ptsd Waiting On Tdui Decision

[usmc/usa]

Hi folks

It's been a while since I last posted here, and occasionally visit. My wife has been a great help and reads all the threads here, her memory is much better than mine. Hadit has been a great help to us and I recommend this site to all my Vet brothers I meet.

Ok here is what has been taking place with my claim and letter of reconsideration.

I resubmitted my claim for PTSD and others back in May 2009 for PTSD, knees, tinitus,back stomach and other issues I have, my SC was 30%. In Jan 2010 my claims were mostly denied with several deferred. I received a letter for a C&P for my ears (tinitus). I was then awarded 10% for my left ear and 0 for the right. I then went to my local VSO and he was and still is a great help. We put in a letter of reconsideration in April 2010. The end of July 2010 I received a call from the VARO saying it was in my favor and I would be happy with it. She asked if I still wished to put/keep the claim for the deferred claims and also for TDUI, I said yes. Two days later I received the brown envelope and my PTSD was raised to 50%, for a total of 60% SC.

In October 2010 I was given appt's for two C&P's, one med. and the other for PTSD. My claim was at this point at the review board and it was going to the ratings board soon. I did both in November and received my copies of the results in the beginning of Dec 2010. I must add here that thanks to advice from folks here I now ask for copies of every visit to the VAMC. I do this every 3 months. I put an IRIS in last week and was told my claim was at the review board (again) on the 11th of Dec.2010.

I have been having some success but the waiting now is driving me nuts. I am not working and money is very tight, living off what my wife earns so some good news would be great right now. I also was denied for SSDI and put in an appeal back in Aug 2010. I submitted the C&P results to the SSA office hoping it will help my claim.

Thanks to all you folks here for the help and advice you give so freely to many of us confused vets.

Best regards

Rob

[john999]

Do you have a lawyer for the SSDI? I think it is hard to wait, but you probably just should let the TDIU claim make its way to a decision. There is no way to hurry these people. You must understand that having an appeal in August 2010 is not a long time ago in VA terms. I don't think anything unusuall is happening except you will probably get your TDIU if you can wait.

[usmc/usa]

I do have a lawyer handling the appeal. After I received the denial I went to the SSA office for that and other issues, I kinda blew my top and decided it was best to let a lawyer handle it. I do know the SSDI takes a while and most likely will be denied again.

As for the VA claim and TDUI. When I spoke to a VARO rep in Sept. 2010, she said they are trying to rush it through because the claims has been ongoing for a long time and they want to settle it as soon as possible. I think I will be hearing from them, brown envelope, sometime next month. But I still check the mail daily hoping they made the decission already.

[Bill (USAF Retired)]

As for the VA claim and TDUI. When I spoke to a VARO rep in Sept. 2010, she said they are trying to rush it through because the claims has been ongoing for a long time and they want to settle it as soon as possible. I think I will be hearing from them, brown envelope, sometime next month. But I still check the mail daily hoping they made the decission already.

You might want to track it on http://www.ebenefits.va.gov if you can get signed up for it, since you'd be able to see the status change there even before the mail arrived. I'm also waiting, so I can relate to how you must feel. Best of luck and hopefully we'll both be posting some good updates in the "SUCCESS" forum soon.

Bill

[usmc/usa]

Hi, this is the wife posting.

Thank you, Bill, for posting that link. We checked it out and signed up, but I guess we will have to go to the VA first to get his identity confirmed before we can really use it?

We do have a little update: the first appeal for social security was denied. We had sent them the results of the C&P exam on 12/14 and the letter of denial was dated 12/22. Doesn't really seem like they looked at the evidence at all. Both C&P's, the one for PTSD and the one for his back and knees state, that he is unable to work.

Our financial situation looks rather bleak right now and we had high hopes that both claims would get approved after reading the C&P's. But, the denial from Social Security really put a damper on that.

Lastly, I want to thank you all here for the information and support you are giving. I have spend hours, days reading through all the info and we probably wouldn't be as far as we are now without all the valuable information we gathered.

[john999]

Are all USMC's evidence related to service connected issues? You don't want to mix any NSC issues that you might use for SSD with your VA claim. These are separate systems. TDIU must be solely for SC conditions. I waited about a year for my TDIU after I filed for it. That was because the VA found one issue that was not SC and said that this was the reason I was TDIU even though I had 70% and was on SSD. VA is just for SC and SSD is for all conditions that make you unemployable. You probably know this but keep it in mind. Waiting for TDIU while the VA crawls along is the hardest part. I waited 5 months without a penny coming in until I got SSD. It took another 7 months to get TDIU. Make whatever moves you need to make to make sure you can wait without major damage. If you can get into IRA or 401-K or home equity loan that is one way to do it if you must. Nothing makes the VA move faster except having good evidence and having everything organized so the VA rater does not have to think. When they are looking at your claim they are looking for certain things and for defects. They would reject a vet who has one foot in the grave if the vet gives them a reason.