How Do I Get Out Of This Maze?

[Josephine]

At times I feel like quitting and maybe I should, but I can't. My case is a very long one. I filed for service connected benefits in 1978 and was immediately denied. I did not get a rating statement of the case or anything. To make this short. I decided to re-file in 2002 for service connection for anxiety. I received a penion and a denial. I immediately wrote to the St. Louis Archives and secured all of my Psychiatric Records, and a letter from The Commanding Officer, which the Va did not bother to get. I turned them in and received a C&P with a more likely than not. Being that my niece is a DRO in that Regional Office, my file was immediately transferred to another Regional Office. I waited for a decision and was sent a notice of my clinic appointment date. When I arrived at the Hospital, I was given a C&P Examination by two psychiatrist, male and female. The write up was no more than slander to me and my medical records had been changed. The male did not sign, but the lady doctor did. She stated that nothing in service bothered me. After being called a liar and a few things, I wrote to the doctor that treated me in service and sent him his medical records. He wrote back that he treated me with tranquilizers for anxiety. I ask repeatedly for a new examination, but did not get one. I am now at the management center. The remand states for my claims file to go back to the two psychiatrist for them to reconcile their difference. How much more do they need? I was treated in service with librium for anxiety and saw two navy psychiatrist and was discharged with emotional instability code 460. The BVA wants to know why I received an early discharge? I began Librium again in 1967 and have been treated for anxiety ever since. They have my doctors letter, stating in his opinion my anxiety began its origin in service, they have the letter by my treating physician in service, the opinion of their Va Psychologist and a letter from a buddy of abuse that I endured in service. The remand asked for so little, another letter from my physician, and a search of my personnel records and medical records in the event that there are other records out there not turned in. I have been at this for several years now. Shouldn't they soon have to give me a yes or no?

Thanks Josephine

Edited August 6, 2006 by Josephine

[Hoppy]

Josephine,

It still seems that you do not have a ratable diagnosis in your records. Borderline personality can be found listed as a personality disorder in the DSM. The VA does not rate personality disorders for several reasons.

Several of the Personality disorders that were used prior to 1980 have been dropped from the DSM. Emotinally unstable personality might have been changed to borderline personality. You need to check out the DSM diagnoses. They will be real easy to find on google. I used to know all this diagnosis stuff. However I forget things as fast as I learn them. The diagnosis in the military is not as important as getting the SMR reviwed by a current doctor who re-diagnoses or changes the unstable personality listed in the SMR to a rateable diagnosis such as "anxiety disorder". Saying you have anxiety is not a specific disorder.

The doctor who said you have borderline personality needs to be reviewed. What tests did they use. MMPI etc. An IMO or a treating doctor at the VA can work. I know one veteran who had his military personality disorder diagnosis rediagnosed and service connectede by treating psychologists at a VA hospital. He was sent for a C&P by a DRO. However the C&P doctor concured witht he new diagnosis.

The fact that they remand your case is good news. They are trying to find out why you were discharged. Was it an early out or did you finish the enlistment. It might not have been clear to them. I am surprised that they did not cite the post service of diagnosis of borderline personality and deny your claim at the BVA. Somebody there is giving you a chance to keep working on this.

[Hoppy]

Josephine

I usually tell veterans not to wait for the VA to schedule exams to straighten out these problems. Go to your VA emergency walk in psychiatric clinic or ask your primary to get you into treatment for the purpose of figuring out what is going on. Or get an IMO. The BVA can't figure it out so somebody needs to do it.

To clarify, the reason they said your condition was not the result of service is because personality disorders are generally considered to be the result of childhood experiences. Even though you have not heard of the use of personality disorder you have been labled with this condition. Emptionally unstable personality disorder and borderline personality are listed as personality disorders. They have changed the codes and names since you were in the military.The link below might help exlain. They are either the same condition or similar condition depending on who is making the assessment. You need to get that axia 1 diagnosis called an "anxiety disorder" with the DSM IV code for the disorder which is 300 or 300,02. This seems to be the confusion to me. I have not see the word anxiety used in an axis 1 classification before. These issues are probably what caused your case to get remanded rather than denied by the BVA. This is my opinion on your sitution.

Check out these links. I did some research. One is for the personality disorder question. The other shows the codes and diagnoses. They are in alphebatical order. Check out 300 and 300.02

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotionally_U...nality_Disorder

http://www.psychologynet.org/codes.html

[Josephine]

Josephine

I usually tell veterans not to wait for the VA to schedule exams to straighten out these problems. Go to your VA emergency walk in psychiatric clinic or ask your primary to get you into treatment for the purpose of figuring out what is going on. Or get an IMO. The BVA can't figure it out so somebody needs to do it.

