ptsd Ptsd Treatment While Filing For Compensation

[Brew]

I am currently filing a claim for compensation for PTSD and the process itself has prompted me to get care for the first time. If I make improvements during my treatment process and my claim is still being evaluated, will this lower my rating? I realize this is ambiguous because I have a medical record trail of significant PTSD issues for over 10 years. I've also had a couple TBI's, so I guess my fear is that I may see some improvement in the PTSD area, but that I will still have difficulty with employment, relationships, etc even if I have the nightmares, etc more under control. Just curious what people think about how the raters view current treatment in the big picture considering years of problems.

ultimately, I am far better off if I can function as a healthy person, but I have hit a point where I am concerned, and my family is concerned that I can't control all of the factors that I struggle with despite genuine efforts to function normally in work and life.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Brew

[carlie]

I am currently filing a claim for compensation for PTSD and the process itself has prompted me to get care for the first time.

If I make improvements during my treatment process and my claim is still being evaluated, will this lower my rating?

It's probably best to just concentrate on getting/staying in therapy and continue

to prosecute your claim for benefits.

[john999]

I think it is important to at least try and show the VA you are trying to get treatment for your PTSD even if it does not good. It can't really hurt and it might help. You don't have to tell them if you are concerned about compensation. If PTSD has done long term damage to your working life just getting better to the extent you don't get worse is progress. People with untreated PTSD often drive other people away and abuse drugs and alcohol. This can be fatal and therapy can help with this. It does not mean you are cured.

John

[Tbird]

I think this worry is common and I would stress what Carlie said focus on getting the help you need to continue to pursue your claim.

Your current claim is being evaluated based on the information you have already provided.

Claims do take a long time, but so does therapy, don't get me wrong, I hope you go to therapy and in within 3 months it's all coming together for you and you are doing much better. However it may take longer.

Frankly if it were me, after I had established a relationship with the therapist and felt a trust there I would just tell my therapist about the anxiety of getting better while your claim is being decided.

This is not an uncommon thought process, the thought of it is anxiety producing and can cause problems in getting better and getting better is really what it is all about.

[Brew]

I appreciate the comments - just to check in on this issue, I have decided to stop worrying about it. If the VA wants to say I am miraculously healed with therapy and medication 6 months from now, I can appeal if it isn't true or if I get worse later I suppose. At this point, I am so far from okay that I have a hard time believing that if I do get SC, that they wouldn't rate me at least 10% and according to several sources, the prediction is 50-70%. I would rather be 10% in six months and actually be okay and able to function and work than to be 50-70% and truly disabled to the point of not functioning normally which is where I am now.

[donna68]

You definitly need to focus on your health and not a rating decision. VBA is supposed to rate you based on your current level of functioning, not how you were last, year, 5 years ago....They will more than likely rate you based on your C&P exam unless you end up hospitalized in VA between the time of your exam and the rating decision. If your condition gets better and the VA has evidence that it is better they may rate you based on your level of functioing at that time. Below is the criteria and they also consider a GAF score.

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