Veldrina

[Papa]

Veldrina,

I hope this works this time.

Papa

[Veldrina]

Success! it worked! From the exam, i would say your PTSD is in the 50-70% range. If I were rating your claim, i would give you the 70% based on the following: the obsessive/ritualistic behavior interferes "severely" (as doc said) with daily activities, sere impairment of attention/concentration (can't sit still, need to escape from places/situations), near continuous panic attacks, disturbance of motivation and inability to establish/maintain effective social/work relationships, impaired impulse control (easily angered, irritability, history of explosive behavior). The doc didnt come out & say you are unemployable (it aimpacts occupational functioning but he didnt say prevents) so a 100% is iffy unless you have other disabilities which render you such.

Did that help, or were you looking for something more specific?

[Papa]

What is your take on this Doctor relating my PTSD with Obesity? I honestly believe that my GAF score should have been lower, but isn't this number a number that can change day by day, or Doctor by Doctor? I also under stand that since I have been Dx for PTSD, I can not file for Depression, Anixety, compulsive disorder, etc. as was stated by the Doctor.

Papa

[carlie]

What is your take on this Doctor relating my PTSD with Obesity?

Papa

Papa,

Is your question

How will VA rate my Obesity as secondary to PTSD.

What would the rating criteria be for this condition ?

[LarryJ]

What is your take on this Doctor relating my PTSD with Obesity? I honestly believe that my GAF score should have been lower, but isn't this number a number that can change day by day, or Doctor by Doctor? I also under stand that since I have been Dx for PTSD, I can not file for Depression, Anixety, compulsive disorder, etc. as was stated by the Doctor.

Papa

You have been diagnosed with PTSD..........but that does NOT preclude you from filing for depression, anxiety, etc. The ONLY thing that a PTSD diagnosis does is contribute to the overall disability picture. You must bear in mind that you will ONLY receive ONE psychiatric RATING and that will be for the particular psychiatric condition that affects you the most (kinda like having your leg (say your Tibia) broken in three places, you'll only get rated for the WORST break, the one that affects your leg the most).

If you do have depression, etc., I'd go ahead and file for it, for you can't TELL which psychiatric condition that they will wind up rating you the most percentage of disability, until you file a claim, get C&P'd for 'em, and find out. But, without having read your C&P results (I'm lazy, okay!), I do think that I'd wait to see what the results of your PTSD wind up being.

Wait until then, then we can talk, okay?

[Papa]

Carlie,

I just want them to SC it, rating would not be that important at the moment, but once it is SC, I could connect it to Sleep Apnea and other health issues.

Papa

Papa,

Is your question

How will VA rate my Obesity as secondary to PTSD.

What would the rating criteria be for this condition ?

[Veldrina]

A few things: Larry, i need to disagree with you on the filing of it. Yes, you are correct that we will only rate ONE mental disability, & since he already has PTSD, any depression, anxiety etc. will continue to fall under that as they all share the same symptoms. It will be a waste of Papa's time and the VA's to file a claim for depression because of that. You can, of course, file for anything you like as it's your right under VA regulations, but my recommendation would be Don't, especially if you haven't received anything yet re an increase, as it will hold up the claim unnecessariiy.

re GAF, don't worry too much about it. Raters use it if we're stuck between one evaluation and another and don't have anything that can swing you one way or the other. But the exam had enough to swing you to the higher %. We also take the GAFs of past visits in the yr into consideration, so if last yr's GAF was in the range of 20-30, & u had 50 on this one, it could just mean u had a good day.

Re obesity: this is not an actually disabling condition that is compensable by VA. Unless you can somehow prove that everything in the military's food was made with bacon grease & thus you had no choice but to gain weight, it ain't gonna happen. In some extremely rare instances i have seen obesity secondary to medication, but you're better off finding a 4 leafed clover. It sounds as though obesity was used in lieu of substance abuse to treat your anxiety, so it will just be a mention in your PTSD, not anything ratable, just a symptom of it. Sleep apnea is a different story, and has a physiological etiology as opposed to insomnia which can have wither a psychosomatic or physiological one. If the doc is linking your sleep apnea to obesity, I'm not sure that will be able to be service connected. The doc would have to a make a very clear distinction as to how your "food abuse" led to obesity, which in turn led to sleep apnea...a secondary of a secondary. It's a long shot, not impossible, just very iffy and dependent on how the doc connects it.