ed for these problems at this time.

I've been searching thru Hadit for information and support. Since I've spent so many years denying everything it's been very hard to go back to thinking about it nearly every day. Thank you so much for providing this wonderful site for vets to research and learn about our options.

[e4766]

I spent 36 years trying hard to deny any connection to the VA. In 2007, a kind man convinced me that I was dealing with PTSD and needed to be seen by a professional. I entered a VAMC in August 2007, while hitting my bottom, and have been under their care since then. I filed claim for PTSD in February 2008 and am currently SC'ed for PTSD at 50%. Along with my PTSD, I deal with hypertension, bilateral peripheral vascular disease with occlusion of my right femoral artery and carotid stenosis with occlusion of my right carotid artery. I am not SC'ed for these problems at this time.

I've been searching thru Hadit for information and support. Since I've spent so many years denying everything it's been very hard to go back to thinking about it nearly every day. Thank you so much for providing this wonderful site for vets to research and learn about our options.

You sound kinda like the rest of us, the denial I mean. We're new to hadit and can't say enough about them. Sure are a smart bunch of people. Don't actually know them but they seem like family. Good luck and hang tough.

e4766/Carolyn

[Pete53]

Proud Member of Hadit Fambly

[halos2]

Glad you joined all of us here. BTW did you find hadit on a search of the net, or did someone recommend this site to you?

I promote hadit and watchdog with my visits to the VAMC. You hear vets talking to eachother, and then they ask others what to do or how to get help and then I say do they utalize web addresses to assist them. The majority want the email addresses right away. I found both on web searches some yrs back. So glad to be a hadit member too!

Sometimes they just read my hadit shirt, and ask about it.

The internet is such a valuable asset to all of us! :D

[jbasser]

I'd like to thank everybody for your kind messages. I find your information quite interesting. Yes, I was in an in country RVN in '70-'71:

Btry C 2d BN 319 Arty 101st Div (AMBL) RVN USARPAC

Btry B 2d BN 319 Arty 101st ABN Div (AMBL) RVN USARPAC

MOS: 1193

My plan at this point, thanks to Hadit, is to get my hands on all of my medical records and my C-file so I can go over everything thoroughly. I'm new to all of this so I'm sure there will be lots of work to do.

As far as heart disease goes. I have some concern because I started smoking while in the service and although I've tried everything possible to quit, I've never been completely successful. I'm afraid the fact that I still smoke occasionally (1/2 pack/week) will prevent me from being SC'ed on any heart or vascular disease. I've been clean and sober since 1992 and can honestly say that it was not as difficult as quitting smoking. I've always been overweight in the VA's eyes but I've varied very little since my separation so I may be OK on that. My biggest problem is the fact that, due to my PTSD, I avoided any/all medical care until 1998. I don't believe I had a medical exam when I was released in '71 but I could be wrong on that.

As far as diabetes goes, thankfully, I've never been diagnosed. I can only remember have an elevated blood sugar twice since 1998 and I think I had a mint candy prior to my blood work one of those times.

Thanks for making me feel welcome.

Dont worry about the Smoking part. It will happen.

J

[chr49]

Glad you joined all of us here. BTW did you find hadit on a search of the net, or did someone recommend this site to you?

I promote hadit and watchdog with my visits to the VAMC. You hear vets talking to eachother, and then they ask others what to do or how to get help and then I say do they utalize web addresses to assist them. The majority want the email addresses right away. I found both on web searches some yrs back. So glad to be a hadit member too!

Sometimes they just read my hadit shirt, and ask about it.

The internet is such a valuable asset to all of us! :D

Thanks everybody! You've really made me feel at home here. My wife and I were talking earlier about the fact that so many vets have stories that are similar to mine. Denial seems to be quite common from what I'm reading.

How did I find Hadit?? Actually, my wife found you while surfing the net! I think she started out at watchdog but it's really hard to say. She does a lot of my research and helps me with typing since I have little patience for those things. I'm one of those people that use 1 finger to type a message so it takes forever!

I do have a few questions for those that are in the know. I hope I'm posting this in the right place. My wife has located the form to get my medical records directly from the VAMC's I've been to. The form looks pretty straight forward but I'm wondering if requesting my "complete medical file" will be sufficient or should I be more specific? We're looking at records from Aug. 2007 thru now but I've had numerous procedures, a couple ER visits, C&P's etc and I have to submit 2 requests (Murfreesboro and Nashville). Is it best to go thru the individual VAMCs? Does anybody know if this is super expensive?

Thanks ahead for any advice you can give me.

[hawkfire27]

Welcome to hadit.

In my recent experience, asking for a complete medical file won't be suffcient.

You need to ask specifically for:

* Lab Results

* X rays, MRI, etc.

* Progress Notes

* Problem List

* Medications

You need to supply the time frame. Just saying all the records they have is not sufficient, because they will only send you all computerized files. My husband has another 12 years of paper records he never got, and only when we looked through over 10,000 pages of medical records did we discover they weren't there. So you will need to request all non-electronic records as well. The VA records people love getting dates because to print out electronic records they have to put dates in, so either provide them or they will pick them for you.

Good Luck with your claims.

Edited March 11, 2010 by hawkfire27