ptsd Hello And Thank You

[BeStrong]

Hello to all and thank you to all of you that have created this place of help and recovery. I am a wife of wonderful man named Paul and he is a veteran that I believe has severe mental problems that are directly service related. We have been together since shortly after his release from active duty in 1996. We have five children that live with us, and my husband has many problems relating to his service related incidences.

I am posting here for my own support and for help and education in getting my husband the help he needs, and also help figuring out how to properly file a claim and how to get it approved.

I would like to be able to tell his story and see if anyone has any comments. There are circumstances that might effect his treatment and any claim for compensation. One other service member involved in the service related incident received a 50 % PTSD rating and has been working with me for the last three years in order to get my husband into some kind of treatment system.

My husband has not worked in over three years. He has tried working for friends or family and it is always a disaster because of his rage and anger issues, as well as his distrust and compulsion to save everybody (service related). His family got him a really great job from home where all he had to do was process 10 phone orders per day from customers that had already asked to place an order and he couldn't even do that type of work. He will just sit and stare and the phone and then get depressed and spiral downward. He is at times what would be considered homeless. He sleeps outside in the woods on his parents property or on nearby school property. His parents are a retired schoolteacher and a Vietnam vet on 75% disability. We live (on the good days when he comes indoors) in their downstairs garage and they pay all the bills for us, which are basically food and one cellphone. They don't charge us rent and are trying to get Paul into the VA for help. He has so far refused to go, even when he is open to it because he has such severe paranoia and delusions (animals outside that might attack him, etc.) He can't drive because he blacks out and has such bad body shakes and many times he vomits. I have to dress and bath him, when he will let me or he will wear the same clothes indefinitely. He only knows to shower when he smells his bad odor. He can't be left alone in the house for fear he might burn it down by accident. He can't remember what day or time it is, and he forgets his children's names. He has had insomnia for almost two years, averaging about 6 hours of sleep a week. He thinks that he will be locked up and his kids taken away. I guess that is enough for now, I just don't have anyone to talk to about this stuff.

We finally got him to sign a form in order to get his DD214 and took it to a VA service rep to get him into the system. The rep said it would take a minimum of 60 days to get Paul his first appointment at the VA, and that was just the initial interview and maybe a medical evaluation.

Paul burned all his military records and memorabilia, so this is going to be a long road. I am not very hopeful about all of this, even though we have read all the DSM-5 criteria and he fits the 100% PTSD rating for each and every symptom. He has severe depression and we have removed all weapons from the home, etc. I won't post much more about that for security reasons.

Like I said, we have been trying to get him to the VA for medical help for years, but he refuses even when he is told that nobody is going to hurt him or take the kids, and that he is eligible for financial compensation as well.

I would like to be able to talk about the service connected incident and how to go about gathering what is necessary to get him into the treatment and also the financial compensation if any. Is there a place to post the service related incident so I can get comment from others? I know that none of this is legal advice and that this is for education and experience between friends.

Thanks,

D

[Notorious Kelly]

Welcome!

I'm sorry for the grief your family is enduring, especially the children.

Your husband needs to go in-patient treatment for his mental difficulties.

The kids are reason enough; I used to be one of them.

Whatever it takes.

be strong.

[Berta]

"Paul burned all his military records and memorabilia, so this is going to be a long road."

You can go to
http://www.archives.gov/
and use the Veterans Service records area to fill out the SF 180 form .

He can always recover any medals or ribbons by purchasing them from a BX or on line web sites that sell them.

I suggest you state you need ALL personnel and service medical records on the SF 180.Print off and Save a copy of that .

There will be a form from NARA that you download with a bar coded thing on it . (unless they changed this format) and you can print it off for him to sign. Then make copy of the form for your records and mail it to where they state on the form.

Get a proof of mailing.

Notorious Kelly is right.

I am widow of a 100% PTSD vet who also had other major SC disabilities. There was a violence factor at times, that children and spouses don't need to be exposed to.
The VA can help with that.

"I would like to be able to talk about the service connected incident and how to go about gathering what is necessary to get him into the treatment and also the financial compensation if any."

It appears he might have PTSD,or depression, or an acquired anxiety disorder but I am not a doctor.He needs a diagnosis from the VA of his MH issue.

I used to work at a vet center. Would he be willing to go to one with you or even with the other vet you mentioned?

Many vets are afraid to even meet and talk to other vets but vet centers can help them tremendously to get over fears of the VA system.A Vet center is technically a VA facility but not a hospital and entirely different from VAMCs.

He appears to have trust issues but that is normal with MH issuesand perhaps a vet center can help him understand the need to get to the VA for medical care and for the eventual C & P exam he will need to take for his claim.

"Is there a place to post the service related incident so I can get comment from others? I know that none of this is legal advice and that this is for education and experience between friends.compensation if any. Is there a place to post the service related incident so I can get comment from others? I know that none of this is legal advice and that this is for education and experience between friends."

