Questions Please Help....

[rpowell01]

I was recently rated at 40% for Mechanical Cervical Spine Pain and for Mechanical Lower Back Pain Syndrome. Here are my questions:

1. Can I claim for all the spasms I have in my neck which in turn gives me headaches all the time? Would this still be primary claim or secondary because I do not know if they separated muscle spasms from Cervical Spine itself?

2. Would this be the same for my lower back syndrome (lumbar)?

I am trying to figure out since they separate the spine itself how about the tissue attached to the spine, are they separate or part of each section?

I get a lot of headaches which is driving me crazy because there isn't a day that goes by that I don't get them. I know they are from the spasms I have in my neck because the muscles in my neck feel like a brick whenever I have headaches.

Any info would be very, very appreciated.

I have already submitted my claim for my Thoracic Spine which I missed claiming 14 years ago. Reading over my military records I realized that this was the origin of the problem. Some Doctor in the Army pushed on my back because of a facet dysfunction a physical therapist said I had and she could not push back together.A few days after that pain went down to my lower back then few weeks later to my neck. I have documented proof of this Doctor doing this and highlighted all of it and sent it in with my claim to the VA. I actually feel that because of what this Doctor did I am in the situation I am in today. I really do feel like this, I hate to believe it but documentary proof shows the actual events. I originally hurt my back on a field exercise on the Big Island of Hawaii. I jumped out of a Black Hawk and my one of my feet was stepped on while I was about to jumped. I landed on my face on the ground and the person behind my pushed my legs over while he jumped out. I was bent backwards so bad that I could see my boots in front of me. Well I got up and I didn't feel nothing hurt in my back but my face hurt from the fall. Then two weeks later I was drilling into dry wall in my NBC office to make more room for chemical mask and boom my chest starting hurting. Well after seeing the DR at the TMC he said I strained muscles in my mid back. Weeks later it was still hurting but now I was sitting leaning to the right. He sent me to physical therapy and the PT told me I had 3-4 ribs dysfunctioned. Which at the time I didn't understand what she was saying but now I understand what it is. She pushed on my back a few times for a couple of days and then she said she could get a couple of them back in. She told me she would have to find someone on Schofield Barracks who could do it. Well she gets a reply by a Family Medical Doctor who was the person I was referring to who I believe ruined my back. He pushed on it, I heard it pop and said OUUUUUUUUUCH. He gave me a prescription for Valium and said I should get better. Well 3 days later I awoke to get ready for PT and booooom I had to have my roommate help me out of bed. I then went to sick call and this is when all heck broke lose for me for the next year and a half.

Sorry for the long story but I wanted others to see why I feel like I feel. Something so simple that at Chiropractor could have fixed some other guy ruined my career that I was wanting to accomplish. I talk with a friend who now a 1st Sgt in the Army and man it really upsets me because he is about to go to SGT Maj School and I am sitting at home BROKE because of this Doctor. Do I blame 100% on him, not entirely but he sure played a huge factor in why I am at home.

Please forgive me for writing a bio out like this but I really feel I had to get this off my chest and I feel that now it is time to payback to come back to me for the pain and suffering I have been through for 14 years. I sat on it for so long and I have secondary issues waiting to be claim because of the stress it has caused in my life. I kick myself everyday because I grew up taught not to take "hand-outs" and to work for your $$$$$. But I now I feel I earned this and every cent that is giving to me and I don't feel "prideful" anymore. My family has suffered long enough especially my wife, who has takes good care of me whenever I am in pain. I love her so much....

God Bless...

[carlie]

Yes, by all means file a NOD. You can elect a DRO review or hearing. Some have had good luck with hearings because you can say, "Hey....where is my evidence for .......?"

In most decisions, the Veteran does not really know what evidence the VA has. Oh, yes, there is an evidence section in the decision, but often it is very vague, such as "Veterans medical records from 1 Jan 1904 Through 3 Jan 2011"....

