Gulf War Registry Exam Questions

[soaringeagle17]

Greetings Again and thanks for the initial answers to my other questions on re-opening my VA disability claim. One of the forum members mentioned to me about going to the VA and being added to the Gulf War Registry and having the exam to determine info to establish a Gulf war Syndrome/Illness claim. I downloaded the Va Form 10-9009a(rs) and am going to fill it out tomorrow and then drop it off at the VA to have them schedule me for the exam.

I was wondering if any of you have done this and what I might need to do as I prepare for this. I served in the Gulf War in late 1990-early 1991 and I have had amny symptoms that seem to be related to the Gulf War Illness symptoms. I have not gone to the doctor for this prior to now but have done research and many of my symptoms seem very related. Anyway, just looking for some guidance for this process as I go through this process. I also am beginning to schedule medical appointments for my service connected disabilities to attempt to have them re-open my case and increase the ratings. Anyway, I thank all of you for your feedback and input and again I thank the founders for establishing this great site. Have a great and blessed evneing.

v/r

soaringeagle17

[mpara]

Good Morning Soaring Eagle

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away when I was in the Army we would always have to conduct After Action Reviews after every event. The lessons learned from those reviews could then be shared with others in an attempt for as many as possible to learn from our mistakes. I hope you don't mind if I share with you a few personal lessons learned from my engagements with the VA regarding Gulf War issues hoping that it may help.

In each of these claims I assumed it was pretty much cut and dry due to the "presumptive conditions" stuff. I found out otherwise. These three are for conditions that I think are similar to some of the things you listed in your post. Hopefully these results may help you develop your "plan of attack."

- Service connection for digestive dysfunction as due to an undiagnosed illness.

- Service connection for musculoskeletal pain.....due to an undiagnosed illness.

The below paragraph seemed to be the evaluators "boiler plate" response of the day to the above two as well as anything that was not in my official military medical records at the time of separation.

"...service connection for (both above) remains denied because it is not shown to have been incurred or aggravated by military service. To fulfill the requirement for chronicity, the claimed illness must have persisted for a period of 6 months. The 6- month period of chronicity is measured from the earliest date on which all pertinent evidence establishes that the signs or symptoms of the disability first became manifest. Service connection based on Gulf War Illness is also denied because the medical evidence fails to show the condition persisted for a period of at least 6 months."

So maybe if I had went to my doctor and had at least 6 months of chronic symptoms then I would have been good. I don't know; I just know this didn't work. What I had done was gone to the VA and talked to the VA doctors about these conditions. It was in my file but not long enough to be chronic? Maybe if I would have waited for 6 months to pass then they would have made it. Not sure.

- Service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome as due to an undiagnosed illness.

"..... We have denied service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome as due to undiagnosed illness. Although this disability is shown to have persisted for a period of at least 6 months, service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome is denied since this disability neither arose during service in the Gulf theater, nor was it manifested to a compensatable degree after the last date of service in the Gulf theater during the Gulf War. Service connection is also denied because the medical evidence does not show you meet the criteria for a 10 percent evaluation, therefore, service connection due to an undiagnosed illness must be denied....."

This one still amazes me. Here I did have 6 months of chronic symptoms I guess but my symptoms were not great enough to warrant compensation. I would have assumed I could have gotten a zero percent service connection however it was a flat denial.

Anyway, I wished I would have known about hadit.com before filing for the above as I am sure I could have gotten enough research as well as feedback from others to have been more successful. Berta's questions are very good ones. Oh how I wish I would have had better medical documentation and enlisted the assistance of a Veterans Service Officer. Trust me when I tell you that I am not done with these issues and when I go back into the ring I will have both strong medical documentation as well as a VSO in my corner.

I hope this helps you in some way as the more of us who eventually receive service connection for issues relating to the Gulf War the less chances of our issues falling thru the bureaucratic cracks.

Best of luck to you!

Mike

[mpara]

Hey rmvtrebor67 ,

Thank you for your continued service!

I am glad to hear that you are being treated for your conditions. I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to kick myself for never going on sick call and not mentioning things on physicals for fear of messing up that "picket fence". Trust me when I tell you that it is a pain to try to show service connection from out here were all of us DD 214 holders stand.

I really don't have any guidance for you other than to encourage you to continue to get everything documented right now while you are still in.

You are among friends here. It is tough leaving the service. It is scary not knowing what you will do outside in the civilian world. Most of all it is very frustrating dealing with medical issues that are unexplainable or for which there doesn't seem to be much relief available. We all know what you are facing and are rooting for you. Just hang in there and take it one day at a time. There are a lot of really smart folks here on hadit (not including me, I am a newby) that seem to have lots of knowledge. Use all of your resources as you progress in your claim.

Mike

[BFR]

/agree with mpara about wishing I had spoken up or gone to sick call. I was in some fairly hardcore units, and going to sickcall was a good way to get in trouble.

Get it documented while you're in AND get it documented during your first VA exam. When I ETS'ed out of Ft. Riley there was a group of civilians that gave "classes" on transitioning out of military life. One of the classes was how to file your initial VA claim. They had you bring in a copy of your medical records, gave you the forms, and encouraged you to file for anything you'd ever been treated for.

When I went to my first C&P I was still in the hardcore mindset and really messed up my chances; later I got a lot of denials from VA because even though I could document the conditions while on active duty there was nothing found in the C&P.