ptsd Iu Claim In Decision Phase

[BigCountryVet]

Greetings once again, friends! On October 12, 2010, I submitted a claim for TDIU due to my PTSD w/major depression and anxiety disorder. I stopped working in approximately mid June of 2010. I was having weekly anxiety attacks (one sent me straight to the ER) and would want to physically harm any customer that called in and caused me any seemingly undue stress. Long story short I have been in and out of at least 8 jobs over the last 5 years since being discharged from the Army. Recently I took myself off divalproex which is supposed to control my anger issues because i thought i'd be able to do good without it, and SURPRISE things got even worse than before fast quick and in a hurry. I also did the same naive thing with my trazodone which helps me sleep and i am now back to staying up until 3 am every morning. I still am, however, on citalopram for depression. Tomorrow at my weekly VA appt I'm going to have my doc put me back on anger & sleep meds.

My original SC for ptsd was rated at 70% effective January 12, 2006. As I said before, I worked less than marginally off and on for almost 5 years before finally quitting work altogether in June 2010. If my IU is in fact granted will it go back to Jan '06 since the IU is a result of my PTSD or will it just go back to when I stopped working altogether in June 2010? Thanks once again guys for being an open ear and offering any and all advice. One last thing, does anybody on here go through the Waco RO here in Texas for all their claims stuff? I do and I called the 800 number today and they told me it has been in the rating office for approx 20 days with an avg turnaround time in the waco office of 10 - 21 days once at the rating office. Looking forward to hearing back from all you wonderful folks!

[BigCountryVet]

Pete,

Thanks once again for the great advice. One thing I was in fact wondering about was getting a lawyer for all this. My local VSO is alright as far as helping me fill out the appropriate forms, but I don't think they're as proactive as a lawyer might be. Are good VA lawyers hard to come by or does it just depend on the geographical location? What types of questions should I ask the lawyers and what answers should I be looking for in order to determine if a potential lawyer is worth retaining? As always I look forward to hearing back from anybody interested in providing feedback.

[carlie]

what exactly does "100% schedular" mean and what is moot and what does that mean?

BCV,

Pete992 posted,

"This is just my opinion and I hope other will chime in but since you filed a claim in Oct. 2010 for TDIU, I think that VA might award you 100% schedular and say that your claim for TDIU is moot to avoid any type of earlier effective dates."

100% scheduler means that there are not two or more service-connected compensable disabilities.

So, if you are granted service connection at 100% scheduler - then TDIU would be moot

(no longer for consideration) because you are will already be receiving compensation at the 100 % rate.

[BigCountryVet]

Here are my current disabilities: 70% for PTSD w/major depression and panic disorder; 10% for lumbrosacral strain; & 0% for tinnitus. Now, does the fact that I DO have two SC compensable disabilities affect yall's responses? On a side note I almost forgot to mention that my VA dr finally gave me the results of a recent back xray. I have a bulging disc between my L4 & L5 which can be attributed to my initial lower back strain I initially mentioned. Does the fact that they recently discovered that bulging disc through their xray create any sort of chance for me to have an increase on my current 10% lumbrosacral strain SC?