ptsd New To Hadit.com, New Ptsd Claim

[MP1980]

I have been reading this site for most of the evening and I've got a tremendous amount of help. I have a few questions specific about my claim. First some background: I had my first MH appointment after an appointment with my primary care doctor when I mentioned some of the problems I have been having (nightmares, night sweats, sleeplessness, irritability, etc.). A few days later I had a phone consult with a social worker where they asked me about 50 or so questions, not specific to anything I had experienced in service, just general mental health questions, (how are you feeling on a scale of 1-10, do you feel depressed, do you want to hurt yourself or anyone else? Etc) I was then setup with an appt with the social worker who asked the exact same types of questions, and who then referred me to see the mental health doctor, who asked me the same round of questions again. After the questions she told me that she was giving me a script for Zoloft. She also set me up for counseling with the OIF counselor. As the appointment was ending I asked her what is wrong with me, or at least what she thought was wrong. She said that I have adjustment disorder. I have a few questions. Is this a final diagnosis, or can this be changed? Should I file a claim based on this? I emailed my VSO prior to seeking treatment and they advised me that I should wait to file a claim until I have a diagnosis. I'm very confused as to what I should do. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks inadvance

[SP4RVN1971]

Welcome Aboard!!

[MP1980]

Thank you all for your responses and assistance. Tomorrow I'm going to setup an appointment to meet with the VSO to file the claim. I'm also going to get copies of my treatment thus far to see what the psychiatrist said in her report when we met the other day. I will post what her diagnosis is once I get the report. Again, thank you for all your help!

[11cvolley]

I would write your stressor report now and hand a copy to your social worker. For some it can be much easier to write what happen down and just give it to your social worker than trying to explain it in several sessions. With how many veterans a SW sees, the time between your appointments, and their lackluster note taking I would not trust them to understand your situation. Write it all out and it will get put into your medical records.

[Berta]

Great,

As Guilfvet said, write out your stressor letter and give as many details as possible as to date and place of the stressor.

Under the new regs , if the stressor cannot be conceded by VA right off the bat due to MOS and other details (or receipt of PH, CAR, CAB on their DD 214)

the VA will attempt to verify the stressor through Joint Service Records Research Center.

If a vet needs a buddy statement regarding their stressor,now is the time to use Google and all other search engines, their unit reunion rosters,unit web sites etc etc, to find a buddy.

We have a topic here on Getting a Buddy statement.

It is an eyewitness account of someone who served with you and witnessed the stressor event themselves or the details of it that are enough to corroborate your description of the stressor.

Obviously they need to tell VA in the buddy letter of how their MOS and same unit as yours at the same time period (or a supporting unit) would give their statement credibility.

A buddy statement for a vet my daughter helped with for a PTSD claim- in it the buddy actually gave VA his C file number and said they could check his file because he got SC for PTSD from the exact same stressor which he then detailed.