"One other service member involved in the service related incident received a 50 % PTSD rating and has been working with me for the last three years in order to get my husband into some kind of treatment system. "

This vet's notarized statement (called a buddy letter) if detailed enough as to the incident, along with a VA MH professional's diagnosis of PTSD or any other MH issue this incident caused
(If PTSD....please check my post in the PTSD forum on what the VA accepts as a valid stressor)
could potentially cause the VA to award him service connected disability.

My daughter, a veteran, helped 5 vets get VA comp and additional military awards on their DD 215s,(one got the DFC) because in part, one of the vet's put his C file number into his buddy statement for some of them, stating he had PTSD and was service connected for the exact same incident.

There is info here I posted about buddy statements and others did as well as to what they need to contain....available under our search feature.

The rating payments of compensation are here somewhere at hadit and at the main VA web site.
Disabilities are rated primarly on their impact to one's ability to work.

He might be eligible for SSDI and the SSA web site has info on that.

Social Security SSDI pays not only the disabled worker but also, if there are young children, they pay the spouse and the children.,if they are eligible for these benefits as well.

There is a SSI program too, but income limited ,in lieu of SSDI for some totally disabled workers.

If he files and is successful with a VA compensation claim, the VA will also add on a dependents allowance for you and for any chilcren under eighteen.He can receive both VA compensation and SSDI benefits.

Something is missing here.

"There are circumstances that might effect his treatment and any claim for compensation. "

If we know more, we can help more.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Berta

[Navy04]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. God Bless and good luck

[prollins]

I am BeStrong's husband. I and another service member were attacked in our own home off duty on January 1st 1995. I was doing laundry and my buddy was in the shower. The attacker was a service member from our own command. My buddy S was diagnosed by the VA in 1999 with PTSD at 50% due to being attacked while showering. In what appears to be true government and VA operating procedure, they didn't tell him he could receive compensation, so the next ten years of his life were a mess. After his stress related heart attack at 38, he was whispered to by a VA person and told that he should fill out a claim paper and he got 50% the first time he applied. BTW, he is so messed up from this, he is currently living in the yucatan peninsula in a little block house. He spaced out and blew himself up nearly dead with his little gas stove last year. Our friend had to get him a ticket from Mexico up to Houston so he could get treatment from the VA hospital there. He is back in the yucatan and I am trying to get him help with a lawyer that can get his disability compensation raised. That is another story.

I have been to the VA center multiple times now. I have been rated 100% PTSD, with MST and other mental problems. One of my psych's is telling me that the fastest way to help me is to get the rating, the claim filed and that will help calm my mind some so I can sleep, which has been a problem for two years. I have not worked in seven years, my parents support us fully. I was denied SSDI because I had not worked 5 of the last ten years. I might appeal but I don't know. The process is killing me, which seems to be par for the course for us with PTSD. I have more than just PTSD, it will just take years to work out and I have other medical problems from non military work like broken bones and reconstructive surgeries that have me listed as 25% permanent partial disability, fungus in my colon, brain activity reduction (penial gland operating at only 30%), muscle spasms, chronic fatigue, some kind of weird chicken virus in my blood that supposedly can't be cured.

I still have my great looks and charm, they just get hidden behind this other dude that takes over some times. I am very structured in my methods to control everything. I sleep alone in the garage, my wife and kids are helped by my parents because they stay in their basement apartment. I don't use the computer without them knowing, I have no cell phone, I don't leave these three acres except to go to med appts. I removed all firearms and weapons (which is really odd since I lived with them for so long). I don't interact with society and I don't drive or have a car.

That is my introduction FWIW. I have lots of questions and will try to put them in the correct place. I would like to tell my story somewhere on this forum, it's very hard to know what to do with a wife and five kids depending on you and financial ruin swallowing us whole. My parents are a retired school teacher and a disabled vietnam vet. Kind of a bad mess that I am trying to get corrected. Not easy for a guy with anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar, MST.

I was in the Navy 1992 to 1996, went to the gulf, also spent time in spain, italy, and some other places. Ended up in San Diego and that is where the incident occurred. I am off now to try to figure out how to file my PTSD claim. The doctor said that the VSO could help me, but from reading this forum, it seems like if you have a comma wrong, you might not get any award without going to "war" with the VA. So far I have the rating from the doctor, and also two other service connected situations which were being unlawfully detained and sexually and physically assaulted by a guard during that time. The doc says that working all this out will take years, so he rated my truthfully at PTSD 100% and he said that would help me the most. It took me three years of family intervention just to make it into the VA center to get my blood drawn so I think he is right. He said if he tries to work it all out first, then it would take years to file the claim and the confusing claims are the ones that take the longest, especially if it is convenient for the VA board to try to second guess all the diagnosis and proper order.

