hypertension Questions About Ptsd Claim

[flatblackstrat]

Hello,

I have a few questions about filing a comp claim.

First off I am an OIF vet 03 and went in at the beginning of the war when i was 18. I came back with very bad depression and started going to Mental Health very early and went off and on because of the lack of help they gave me and my frustration. I was chaptered out while recruiting after taking to much of my meds in an attempt to overdose. I now live in Japan with my wife, but i still can't seem to function normally. I can't hold a job and every little thing seems to piss me off, I don't even want to leave the house anymore. So my questions are

Do I still need to write a stressor letter when I file my claim?

I have hypertension and a bad Ankle from the service and both are documented, so should I file those aswell?

I have found a couple of English speaking doctors here, one for my heart, one for my ankle and one that is a spychologist. Will the VA honor their medical documents if they are written in English?

I am not on any medication write now because the Military put me on so many different things I felt like an experiment. Should I go back on meds again before I submit my claim?

Spychologists here do not except insurance and they usually costs about 80-140 dollars a session, so is one session with a private spych enough to have extra proof?

Im sorry if what I wrote is sloppy or hard to understand, I will try to better in more detail if you need me too.

Thanks in advance,

Nick

[Pete53]

Welcome to Hadit Nick.

Any licensed MD is acceptable. Sometimes a specialist helps more but my experience with VA is that they accept Medical Doctors reports just ask that the Doc's Credentials be included. I know a Veteran who got a pension solely on a one page Independent Medical Opinion written by a Mexican Doctor in Mexico. It was in English.

If you can you should include the stressor event in your claim and I would file for the others at the same time.

I think that living in Japan will require you to use a Regional Office that handles Japan. If you are near an Embassy you might visit and see if they have someone there who can help you,

Good Luck

[flatblackstrat]

Welcome to Hadit Nick.

Any licensed MD is acceptable. Sometimes a specialist helps more but my experience with VA is that they accept Medical Doctors reports just ask that the Doc's Credentials be included. I know a Veteran who got a pension solely on a one page Independent Medical Opinion written by a Mexican Doctor in Mexico. It was in English.

If you can you should include the stressor event in your claim and I would file for the others at the same time.

I think that living in Japan will require you to use a Regional Office that handles Japan. If you are near an Embassy you might visit and see if they have someone there who can help you,

Good Luck

Hi Pete,

Thanks so much for your response and the info.

As for the stressor event, do I need to write one of those stressor letters that I keep hearing about, and include that with everything else I send to the VA? Or is it something different, or something that my doctor should write up?

Again thank you so much, I feel so completely lost in this stuff sometimes? The VA took a year to pay me for the new GI Bill so I am so incredibly nervous about filing this stuff.

[pigdriver]

Welcome Nick!! Get the written diagnosis from an MD first. Write the stressors letter and get buddy letters, if you have the CIB, Purple Heart etc. your stressors are presumed and do not have to be verified. Get a service officer at your VAMC to submit the claims and keep copies of everything!! Good luck, Welcome Home and thanks for your service!

[Berta]

The new PTSD relaxed stressor criteria ( in the new regs in the PTSD forum) might apply to you. Hard to say

. "I was chaptered out while recruiting after taking to much of my meds in an attempt to overdose."

What Chapter # did they use?

[stillhere]

Not sure how it works in Japan but the embassy as someone said before would probably be a good place to start. Also if there is a base near by see if you can get in for some health care I think that is how it works out of country? Again I am not sure.

Seeing and going to treatment and doing what the docs say all will help your claim but beyond that it should help all your conditions!

As far as the claim goes I would get a copy of my SMRs if you don't already have a complete copy and scan through those. All most everything that you had in service and still continually being seen for will only help your claim.

Filing your claim will reserve your date and from there you will be examined by a VA approved doctor to see how bad your conditions are. That is called a C&P.

Check the Gulf war part of this website and do a bunch of reading and see what other vets that served in Iraq with you are getting comped for.

One very important thing that I personally want to say I am an old Nam vet and I am very proud of the way all of you handled your selfs over there! Thank you for your service and hold your head up high you are a disabled veteran and you deserve to be treated and comped for your injuries!!

Good Luck to you!

[flatblackstrat]

The new PTSD relaxed stressor criteria ( in the new regs in the PTSD forum) might apply to you. Hard to say

. "I was chaptered out while recruiting after taking to much of my meds in an attempt to overdose."

What Chapter # did they use?

To tell you the truth I am not sure. I don't have a lot of my paperwork anymore for some reason so I will have to get my dd214 again and see. I think it was a chapter at least, but it wasn't a med board. I was let out about a little over a year early from my re-enlistment ETS so about 3 months early from my original 4 year contract. I don't really know what my stressor is though. Nobody ever explained anything about PTSD to me when I got back, I was just really depressed and would sit by myself in the dark a lot. It was maybe when we touched down at the Airport in Kuwait and 2 hours later the first SCUDs were launched and we didn't have any of our mop gear open yet and a bunch of Garrison troops shoved my unit into a metal conex with no light while we were trying to get our stuff on and we were packed so tight I couldn't get my hands up to seal my mask.

Or it could be when we got tasked to clear all the weapons caches in the country and they had us loading old WP mortars rounds with H.E. and the truck behind me had one cook off inside of it and my platoon sergeant tried to climb up in the back and put it out but it blew him off the truck and the truck burnt to the ground, but everyday after that they made us do the same thing. So it was like riding around with a bomb on my back everyday. Their were a lot of people that were hurts or killed on "task force bullet", they thought we were competent to carry such ammo because we were Field Artillery, but we had no idea what we were doing and we got treated like cannon fodder.

Can I add more than 1 incidents?

Thanks again for all the great info here.