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Your First C&p For Any Condition...

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Troy Spurlock

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In my ten years of battling the VA to get my 100%, and helping a co-worker and my uncle (both who served in Vietnam) get their PTSD ratings approved, one piece of advice I can give to ANY veteran of ANY era is "get to know your condition" BEFORE you got to your first C&P examination.

Most VA C&P examiners ARE NOT experts in the conditions for which you are seeking disability. Therefore, the more you know about what you are going through, the better you are at communicating that condition to the VA C&P (albeit inexperienced professional) examiner.

T.S.

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In my ten years of battling the VA to get my 100%, and helping a co-worker and my uncle (both who served in Vietnam) get their PTSD ratings approved, one piece of advice I can give to ANY veteran of ANY era is "get to know your condition" BEFORE you got to your first C&P examination.

Most VA C&P examiners ARE NOT experts in the conditions for which you are seeking disability. Therefore, the more you know about what you are going through, the better you are at communicating that condition to the VA C&P (albeit inexperienced professional) examiner.

T.S.

Never hurts to be prepared in every way!!!

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Troy,

Great post and I agree completely.

Every exam is different, every examiner is different, so far I have had at least three c&p exams in 15 years.. (2 exams this month..) I don't have much advice because until I win this go around, I can only say what I learned from the first 15 years ago..

they can either poke you a couple times ask a couple of questions, or they can engage you for a long while and have you go through acrobatics..

you can also type up a short page of your symptoms.. and give them a copy while you answer their questions..

I would think they could see who comes in with scripted answers and who answers questions smoothly, or forced..

I would imagine that whatever experience they have they have a baseline of comparison when they see hundreds/thousands of vets.. they probably see patterns...

my main concern is that they cannot possibly have the time to rerad through a foot thick of medical records or read them al off their computer, especially when they have a workload of so many hundreds of vets per week..

plus they might or might not have specialized experience in the field in which your claimis based..

too bad some claim examainers have not written books on their experiences.. (if they have please lets us know where we can find them..).

My case feels like it is probably much different than many cases.. as I have many, many problems..

where are some people may have an issue with an arm or leg, every part of my body has had problems.. (actually my ears seem to be ok, for now..)

and I think my heart is ok.. but that it about it..

Edited by retiredat44
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THIS IS JUST MY OPINION

I think the best advice a person can give a veteran is, if s/he has a condition/disability, one of the first things they need to do is go see a doctor and get treated. It could be a private doctor or a VA doctor but for them to go see a doctor to get diagnosed. In order for a veteran to get service connected s/he must meet three requirements: 1. Have an in-service injury or disease, 2. Have a current diagnosis, and 3. Have a nexus (a doctors' statement) connecting the two conditions. A veteran should know his/her condition(s) and that will help him/her get service connected but a lot of veterans don't like to get treated by a doctor. Getting diagnosed by a VA doctor would greatly improve the veterans' chances of getting service connected. Getting a diagnosis is one third the way of getting service connected. In most cases when a veteran is being treated by a VA doctor and then has a C & P exam, the C & P examiner will follow the opinion of the VA doctor that is treating the veteran. Having an in-service injury or disease is the second and the C & P exam report would be the third and final requirement to get service connected. Now the only problem would be if the rating specialist can read or take the time to read the evidence. Of course some veterans would still be low balled but they could fight this after they get their disability service connected. This would also work for a claim for increase, if the veteran is being treated by a VA doctor and the treatment records show the disability is getting worst. The C & P examiner will still follow the opinion of the treating doctor. Keep in mind that when a veteran is being treated, treating doctors will state in the progress notes if the condition is getting better, worst or remained the same.

Hope This Makes Sense

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All good advice. One additional comment:

Bring copy of new evidence to C & P exam to give to examiner.

None of my C & P's had the new evidence that I submitted to VA regarding conditions being rated.

One examiner stated, "It's really good that you brought that," referring to a copy of private treatment that he hadn't seen.

Could make a difference!

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I agree completely that you need to be as informed as possible about the condition you are being examined for. There are great resources on this site and the internet is full of information. Start by typing in what you feel, and work from there.

The largest advantage a veteran can have in my opinion is a complete copy of their medical record. It has been so important in the process for me. I can reference exact dates. It makes it much easier to make your case if you can show the examiner in your medical record the number of times and the circumstances under which the condition happened. You have to prove that the condition began during your military service. It also helps to know the process you will go through during the exam, and to know if they are following the guidlines the examiner is suppose. Make notes as soon as you leave the exam or during the exam about what they asked, what tools they use for measurements, if they try exceed your tolerance for something. Tell them what you feel and go from there. I have had to file numerous NOD's because I did not know some of these things, but have been successful thus far. Good luck to you all.

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