Hello all :) My name is Cody I am new here and I have quite a long story... and a ton of questions cause I dont know where else to turn.. I'm a Iraqi veteran, did multiple overseas tours and spent 5yrs in the Marines.
The fallowing is my story and I know im not alone but maybe some other people who were as lost as I am now but figured out what to do can maybe give me some insight.
I started going to a va med center a few years back and had told them i thought for new iraqi vetrans my visits and meds were supposed to be free and they told me yes. When i would goto my appointments I remember it clearly to this day my appointment would be at 10am i would arrive there at about 930am but for some reason, other veterans were being seen before me and almost every time i would have to wait about 3+hrs after my appt to be seen. When i asked why there was a long wait (granted i was and am greatful for any help) the response That i would get was "oh the person we saw before you was a regular". Then after 2 months of going to the va center I got a letter in the mail for a bill.. when i went back there they told me i was mis informed that service was only free for sc alements. Even after i showed them the bill and regulation that was past for new VFW's for free service they wrote the bill off on my credit and flagged my IRS return for the money owed... after this... I HAD IT! I stoped seeing and never wanted to go back to the va. But i began to get sicker and sicker... I spent out of pocket about 10k or so to finally get a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.. first thought was wow.. im 28 and have ms what am I going to do... am i going to be in a wheel chair?, how am i going to support myself?, what do i do now...
My first symptoms where while i was in iraq i started haveing what almost seemed to be really bad acid reflux but it got to the point where i would have to curl up in the fetal position from the pain and some times vomit from the internal pain.. later i learned that this was called a ms chest hug. Most people with ms dont get this but the ones who do know what im talking about, i went to sick hall and the doctor told me i was haveing throat spams... even though i repeatedly told him it was more in my chest not my throat... they blew me off. While i was on active duty i also had random hearing loss.. which the doc's had no idea what was going on lol. sometimes it was great some times it was horrible. I would also have spells of insomnia, one time my staff nco's had to force me to goto to medical because i could not even speak correctly, in 2 weeks i had only slept 4 hours.....i now found out it is most likely due to muscle spasms, I moved this past year and met another veteran at work (who i cannot thank enough) who talked me into going back to the va.. the new va center im going to now is awsome nothing like the first one i went to, i was assigned a case worker who found out the reason i was being billed is because someone at the other center was to lazy to make a simple phone call to get my combat dates entered and that its sad how i was supposed to have 5yrs of free services and its now wasted because of someones failure to make a simple phone call. She actually appologized on behalf of the va to me and she cant even fathom how this could happen. Now my next step is to get help... am getting to the point where on a daily basis i feel like my legs are in a vise and someone is crushing them and do not know how long i can keep working. So... i went to the DVA they helped me out quite a bit but the only problem im haveing is that the dav rep has never had to deal with a claim for MS. The fallowing is the list of my claims..
1.Bilateral hearing loss (in SMR)
2.Dental Condition (in SMR. needed alot of dental but they had no time before my eas. even says on my dd214)
3.Undiagnosed Illnesses (now diagnosed MS)
4. Hair loss ( i am going bald but wasnt worried about this.. dav told me to put it in there lol)
5. Neurological Symptoms (vertigo, congnitive functioning, residual from ms)
6.breathing condition (in SMR asthma)
7. Gerd ( in SMR but as throat spasm)
8.Chronic Fatigue (2ndary ms)
9.memory loss (2ndary ms.. i have severe memory problems)
10. Joints condition (2ndary ms pain in joints)
11.Insomnia (in SMR 2ndary ms)
12.Skin Rashes (in SMR 2ndary ms.. impetigo in nose and rashes on arms and legs)
13.Headaches (2ndary to ms)
14.Sleep Disturbances (not sure and neither was dav how to put a claim for wakeing up from pain)
15.6th nerve palsy (submited from personal doctors report)
16.Osteophytes (Mri of the spine reading submited in t-12 l-1 region have multiple with thecal sac deformity)
17.Demyelinating plaque (active multiple scaring in both sides of brain and right brain stem also in T-11,T-5 of lumbar spine have mri and x-rays.. multiple mri's lol)
18. paraparesia ( in personal med reports ... this is numbness of legs lost use of left side from waist down)
19. Paresthesias ( in personal med reports.. this is numbness of the face.)
there is more but after the dav sent this off i was told OMG! NO! that is a shotgun claim it will be denied.. so i didnt submit anymore for now.. lol
one of my main questions is should i have put in only a claim for ms? or did i do the right thing by putting in for all that i had medical documentation for?
also will they rate my symptoms seperately or will they call it pyramiding? i have seen different answers for this question but i have been told no they have to be rated seperately but no actual reg or paper showing this.
I also dont know if any of the above is actually claimable!
I am also being told that i should go after all the out of pocket funds i had to pay for the diagnosis.. this im completly lost on. the va clinic case worker told me no the va would not pay this back. but then i got told no to fight for it but i dont know how!
also the va center i goto called the main formulary and to get me Injections for MS and they told them they would not send it because it costs to much.. WTH do i do if the va says yes we will treat you but no we wont pay for med.. the injections cost about 28k a year btw...
I hope someone else has gone through something similar to me and can answer some of my questions im lost and need to be found :(
Thank you if you have read this... and god bless us all.