To clarify, the reason they said your condition was not the result of service is because personality disorders are generally considered to be the result of childhood experiences. Even though you have not heard of the use of personality disorder you have been labled with this condition. Emptionally unstable personality disorder and borderline personality are listed as personality disorders. They have changed the codes and names since you were in the military.The link below might help exlain. They are either the same condition or similar condition depending on who is making the assessment. You need to get that axia 1 diagnosis called an "anxiety disorder" with the DSM IV code for the disorder which is 300 or 300,02. This seems to be the confusion to me. I have not see the word anxiety used in an axis 1 classification before. These issues are probably what caused your case to get remanded rather than denied by the BVA. This is my opinion on your sitution.

Check out these links. I did some research. One is for the personality disorder question. The other shows the codes and diagnoses. They are in alphebatical order. Check out 300 and 300.02

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotionally_U...nality_Disorder

http://www.psychologynet.org/codes.html

Hoppy,

Thanks so much. I checked out the personality site and the anxiety disorder. The first C&P was done by a VA Psychologist and he stated more likely than not. Generalized Anxiety. My treating physician of 28 years calls it chronic anxiety and the two Psychiatrist state Axis 1 Generalized Anxiety. The male and senior Psychiatrist would not sign the C&P that was authored by the female psychiatrist. There is not one shred of medical evidence to back up any of her personality opinion of me. My physician of 28 years states that she is patently incorrect. Before joining Navy, I was a great pianist by note and since service. my hands sweat so badly from fear that water runs down to my elbows. Every doctor that I have seen as made mention of this several times, even the lady psychiatrist. I was a corpman in service and was treated at my last duty station with librium and caffergot. My treating physician set me up with a competency review board of physchiatrist for an early discharge, after being in service for one year and 3 months. The commanding officer wrote a letter for discharge and I saw a Chaplain. My phychiatric medical records were never seen by the VA until 2004, when I secured them from the archives.

Josephine

[Hoppy]

I am getting a clearer picture of this and it makes total sense that it got remanded rather than denied. The C&P examiner who said generalized anxiety must tie it into military service. They need to resolve the multiple diagnoses of personality disorders in service with the post service diagnosis of generalized anxiety and determine how many diagnoses you have and when they started. If the first examiner ommitted any reference to when the disease started then this needs to be addressed whether it was the result of military service or something that began post service. I have heard of cases where they determined that the anxiety disorder predated service and was aggravated by service. This also is service connectable. I did not agree with the pre service onset because the veteran is presumed to be sound on entry. However, it did not effet the outcome so it was not appealed.

The fact that a report was not signed is not that uncommon. I do not think that doctors will sign a report generated by another doctor whether they agree or not. The unsigned report will be given weight from my experience.

I had multiple diagnoses with my angioedema. I went to the head of the immunology department and told him to deteremine how many different disease I had and when they started. He said I had one disease known as angioedma and it started in the military He stated that he reviewed both the SMR and the post service reports. It was used to service connect my condition.

Also I would think that the reports from the psychiatrists who did the first C&P and the other psychiatrists who did the second C&P will be given more relevance than the treating doctor if he was not a psychiatrist. It might work to just get the remanded resolution of diagnoses then get a treating psychiatrist if you do not like the outcome of the remanded exam.

The best thing to do is get a treating psychiatrist or "clinical psychologist" with a PHD to write up a report saying that you have an anxiety disorder that was the result of milityary service. The opinion must be based on a review of the SMR and the post service treatment notes. C&P examiners will make all kinds of mistakes. So will some treating psychologists.

[Hoppy]

One last thing, if they hit you with this personality disorder crap again you should not have much of a problem shooting it down. The fact that you were able to get into the Navy in a corpman program and make it into your second year makes it unlikely that you had any personality disorders. The shrinks you have seen know this. That is why you are getting the generalized anxiety diagnoses. This is my opinion. I am not a PHD. However, I did complete all the core classes at UCLA for a psych major.

People with personality disorders usually have no desire to work with people in social situations such as the medical profession. Marked deviation as explained in F60 below does not include the desire to be a corpman. The desire to be a corpman is a mainstrem normal attitude. Such a career goal contridicts the F60 requirements in my opinion. This is a reference from the ICD-10. However the DSM is very similar in this regard.

F60 Disorders of adult personality and behaviour

There is evidence that the individual's characteristic and enduring patterns of inner experience and behaviour as a whole deviate markedly from the culturally expected and accepted range (or "norm").

[Berta]

One more thought here- I do not see the diagnosis problem as the main issue of this claim-

Even if that is resolved-and it could be

It still remains that there is the lack of a proven stressor.