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Getting Data For A Ptsd Claim - Requesting Comments

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autumn

Question

my question is at the bottom after the background info. sorry, i know its long. this uphill VA battle is like a broken record, hope you understand

[a little background]

active duty 1986:

-back injury

-surgery scheduled

-LP#1 shows CSF infection

-surgery canceled

-neuro issues start

-sent to shrink for neuro issues

-LP#2 shows evidence of MS + csf infection

-LP#3 shows evidence of MS & CSF infection going down

-still seeing shrink for neuro issues

-navy neuro writes LP tests/MS were false neg

-hon-med discharged: 20% HNP lower back, 10% major depression secondary to chronic pain

civilian 1987:

-in VA system

-divorce

-end up on the street, less than a year

-drinking increases

-try to quit medicines and drinking, 2 suicide attempts then

-many times asked the VA to redo the Navy LP tests to rule out MS

-still having those weird neuro exacerbations, though no diagnosis for it

-VA lists me as major depressed, depressed with psychotic-tendencies, bi-polar, and a few other weird labels

-i believed the VA diagnosis versus what my body was/is telling me

-i start to think i'm really nuts, and really start to withdraw, little trust in most people

-stopped drinking in 1990

-neuro relapses getting more frequent and lasting longer

-severe hearing loss with ringing in ears. VA gives me hearing aids

-VA still denies MS, won't adequately test for it, puts blame on everything but a neuro disease: i.e., drinking, smoking, mini-strokes maybe, migraines, and all those weird MH labels, etc

-move to different city, and VA reluctantly agrees to MRI for MS: if something shows, they'll do a LP

-MRIs return "dawsons fingers, demyelinating disease in brain", LP positive for MS

-start getting IMO's from board cert'd MS neuros and neurosurgeons. all return assessment with MS

-VA finally agrees to ABC drug, but only after IMO reports, though the VA discounted all IMO's

-attend VA anger management classes due to i can't really handle all this any more

-get scared and angry just going to the VA.

-MRIs a year later show new lesions on spine from IMO requested MRIs. VA discounted those

-filed appeals claim for MS, had C&P for MS, waiting on decision

-SSDI awarded for MS, etc. tried working but i just can't hang (pain & irritability)

-now the VA says there is no evidence of bi-polar or psycho whatever. symptoms likely due to demyelinating disease. i told them that for 23+ years!

-no doubt i'm depressed/anxietied in some way, at the least due to MS symptoms, etc

-no doubt i'm anxietied in some way, at the least due to mis-diagnosis/labeled over the years from VA med care

just looking for a little practical guidance regarding a ptsd claim or maybe a MH claim. the above is all documented in mil med records and va med records and IMO med records.

i looked at tbird's link, "Ptsd - Check This Before Posting Your Question It May Have Already Been Answered!" and i think i meet a stressor or two that is acceptable to VA?

i don't know, i put it out here to seek some answers. i sure can't get any from the VA that i can wrap my head around.

question:

i feel like i have some form of ptsd, though non-combat related. i want to file a claim for ptsd. with the above history, is that what i should file for?

tia,

autumnleaves

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chronic medical illness that occured on active duty, along with years of mis-diagnosis and the stress those two can bring about.

autum,

Are you still receiving 10 percent SC comp for major depression secondary to chronic pain.

Do you have a PTSD diagnosis ?

What exactly do you feel has happened to support, " i think i meet a stressor or two that is acceptable to VA"

carlie

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>>Do you have a vet rep?

yes, for now legal who filed the NOD for MS. pending.

for a doctor to state PTSD, that would be a VA doctor yes? i think it unlikely, in my experience, a VA employee would go out on a limb via "Section 1151, 38 USC" for me. just my opinion

I realised I didnt address the PTSD issue but this case is a good read as to how MS is awarded:

http://www4.va.gov/v...es1/1010499.txt

If a doctor states you do have PTSD and it is secondary to the MS, that is what you need to support a PTSD claim.

Also there could be basis for a Section 1151 claim here.

Section 1151, 38 USC states that if the VA, via misdiagnosis, omission of acts, improper medical care, wrong meds etc-negligently

causes a veteran an additional and ratable disability directly due to their negligence-then the level of the 1151 disability will be granted "as if" service connected and compensated.

Do you have a vet rep?

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local VA neuro was shown all IMO assessments. he verbally mentioned to me, "they have their right to their opinion". that was it. no record of them in any of his notes.

i have shown to my shrink and neuro. neither mention them in notes. i asked them to have them entered in my med recorded. i didn't realize i had to do that. so i did.

the neuro did rx a ABC med right after that though.

>>Did these IMos comply with the IMO criteria here at hadit?

one did, as he is very familiar with VA protocols. the others didn't, as they are not familiar with that, nor am i frankly.