If you do go the "hearing" route of appeals, then expect it to take longer. Someone suggested a phone or video conference hearing.

Make sure you file the NOD before a year from the decision date.

It is also possible to do a "Motion for Reconsideration" if you think they did not have all your evidence. Sometimes MFR's can go faster, but remember a MFR is not a NOD, so if you dont get an answer on your MFR before eleven months after the decision, file a NOD. Dont let it be one day late as the VA loves to deny based on late filing of the NOD.

bronco & all,

Just for the record, a "Motion for Reconsideration" is not applicable at the RO level,

it is simply, a request for reconsideration.

Motions are not filed at the RO level.

[rpowell01]

So what level is the Motion for Reconsideration done at if you don't mind me asking?

I also thought about the same thing about the evidence issue because why would the examiner NOT have any records to go by knowing, first I was already service connected and second she was conducting an examination to see if my conditions worsened. Why would somebody who is examining you in the first place not have past records to at least read over to find out exactly what happened and what the Army's medical staff said in their reports. She stated she had nothing to go by. Now they have something to go by on my recent records I sent in with my new claim on my TSpine.

My final thing is the examiner is a ARNP which I do not believe on a personal level is qualified to make any determination or diagnoses of my back and neck because she is not a specialist in this area and second I don't believe and ARNP has enough credentials to make any diagnoses of this type. She goes by mere literature instead of credential. This does not qualify her to make any diagnoses on my back. The RO was saying this but she said that. If I knew the day I walked in she was an ARNP I would have then requested to see a PHD Doctor before I would have had an C&P Examination and if they would have declined it I would have walked right over to the RO next door and filed a complaint.

I am filing an NOD and choosing DRO. I have read about the DRO. I just don't think the examiner did a good job because I was only in the office maybe 15 minutes. Also on the report it talked about rotation. Not once did she ask me to rotate for my lower back, my neck she did but not my back.

Now, I am reading over the DC numbers which I cannot even find those numbers in the DC list. Can anybody else?

[jbasser]

A motion is an article or act that is presented in front of Judge, Including Admimistrative Law Judges at the BVA and Veterans court.

A request for reconsideration is the term for a request at the Regional Office level.

J

[rpowell01]

Okay thanks I understand now.

What I wrote below was from an ADDENDA report. I just read the first report. It states this:

Regional Office staff states says the veteran is service connected for mechanical lower back pain and mechanical cervical spine pain. CURRENT diagnoses of lumbosacral disc disease, lower lumbar degenerative joint disease and cervical disc disease were provided on examination 08/25/10.

So my question is can I file new claims for lumbosacral disc disease, lower lumbar degenerative joint disease and cervical disc disease since they are now CURRENT diagnoses? OR are these part of the mechanical lower back pain and mechanical cervical spine pain? It doesn't makes sense that on May 6,2010 they diagnosed all of these; lumbosacral disc disease, lower lumbar degenerative joint disease and cervical disc disease but the ARMY showed the conditions was NOT noted on testing.

They Army never gave me a true diagnosis except mechanical lower back pain syndrome. But seems to me the ones above are legit diagnoses.

I just realized they have given me a diagnoses, FINALLY.

Or do I file a NOD with DRO with a correct and current diagnosis. I am trying to figure this stuff out.

[rpowell01]

BTW the reasons I ask is because if I am not mistaken PAIN is not a diagnosis. Correct? So, how did the VA give me an award 14 years ago for mechanical lower back PAIN syndrome and mechanical cervical spine PAIN if pain is not a diagnosis? Reading the award letter it shows I was given a diagnosis of cervical spine disease. The examiner noted that your cervical disc disease is not a progression of mechanical cervical spine pain.

How can they say that? I am sorry for all these questions because I am trying to decipher all of this stuff. If PAIN is not a diagnosis but a disease is how can they say that the cervical disc disease was not a progression of the cervical spine pain.

Whenever I write the NOD, do I need to include any documentation or wait for a DRO hearing?