I guess I am rambling. I have the doc's diagnosis, and now I need my buddy letters I think. I can get one from the other service member, one from a current USN commander that I served with and have been friends with for 20 years, and one from my immediate "supervisor" that I have known for 20. Three 20 years testimonies from before and after that I served with, including the other member in the incident.

Any other things that I need, feel free to respond. I am going on a hadit search for buddy letters and lists for what to have for a proper and streamlined PTSD claim.

Thanks again all.

[carlie]

I am BeStrong's husband. I and another service member were attacked in our own home off duty on January 1st 1995. I was doing laundry and my buddy was in the shower. The attacker was a service member from our own command. My buddy S was diagnosed by the VA in 1999 with PTSD at 50% due to being attacked while showering. In what appears to be true government and VA operating procedure, they didn't tell him he could receive compensation, so the next ten years of his life were a mess. After his stress related heart attack at 38, he was whispered to by a VA person and told that he should fill out a claim paper and he got 50% the first time he applied. BTW, he is so messed up from this, he is currently living in the yucatan peninsula in a little block house. He spaced out and blew himself up nearly dead with his little gas stove last year. Our friend had to get him a ticket from Mexico up to Houston so he could get treatment from the VA hospital there. He is back in the yucatan and I am trying to get him help with a lawyer that can get his disability compensation raised. That is another story.

I have been to the VA center multiple times now.

I have been rated 100% PTSD, with MST and other mental problems.

One of my psych's is telling me that the fastest way to help me is to get the rating, the claim filed and that will help calm my mind some so I can sleep, which has been a problem for two years. I have not worked in seven years, my parents support us fully. I was denied SSDI because I had not worked 5 of the last ten years. I might appeal but I don't know. The process is killing me, which seems to be par for the course for us with PTSD. I have more than just PTSD, it will just take years to work out and I have other medical problems from non military work like broken bones and reconstructive surgeries that have me listed as 25% permanent partial disability, fungus in my colon, brain activity reduction (penial gland operating at only 30%), muscle spasms, chronic fatigue, some kind of weird chicken virus in my blood that supposedly can't be cured.

I still have my great looks and charm, they just get hidden behind this other dude that takes over some times. I am very structured in my methods to control everything. I sleep alone in the garage, my wife and kids are helped by my parents because they stay in their basement apartment. I don't use the computer without them knowing, I have no cell phone, I don't leave these three acres except to go to med appts. I removed all firearms and weapons (which is really odd since I lived with them for so long). I don't interact with society and I don't drive or have a car.

That is my introduction FWIW. I have lots of questions and will try to put them in the correct place. I would like to tell my story somewhere on this forum, it's very hard to know what to do with a wife and five kids depending on you and financial ruin swallowing us whole. My parents are a retired school teacher and a disabled vietnam vet. Kind of a bad mess that I am trying to get corrected. Not easy for a guy with anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar, MST.

I was in the Navy 1992 to 1996, went to the gulf, also spent time in spain, italy, and some other places. Ended up in San Diego and that is where the incident occurred. I am off now to try to figure out how to file my PTSD claim. The doctor said that the VSO could help me, but from reading this forum, it seems like if you have a comma wrong, you might not get any award without going to "war" with the VA. So far I have the rating from the doctor, and also two other service connected situations which were being unlawfully detained and sexually and physically assaulted by a guard during that time. The doc says that working all this out will take years, so he rated my truthfully at PTSD 100% and he said that would help me the most. It took me three years of family intervention just to make it into the VA center to get my blood drawn so I think he is right. He said if he tries to work it all out first, then it would take years to file the claim and the confusing claims are the ones that take the longest, especially if it is convenient for the VA board to try to second guess all the diagnosis and proper order.

I guess I am rambling. I have the doc's diagnosis, and now I need my buddy letters I think. I can get one from the other service member, one from a current USN commander that I served with and have been friends with for 20 years, and one from my immediate "supervisor" that I have known for 20. Three 20 years testimonies from before and after that I served with, including the other member in the incident.

Any other things that I need, feel free to respond. I am going on a hadit search for buddy letters and lists for what to have for a proper and streamlined PTSD claim.

Thanks again all.

I am moving this topic to claims research, as it contains much more than a basic

introduction.

Please clarify the portion above in red, for all readers . . .

Have you been rated service connected at 100% by the VBA ?

Thanks

[Berta]

Welcome here BeStrong's husband....

Like Carlie I dont understand what you mean by the 100%


"I might appeal but I don't know"

many of us have appealed award letters but I am puzzled as to what you want to do.

"I am off now to try to figure out how to file my PTSD claim" ????

Are you saying a VA doctor indicated you are 100% from PTSD?

Did they document that in your medical records?

Buddy statements .........

I posted a few links the other day for this veteran, and they will help you too I hope.....

We just need a little more clarification on the 100% and if you have filed a claim yet? Or did in the past.