Pick A Diagnosis...

[free_spirit_etc]

I seemed to have lost my Oops! Wrong diagnosis post. But basically...my husband filed for SC for cervical strain in 1998 - was denied, is in service record, but they said he had no current disbility. He appealed in 1999. Once again - was denied - as they did find a slight space between two of his cervical disks -- but said still did not show current disbility. Then - in 2004, when he had a C&P for headaches (gulf war) they denied THEM as the VA examiner determined his headaches to be cause by his cervical problems - in the SAME place as the other exams - but worse.

I plan to file that the cervical condition should be granted retroactive to AT LEAST the 2004 exam.

Found this decision -- where a guy claimed headaches - was denied because it was a neck problem that he THOUGH were headaches - but the VA failed to develop the case for neck problems.

Love what the court says!

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getc...e&no=007023

U.S. Fed Circuit Court of Appeals

2000

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal

Circuit

00-7023

NORVAL J. ELKINS,

Claimant-Appellant,

v.

HERSHEL W. GOBER, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs,

Respondent-Appellee.

Kenneth M. Carpenter, Carpenter, Chartered, of Topeka, Kansas, argued for claimant-appellant.

Our examination of Elkins' briefs before the Veterans Court points to the latter. In those briefs, Elkins cites the medical report conclusion that his headache pain was actually attributable to a neck injury and argues:

The doctor acknowledges that the Appellant experiences pain which he "interprets" as headaches. The Appellant's substantive appeal mentioned headaches. [ ] It is disingenuous, at the very least, to argue that the Appellant is not competent to give an opinion as to the etiology of his condition, but then disallow his claim when he identifies the symptom that he is experiencing for the reason that he has failed to adequately diagnose it. :o

[Hoppy]

THAT IS SOME PRETTY GOOD RESEARCH YOU CAME UP WITH.

You should still get a nexus letter from a treating physician. You do not have to wait for the VA to schedule a C&P and have them send him to some bunk examiner like the last one. And find the rating schedule information. It is really tough to get a high orthopedic rating. Check out the rating for headaches and use those also for a reference. I really do not know enough about the symptoms and paper trail of applications to 1998. However, the 2004 date sounds like you got a shot. I will bet they will fight you even with the case law. Be ready for a battle.

I had headaches for fifteen years and did not know what was causing them. They started to really interfere with my ability to function so I really leaned on the doctors. They ran some tests on my brain. Three years later a doctor diagnosed the cause of the headaches as the result of a neck problem. Her diagnosis was based on the subjective history given by me. Later the disc problem was confirmed by MRI.

The doctor who diagnosed the disc problem based her initial diagnosis on the pattern of pain I explained from over a decade ago. The reason she made the diagnosis is because she asked the right questions to get me talking about the specific pattern. Such as, time of day they started, activities that prompted them etc. She yelled out me when I told her the fifteen year history and told me that I should have gone to the doctor fifteen years ago and had a neurologist tracking the problem. When I told her that I had seen a neurologist three years earlier at the same VA and they did not do any MRI's on my neck she freaked out, called he physicians assistant and had the assistant go with me to neurology to schedule the MRI's on my neck. She told the physicians assistant not to let neurology squirm out of doing the MRI's.

Long story short. There are a bunch of A__le doctors who do not want to make diagnoses. It is a don't ask the right questions and you do not have to make a diagnosis. This saves the hospital money on the tests. AND THE BIG REASON IS THAT THEY KNOW THAT ONCE YOU GET THAT MRI AS CONFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF GETTING SSI OR SSD. THEY ARE TRYING TO SAVE $$$ FOR THE TAX PAYERS.

[free_spirit_etc]

I never even thought of MRIs on that. And yeah.. when my husband CLAIMED for cervical strain - they couldn't find it - Then when he claimed for headache - they found it was cervicalgenic something (which meant it was not an undiagnosed illness.)

But the third VA doc DID ask those questions -- and I thought gave him a pretty accurate tests. ..and did x-rays and things. He didn't document that the cervical strain was connected in service - but my husband had claimed for it - but was denied based on no finding of current disability.

The other cause of his headaches was listed as Chronic sinus something - which the exainer had noted was diagnosed in service. The RO, of course, says there was no evidence of that being chronic. Never mind that he has lots of documentation in the medical records that he had recurrrent sinus infections during the 70s and 80's. He finally just accepted them as a way of life and quit going to the doctor for them . But you would think 20 years of treatment would be chronic.

Of course the VA examiner said something about he was treated in 1972 and had an x-ray in 1983. Like 11 years later they just decided to x-ray his sinuses to see how they were doing???

Ack!!!

Actually - I just started this process a couple months ago - and am amazed at what I am finding.

But my husband would prefer I keep focused on the cancer issue - as that is most important -- but I keep running across this other stuff while research for that.

Glad you finally found someone cometent. :o

Actually - the VA examiners have done a pretty good job with most of their exams with my husband. Much more extensive than the private docs. It was the RO who missed the ball on those. And I think his cervical issue may have just gotten worse so they could finally detect it.

I guess that is why he kind of wants to put off seeking an exam. His tri-care docs don't want to issue an opinion...and he thinks we built a strong enough case -- or that if he gets a semi-competent VA doctor who actually SEES him this time - he will do okay.