>>"SSDI awarded for MS" does VA know that and have they gotten the SSA records?

i asked my neuro if he would write something. he never responded, so i took that as "no". called a VA advocate and she said the neuro wasn't required to do so, for me to call my pcp. he didn't respond either. i took the SSDI award papers to VA records and they scanned them in.

>>Did any documented symptoms of the MS appear either during your military service or within 7 years after your discharge?

without a doubt. the neuro symptoms i was having on active duty are documented via shrink visits. back then that is were they sent me for such things: the balance issues, loss of taste, loss of sensataions, irritability, sleep issues, chronic pain, yep all documented and finally put into my c-file. i didn't know none of the documents were there until after the first claim denial. i took care of that, with the help of the pva when the NOD was filed.

suicide appempts, requests for VA help to get to the bottom of MS, all that is written down in VA med records and send to c-file too.

>Do your IMOs definitively confirm you have MS?

yes, rrms

>Did the IMos take into account the VA possibly misdiagnosed you?

the one that knows VA protocol, yes. he wrote a few paragraphs about that, and the incorrect diagnostic codes regarding the HNP and major depression, along with MS being the main overlooked culprit

>Did they provide a nexus statement and refer to your SMRs and those 7 years after your discharge?

the one that knows VA protocol, yes.

>Can you scan and post here the reasons and bases they used to discount the IMOS? (cover the personal stuff)

no, because neither the neuro or shrink or social worker wrote anything in my records that i had showed them those reports. all i have to show for that is fax receipts that i faxed them to each of them.

>If MS is symptomatic =be documentation and medical evidence-at a level of 10% disabling within the first 7 years after discharge there is a presumptive regulation to award SC for it.

i'm hoping the VA folks see it that way too. that is, it was and has continued to be symptomatic. it has just been side stepped from day one, so to speak.

"though the VA discounted all IMO's"

Can you expand on that? Did they ignore them completely and never mention them as evidence or did they provide a full medical rationale to discount them?

Did these IMos comply with the IMO criteria here at hadit?

"SSDI awarded for MS" does VA know that and have they gotten the SSA records?

Did any documented symptoms of the MS appear either during your military service or within 7 years after your discharge?

Do your IMOs definitively confirm you have MS?

Did the IMos take into account the VA possibly misdiagnosed you?

Did they provide a nexus statement and refer to your SMRs and those 7 years after your discharge?

Can you scan and post here the reasons and bases they used to discount the IMOS? (cover the personal stuff)

If MS is symptomatic =be documentation and medical evidence-at a level of 10% disabling within the first 7 years after discharge there is a presumptive regulation to award SC for it.

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that is why i posted, thanks. i never thought too claim ptsd since i thought it was only for combat troops. in the anger management class i saw that wasn't the case.

1. hearing loss & tinnitus was assessed as ["more than likely" due to neurological disease, ms], by VA audiologist. local neuro doesn't see it that way. i don't know why. he answers few questions with an answer. another major head trip/stressor for me. may not be for others, but it really tripps me up.

2. audiology recommended balance training classes.

3. it is in NOD now. i had no idea my c-file was basically empty until after the first denial. it is full now, for the NOD

4. IMO specifics from board cert, local NMSS recommended doctors:

-MS, RRMS

-chronic pain syndrome

-depression

-anxiety disorder

-insomnia

-low back pain

-cervical spondylosis c4-4, 5-6

-severe cervical disk degeneration

-lumbar degeneration l4-5,5-s1, decreased lordis

-severe lumbar disk degeneration

-decrease hearing loss

-gastrointestinal problems

-urinary incontinence-mild

-discuss with VA to consider frontline treatment with ABC drug

-"...opinion that his current CNS problems very likely represents MS which likely began during service ..."

- "...much of his chronic pain and his major depression are likely secondary to his MS"

-"...is consistent with the McDonald criteria for the diagnosis of MS"

-"...navy neurologist's statements regarding the CSF studies as being incorrect for the following reasons..."

i get anxietied writing this stuff. i'm not kidding.

thanks

Autumn,

Put in a claim for PTSD...no wonder you have it from the stressors they put you through too. Review all your smr's and personal hosp/clinic/dr records and see what other diagnoses you may have too that are related to one's sc and also one's that may be secondary to sc. Also what was the diag of tinnitus related to? Service mos? Additionally mobility issues you may have? Put in for TDIU as you are unable to work or be gainfully employed related to your MS diag. If the VARO deny your claims appeal them through sumitting a NOD(notice of dissagreement). What specifics are written in your IMO? Will post further with more info to your replys.

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I still do not see a diagnosis of PTSD or a stressor (nexus) to active duty.

never said there was one, that is a diagnosis of ptsd

stressor for active duty? not sure, that is why i posted my post here.

but a few items to list that started while active duty >> spinal injury, csf gets infection, neuro problems start, mis-diagnosis merry-go-round starts, shrink visits for neuro what was neuro issues more than psych issues, csf inflammation, etc

i'm just wondering if any of that is a "stressor(nexus)"

thanks

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