Question
GoldDvlDog
Hello all :) My name is Cody I am new here and I have quite a long story... and a ton of questions cause I dont know where else to turn.. I'm a Iraqi veteran, did multiple overseas tours and spent 5yrs in the Marines.
The fallowing is my story and I know im not alone but maybe some other people who were as lost as I am now but figured out what to do can maybe give me some insight.
I started going to a va med center a few years back and had told them i thought for new iraqi vetrans my visits and meds were supposed to be free and they told me yes. When i would goto my appointments I remember it clearly to this day my appointment would be at 10am i would arrive there at about 930am but for some reason, other veterans were being seen before me and almost every time i would have to wait about 3+hrs after my appt to be seen. When i asked why there was a long wait (granted i was and am greatful for any help) the response That i would get was "oh the person we saw before you was a regular". Then after 2 months of going to the va center I got a letter in the mail for a bill.. when i went back there they told me i was mis informed that service was only free for sc alements. Even after i showed them the bill and regulation that was past for new VFW's for free service they wrote the bill off on my credit and flagged my IRS return for the money owed... after this... I HAD IT! I stoped seeing and never wanted to go back to the va. But i began to get sicker and sicker... I spent out of pocket about 10k or so to finally get a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.. first thought was wow.. im 28 and have ms what am I going to do... am i going to be in a wheel chair?, how am i going to support myself?, what do i do now...
My first symptoms where while i was in iraq i started haveing what almost seemed to be really bad acid reflux but it got to the point where i would have to curl up in the fetal position from the pain and some times vomit from the internal pain.. later i learned that this was called a ms chest hug. Most people with ms dont get this but the ones who do know what im talking about, i went to sick hall and the doctor told me i was haveing throat spams... even though i repeatedly told him it was more in my chest not my throat... they blew me off. While i was on active duty i also had random hearing loss.. which the doc's had no idea what was going on lol. sometimes it was great some times it was horrible. I would also have spells of insomnia, one time my staff nco's had to force me to goto to medical because i could not even speak correctly, in 2 weeks i had only slept 4 hours.....i now found out it is most likely due to muscle spasms, I moved this past year and met another veteran at work (who i cannot thank enough) who talked me into going back to the va.. the new va center im going to now is awsome nothing like the first one i went to, i was assigned a case worker who found out the reason i was being billed is because someone at the other center was to lazy to make a simple phone call to get my combat dates entered and that its sad how i was supposed to have 5yrs of free services and its now wasted because of someones failure to make a simple phone call. She actually appologized on behalf of the va to me and she cant even fathom how this could happen. Now my next step is to get help... am getting to the point where on a daily basis i feel like my legs are in a vise and someone is crushing them and do not know how long i can keep working. So... i went to the DVA they helped me out quite a bit but the only problem im haveing is that the dav rep has never had to deal with a claim for MS. The fallowing is the list of my claims..
1.Bilateral hearing loss (in SMR)
2.Dental Condition (in SMR. needed alot of dental but they had no time before my eas. even says on my dd214)
3.Undiagnosed Illnesses (now diagnosed MS)
4. Hair loss ( i am going bald but wasnt worried about this.. dav told me to put it in there lol)
5. Neurological Symptoms (vertigo, congnitive functioning, residual from ms)
6.breathing condition (in SMR asthma)
7. Gerd ( in SMR but as throat spasm)
8.Chronic Fatigue (2ndary ms)
9.memory loss (2ndary ms.. i have severe memory problems)
10. Joints condition (2ndary ms pain in joints)
11.Insomnia (in SMR 2ndary ms)
12.Skin Rashes (in SMR 2ndary ms.. impetigo in nose and rashes on arms and legs)
13.Headaches (2ndary to ms)
14.Sleep Disturbances (not sure and neither was dav how to put a claim for wakeing up from pain)
15.6th nerve palsy (submited from personal doctors report)
16.Osteophytes (Mri of the spine reading submited in t-12 l-1 region have multiple with thecal sac deformity)
17.Demyelinating plaque (active multiple scaring in both sides of brain and right brain stem also in T-11,T-5 of lumbar spine have mri and x-rays.. multiple mri's lol)
18. paraparesia ( in personal med reports ... this is numbness of legs lost use of left side from waist down)
19. Paresthesias ( in personal med reports.. this is numbness of the face.)
there is more but after the dav sent this off i was told OMG! NO! that is a shotgun claim it will be denied.. so i didnt submit anymore for now.. lol
one of my main questions is should i have put in only a claim for ms? or did i do the right thing by putting in for all that i had medical documentation for?
also will they rate my symptoms seperately or will they call it pyramiding? i have seen different answers for this question but i have been told no they have to be rated seperately but no actual reg or paper showing this.
I also dont know if any of the above is actually claimable!
I am also being told that i should go after all the out of pocket funds i had to pay for the diagnosis.. this im completly lost on. the va clinic case worker told me no the va would not pay this back. but then i got told no to fight for it but i dont know how!
also the va center i goto called the main formulary and to get me Injections for MS and they told them they would not send it because it costs to much.. WTH do i do if the va says yes we will treat you but no we wont pay for med.. the injections cost about 28k a year btw...
I hope someone else has gone through something similar to me and can answer some of my questions im lost and need to be found :(
Thank you if you have read this... and god bless us all.
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