But I would feel much better with a doctor's medical opinion to support the case.

Free

THAT IS SOME PRETTY GOOD RESEARCH YOU CAME UP WITH.

You should still get a nexus letter from a treating physician. You do not have to wait for the VA to schedule a C&P and have them send him to some bunk examiner like the last one. And find the rating schedule information. It is really tough to get a high orthopedic rating. Check out the rating for headaches and use those also for a reference. I really do not know enough about the symptoms and paper trail of applications to 1998. However, the 2004 date sounds like you got a shot. I will bet they will fight you even with the case law. Be ready for a battle.

I had headaches for fifteen years and did not know what was causing them. They started to really interfere with my ability to function so I really leaned on the doctors. They ran some tests on my brain. Three years later a doctor diagnosed the cause of the headaches as the result of a neck problem. Her diagnosis was based on the subjective history given by me. Later the disc problem was confirmed by MRI.

The doctor who diagnosed the disc problem based her initial diagnosis on the pattern of pain I explained from over a decade ago. The reason she made the diagnosis is because she asked the right questions to get me talking about the specific pattern. Such as, time of day they started, activities that prompted them etc. She yelled out me when I told her the fifteen year history and told me that I should have gone to the doctor fifteen years ago and had a neurologist tracking the problem. When I told her that I had seen a neurologist three years earlier at the same VA and they did not do any MRI's on my neck she freaked out, called he physicians assistant and had the assistant go with me to neurology to schedule the MRI's on my neck. She told the physicians assistant not to let neurology squirm out of doing the MRI's.

Long story short. There are a bunch of A__le doctors who do not want to make diagnoses. It is a don't ask the right questions and you do not have to make a diagnosis. This saves the hospital money on the tests. AND THE BIG REASON IS THAT THEY KNOW THAT ONCE YOU GET THAT MRI AS CONFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF GETTING SSI OR SSD. THEY ARE TRYING TO SAVE $$$ FOR THE TAX PAYERS.

[Hoppy]

"The other cause of his headaches was listed as Chronic sinus something - which the exainer had noted was diagnosed in service. The RO, of course, says there was no evidence of that being chronic. Never mind that he has lots of documentation in the medical records that he had recurrrent sinus infections during the 70s and 80's. He finally just accepted them as a way of life and quit going to the doctor for them . But you would think 20 years of treatment would be chronic."

These two types of headaches are very different in pattern and cause. It sounds like they found no record of the neck strain in the military. If so that can be a major road block for service connection of the cervical generated headaces.

It sounds like the RO denied the sinus condition without seeking a medical opinion. If you were to get a letter from a doctor who reviewed the SMR and the post service reports and he said it was more likely than not that the two conditions are related, then you could re-open the claim for the sinus condition. Check the rating schedule and compare it against the medical history to see if it is worth the work. Some sinus conditions can be rated as high as 30%.

When it is determined that a condition is not chronic in the military then you need a medical opinion that the post service treatment is a logical pattern to be expected from the events in the military (nexus). Only a doctor can make this determination. This is what I had to do for my angioedema claim even though the disease was diagnosed in the military and has no known cure. The RO plays dumb. Then they do not tell you what to do to win the claim. I was denied two times. I listened to the folks on hadit and got 100%.

[free_spirit_etc]

Yep! I like the folks here at hadit!! They give me hope to hang in there! Even when everyone thought my husband wouldn't live very long in 2004 - we just kept on hoping...when everyone thought we were fools! :o

Don't really know how much time we have left - but we have had more time and good time! :P

Actaully they did find and acknowldedge the cervical strain in-service - they just said he didn't have evidence of a CURRENT disability of it.

We will probably file for that -- and try for an earlier effective date - not back to the original claim in 1998 - but back to the 2004 VA examine when the current disability was finally acknowledged in a VA examine.

Maybe that is the way to get the diagnosis. Claim for something ELSE! Then they say - no - it is not this - it is that...(which was the original thing you claimed).

Thanks for all your good advice,

Free

"The other cause of his headaches was listed as Chronic sinus something - which the exainer had noted was diagnosed in service. The RO, of course, says there was no evidence of that being chronic. Never mind that he has lots of documentation in the medical records that he had recurrrent sinus infections during the 70s and 80's. He finally just accepted them as a way of life and quit going to the doctor for them . But you would think 20 years of treatment would be chronic."

These two types of headaches are very different in pattern and cause. It sounds like they found no record of the neck strain in the military. If so that can be a major road block for service connection of the cervical generated headaces.

It sounds like the RO denied the sinus condition without seeking a medical opinion. If you were to get a letter from a doctor who reviewed the SMR and the post service reports and he said it was more likely than not that the two conditions are related, then you could re-open the claim for the sinus condition. Check the rating schedule and compare it against the medical history to see if it is worth the work. Some sinus conditions can be rated as high as 30%.

When it is determined that a condition is not chronic in the military then you need a medical opinion that the post service treatment is a logical pattern to be expected from the events in the military (nexus). Only a doctor can make this determination. This is what I had to do for my angioedema claim even though the disease was diagnosed in the military and has no known cure. The RO plays dumb. Then they do not tell you what to do to win the claim. I was denied two times. I listened to the folks on hadit and got 100%.