ptsd Nod Progress

[emandg]

I received an initial S/C PTSD rating of 30%. I am filing a NOD (increase to 50%) and based on advice have notarized letters from my employer (2 bosses) regarding the accomodation given to me allowing for things related to my PTSD. I have a letter from a 'Nam buddy attesting to my anger issues and other things. I also have notarized letters from 2 of my step-daughters regarding the negative impact my PTSD has on my family. I have informed my V.A. Psych and Therapist and asked if they could help by writing letters regarding the level of my PTSD and am waiting for those.

Can any one who's been there guess at an outcome ?

[Berta]

By all means if you feel your evidence meets a higher rating,pursue the claim.

Also sometimes an increase in dosage of any mental disorder meds can also be used as evidence that the disorder has gotten worse.

General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders:

Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name 100

Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships

70

Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to such symptoms as: flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships 50

Occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks (although generally functioning satisfactorily, with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation normal), due to such symptoms as: depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent events) 30

Occupational and social impairment due to mild or transient symptoms which decrease work efficiency and ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or; symptoms controlled by continuous medication 10

A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but symptoms are not severe enough either to interfere with occupational and social functioning or to require continuous medication 0

(sourse Schedule of Ratings Mental Disorders.

[cooter]

Since of new regulations about PTSD is there any point in getting IMO to show how bad his condition is now? With most disability ratings getting a good IMO is the gold standard. Back ten years ago my IMO's were all that got me my TDIU. The VA was sticking with a 30% rating.

Good point john. Berta's advise on IMO's is "the best investment you'll ever make when it comes to your claims."

[emandg]

Thanks for the help. You all have ben great with the advice. I will take it and go for it. I will also post the results. Ya'll have a Happy 4th and God Bless America !

[Philip Rogers]

john999 - I believe there is, especially if you're from another era. A favorable IMO can mean winning or losing and save many yrs of appeals. As to the new PTSD regs/rules, don't they just more or less pertain to proving a stressor? jmo

pr

Since of new regulations about PTSD is there any point in getting IMO to show how bad his condition is now? With most disability ratings getting a good IMO is the gold standard. Back ten years ago my IMO's were all that got me my TDIU. The VA was sticking with a 30% rating.

[Berta]

The VA's Q & A explains the new PTSD reg criteria and to which claims it will be applied to:

http://www.va.gov/PTSD_QA.pdf

When the Fed Register published the proposed regs I was one of many commenters and I griped about the unfairness of one of the conditions attached to this new reg.

Some Vet lawyers and vet orgs also filed a case at the CAVC subsequently on the same thing I griped about- which is still not decided yet by the court.

This is the unfair part-

if a claim falls under the new regs as determined by filing date in the Q & A, the veteran is prohibited from getting an IMO to prove he or she has a diagnosis of PTSD.

Only a PTSD diagnosis from a VA MH care professional will be accepted by the VA as proof of established diagnosis of PTSD.

As a widowed victim of VA's ability to misdiagnose, whether PTSD or any physical disability-and also realizing that I still have an open issue regarding my husband's original 1151 claim (he claimed his PTSD was misdiagnosed in it's severity and received no medication except until a few months before he died-for PTSD, along with actual substantial psychiatric care at that time- the VA claimed he never filed this claim but I can prove he did)

it is extremely important to me to see veterans who have PTSD, do get a proper diagnosis of it and then the proper treatment and the true diagnosis might well come from an IM0 doctor who also could have been privately treating the vet for PTSD for many years.

VA's reg says this doesnt matter and gives the sole power to their own MH doctors for PTSD diagnosis and then as the original regs suggest- the rater then has the power to determine if the stressor falls into the stressor criteria of the new regs.

I hope the court case (I posted all that info in our PTSD forum)knocks down this idea that only VA can diagnose PTSD properly.

If they get away with this idea then they could easily start to refuse to accept IMOs for any type of disability and it is often is a strong IMO these days from a real doctor that proves a claim.

[john999]

I guess Phil's comment about once a stressor is accepted by the VA can an IMO be used to determine the current severity of the PTSD? If the C&P doctor says "yes, vet has PTSD and I believe it is a mild case" then the vet must get an IMO to contradict that doctor's exam to ask for greater than "mild" disability. Since our VA doctors won't help us we must turn to IMO's or our private doctors. I keep two private doctors on the payroll for just such an event.