tdiu New Guy Wth Big Problem.

[kymike]

Hello everyone, my name is Mike. I'm a veteran of the first Gulf War. I been coming to this forum for about six months but until now I've never posted anything.

My computer and writing skills are a little rusty and been hesitent to speak up. But these are desperate times for me, so I'm forced to overcome my social anxiety and awkwardness.

I'm pleased to find this forum and all you great vets. Just being amongst you all and knowing somebody out there cares has made a big difference in my attitude.

I'll get to the chase. I'm sure on of you guys can point me in the right direction. I've a history of lower back and SI joint problems going back to GW1 in 1991.

I had a Lumbar fusion L2-S1 on 3/3/10 at VAMC Louisville for my " service connected" degenerative disk disease and HNP. VARO payed my temporary UI.

Everything seemed fine. Before surgury, on 12/30/2009 I filled for an increase for my DDD which was at 40%, and for unemployability,bi-lateral radiculapathy, stenosis,

... basicly residules from my service connected surguries. On 12/21/10 I get a letter from RO saying that they are denying all my secondary claims, unemployability,

and a proposing to reduce my SC from back to 10% because the rater made a mistake when he increase me from 10% back pain/ SI joint pain and recharacterized it as

DDD w/ HNP in june of 2005 without asking for a medical opinion from the C&P doc.

I'm angry, depressed, in severe pain, on Morphine and can't tie my own shoes. So they want to pull this crap now.

I need you guys help sorting this out. I'm hoping that you moderators out there can help me ask the right questions in the appropriate forum.

Thanks in advance. I hope somebody else can't sleep and can clue in on the first steps I need to take to staighten out this mess.

[Hoppy]

Sorry, I re-read your post. It appears you already know who input the back issues on the active problems list. This doctor would be key to your claim. I had a similar problem and was service connected by a letter I got

from the department head at a VA hospital. I did not even have a C&P exam. They used the letter from the head of the department that I got. Developing symptoms less that one year afer discharge does show a back issue during the presumptive period. You could seek an opinion that the symptoms during the presumptive were early symptoms of the condition that required surgury in 2006. If you could get this opinion from the Chief of Staff I doubt the VBA would even try to rebut her opinion. I got the head of the department at a VA hospital to write a letter just by walking into the clinic and telling the secretary I needed a report linking my condition to service. i brought one page of my SMR with me. This was enough to get the department head interested and he came out a talked to me. i did not even have an appointment. He wrote a slam dunk letter for servfice connection while a waited.

If it were me I would make a one page document showing a copy of the active problems list from 1996 and a one paragraph statement requesting her help determining if your condition started during the presumptive period.

Here is the bad news. I tried this at two VA hospitals. One department head refused to get involved. The other doctor wrote the slam dunk letter. It saved me from having to pay for an IMO.

[broncovet]

Hoppy posted:

I got the head of the department at a VA hospital to write a letter just by walking into the clinic and telling the secretary I needed a report linking my condition to service. i brought one page of my SMR with me.

"He wrote a slam dunk letter for servfice connection while a waited."

end of Hoppy quote.

This is such good advice, that I reposted it in bold, just in case it was missed. Hoppy, by simply "asking for it" in the right way, got his service connection. He had done his homework...taking the SMR with him, and asking the (VA boss) to do it. He pointed out that not all VA bosses will do this, but you can go to another VAMC and see if that VA boss is more sympathetic than the last one.

This is much cheaper than an IMO..probably better, too. While I am not bashing an IMO...I do know that some Vets simply dont have the money for them. So, I would humbly suggest using the "hoppy method" of getting an IMO...go into the VAMC boss' office and ask for your SC letter.

Thanks, Hoppy, for the great post, and great idea. I will add that I did almost the same thing, except that I asked a sympathetic (VA) physician to write one for me, and he did exactly that. The Bible says, "Ask and you shall receive".

Edited June 28, 2011 by broncovet

[Hoppy]

More details

The letter you get linking your current condition to the military does not have to be a slam dunk. If the letter raises a reasonable possibility that your conditions during the presumptive period and the current condition are related this would required that they schedule a C&P exam. This would put you in a position to argue the claim with a C&P examiner. This is yet another alternative to paying for an IMO. By the way IMO's are hard to write properly. Use the info available on hadit showing the format for an IMO if you choose to get an IMO. We had a retired DRO who used to post on hadit who said he never awarded a claim based on an IMO from aprivate doctor during his entire career working at the VA.

The BVA cases that I have read awarding service connection for back condition show some symptoms in the military and a specific diagnosis that develops prior to the age of 35 or 40. The older you get and the types of work you do post service will be used as evidence showing the post service condition is unrelated to military. The younger you are and the less time between service and the post service onset of continued symptoms will work in your favor.