Huge Question About Secondary Condition

[krbkwb02]

Hello All, Well I have read until my eyes are now hurting and burning, lol! I have the following service connected conditions; 20% Right Knee with degenerative arthritis...10% Tinnutis.....10% Chronic Left Shoulder Bursitis and 10% Depressive Disorder secondary to my right knee. My last Cp for the listed was decided in 2009. Now fast forward approximately 15 months (which would be like several months ago) I started developing pain in my right groin and hip, my private physician ordered xrays of the hip which showed degenerative change in the hip but really nothing else was said or done because he lost his license and over the past few months I have seen a few different docs. I now have a perm. one who ordered an MRI of the hip. The results showed that I have the following; hip fracture, ligament damage, severe osteoarthritis and I thought they said osteoporsis and bone marrow swelling, bad yeah I know, I am at my wits end because I have to have total replacement surgery and in constant pain. The question is wouldn't it be secondary to my right service connected knee since its the right hip? At the moment my left leg feels and acts ok. I plan on filing for an increase because the depression has gotten worse for sure and now my hip and knee are really hurting! So what do you all think, please help its driving me crazy. Thanks All!

[john999]

You have to get a doctor to say it is secondary or the VA will just deny it.

[cooter]

I see why your Dr lost his licence if he couldn't see the hip fracture on your xray. lol Do you know how you fractured your hip? Is it on the right side? Cause normally on right injured knee, the left side (hip, leg) would compensate to relieve the guarding on the right side, therefore causing the left side more pain and perhaps injury down the road. Does this make sense? It throws your whole body out of sync, ankles, hips, back, neck, etc. Have you ever fallen due to the bad knee? Cause if you did, that might of caused the hip fracture. But yea, it very well could be secondary but like john said, you need a Dr to say it is.

[krbkwb02]

Please help...these are my service connections....20%Right Knee w/ degenerative artritis, 10% Tinnutis, 10% Left Shoulder Chronic Bursitis, 10% Depressive Disorder...currently at 40%....fast forward about 16 mos or so since my last review. My hip started bothering me about 15 months ago or so and has progressively gotten worse....I did suffer a groin strain when I slipped on the ice, knee gave way and down I went...result groin strain out of work for 30 days or so and got a 3% rating from Workmens Compensation back winter of 2007-2008. When I had the review(va) I had healed from the strain and didnt mention it. Now I just had a right hip MRI which revealed fracture/ligamanet damage/severe osteoartritis and osteoporosis I thought she said along with bone marrow swelling and a lot of fluid build up, my hip is in agony and not walking well at all. The depressive disorder is also worse because of my health, unavailability to work most paying good jobs, though I currently am a Counselor within a prison, but wished I could go to the coal mines or gas drilling rigs "big bucs" to better support my family! So I'm thinking that with the no sleep, missing work (1-2 days per month) and absolutely little to no social interaction (not interested have become recluse basically) I should/might get an increase for the depressive disorder. The hip thing could be a few different things actually. First of all the damn thing never bothered me until the past year or so...I feel the osteoarthritis was building/wearing until the joint became unstable and hence all the problems. I also fell while climbing rope in AASLT SCHOOL but the record does not mention my black and blue hip, but does other stuff. I'm thinking its possibly a myriad of issues. The knee caused me to walk on the inside line of my feet, shoes show proof, thus resulting in an slightly abnormal gait, not very noticable but certainly possibly damaging thus resulting in a slight misalignment of the hip, resulting in abnormal wear/osteoarthritis. The osteoarthritis eventually got bad now I need total hip replacement. Then again the weakened knee might have caused me to slip lose my balance and fall on that hip thus resulting in the hip groin strain. The strain weakened the joint and allowed the hip to mistrack. My original doc said I was likely to develop hip problems after the strain incident (I have requested all my private records) ad just recieved my CFILE. Within the CFILE there is mention of osteoarthritis a few times in the knee and back...I'm a mess seriously...please help if ya'all can! Butch

[krbkwb02]

I also feel like a tin man in a rain storm, could I possibly have fibormyalgia or some type of chronic pain throughout? I'm not sure just know that its ridiculous also have chronic sleep issues...probably part of the depressive disorder I imagine.....arggggggggggg.....really really fed up with it all want to go on a drunk and disappear off the face of the earth never to be found, good thing I do have family!

[cooter]

First of all, you came to the right place to get help, alot of intelligent people here that can help you "Tbird" the creator of this site has made her dreams come true by helping Veterans like us come here and help each other manage our journey to a successful claim/claims. The education you receive here you won't find at any college and it's FREE. The teachers here are Veterans that has been there, done that, and succeeded, and better yet, take their personal time off to come here (Hadit) and help us! What more can we ask than that! But, you have to be patient and DON'T GIVE UP!!! It sounds like you have a good case for a secondary claim involving your hip due to your SC knee. "Aggravation" a key word used for secondary conditions, needs to be stated by the Dr. when he connects the dots (known as a Nexus) to say the aggravation of your hip is due to your SC knee. ie. your SC knee caused you to fall therefore injuring your hip. But don't just stop there, claim anything else you think your knee has caused aggravation to. Knee injuries can cause a bundle of problems. When a back is involved, your bound to have nerve problems also. Nerve problems can cause organ problems. I don't know how old you are, but usually when your getting up in age the VA will say its age related. With the right tools and ammo you can prove its not with good evidence and a good Dr's Nexus. Listen to the advice members here give you and be patient when you post, cause sometimes it'll take a day or 2 to get answers. Good Luck

[john999]

If your depressive disorder is not being taken care of everything is going to bother you. 40% rating for depression sounds weird to me. The VA usually rates it 10%,30%,50%,70% and finally 100%. If you have chronic pain related to your service that is going to aggravate you depression and that's for sure. If you have not brought up the workers compensation stuff I would never mention it at all. If you have work related injuries that complicates your sevice connected stuff no end. I have been there with that. When you ask to have the hip SC'ed you might ask for an increase in your depression rating. What kinds of meds do you take for depression? If your goal is to get TDIU or 100% the depression is probably going to get you there the fastest. If you see unemployment in your future it is good to work on these service connected things while you are still able to work.