hypertension Please Help With My Ongoing Claim Problem!

[silverdollar22]

When i left the army in 1995 after 12 yrs service i filed a claim for my back, my knee, gulf war illness, and my blood preasure. I was given 10% for the blood pressure 10% for my Chondromalacia Left Knee and 10% for (and this is the kicker) Low Back Pain with Menimal Degenerative Changes of Left Sacroiliac Joint and 0% for Gulf War Illness. 16 yrs later my chiropracter told me that my back was through and i needed to go back to the va. I told him i had all but given up on the va because of how i was treated back then. I did go back and had my back x-rayed and an MRI done to find out i have 3 buldging discs L-3-L4, L4-L5, L5-SI and Degenerative Disc Desease with Artritis in my back. In 2011 i put a claim in for blood preasure, rt knee and back pain. It in turn, came out as Hypertension (Increase), Low Back Pain with Menimal Degenerative Changes of Left Sacroiliac Joint (Increase), Chondromalacia Left Knee (Increase), Degenerative Disc Disease of Back (initially claimed as arthritis all over body) (Increase), I was given a ROM at the vamc and nothing else and my claim came back as 0% increase and a statement saying your getting better!!!! I later found out that no x-ray or MRI was pulled and only the ROM was used for my claim. 2 yrs later i put for an increase again for back pain and this is what came back again: (low back pain with minimal degenerative changes of left sacroiliac joint (Increase), right knee condition secondary to chondromalacia left knee (Secondary), memory loss due to undiagnosed Gulf War illness (Reopen), joint pain as due to undiagnosed illnesses (Gulf War) (Reopen). What the heck is going on here everytime i say back pain they say Low Back Pain with Menimal Degenerative Changes of Left Sacroiliac Joint. How can they keep going back to my hip and sjould they have combined my hip with my lower back pain? Please help with any sugestions

Thanks,

silverdollar

Edited March 26, 2014 by silverdollar22

[71M10]

Sacrum is part of the lumbar spine group(for VA purposes). Below is one of the rules contained in the link I posted earlier. Im not a doctor and Im not a lawyer, you need to start reading up on the rules that govern the VA's actions and that are supposed to guide their decision making. You can Google "Code of Federal Regulations 38" and "Veterans affairs M21-1MR" and find most all the information you will need. People here will try to point you in the right direction and sometimes can give specific actionable advice. However, so much hinges on specifics in your records. Do you have copies of your service medical records and the VA C-file? If you don't you need to request a copy of them from your Regional Office (it may take awhile). This is a simple as sending a letter asking them to provide you a copy of them for your personal use. If you want to get fancy you can tell them that you are entitled to a copy of those records under the privacy act.

Part 3 of 38 CRF Governs the procedural rules, due process rights and other important information. keep a link to it handy so that when your back hurts too much at night, you can have something to read while you are trying to get tired enough to fall back asleep.

§4.66 Sacroiliac joint.

The common cause of disability in this region is arthritis, to be identified in the usual manner. The lumbosacral and sacroiliac joints should be considered as one anatomical segment for rating purposes. X-ray changes from arthritis in this location are decrease or obliteration of the joint space, with the appearance of increased bone density of the sacrum and ilium and sharpening of the margins of the joint. Disability is manifest from erector spinae spasm (not accounted for by other pathology), tenderness on deep palpation and percussion over these joints, loss of normal quickness of motion and resiliency, and postural defects often accompanied by limitation of flexion and extension of the hip. Traumatism is a rare cause of disability in this connection, except when superimposed upon congenital defect or upon an existent arthritis; to permit assumption of pure traumatic origin, objective evidence of damage to the joint, and history of trauma sufficiently severe to injure this extremely strong and practically immovable joint is required. There should be careful consideration of lumbosacral sprain, and the various symptoms of pain and paralysis attributable to disease affecting the lumbar vertebrae and the intervertebral disc.

[Commander Bob]

In 2011 i put a claim ... 0% increase and a statement saying your getting better!!!! ...

2 yrs later i put for an increase again for back pain and this is what came back again: (low back pain with minimal degenerative changes of left sacroiliac joint (Increase), right knee condition secondary to chondromalacia left knee (Secondary), memory loss due to undiagnosed Gulf War illness (Reopen), joint pain as due to undiagnosed illnesses (Gulf War) (Reopen). What the heck is going on here everytime i say back pain they say Low Back Pain with Menimal Degenerative Changes of Left Sacroiliac Joint. How can they keep going back to my hip and sjould they have combined my hip with my lower back pain? Please help with any sugestions

Thanks,

silverdollar

Greetings 'silverdollar22', Welcome aboard.

You posted that 2 years after the 2011 increase denial, you filed again. When did you get the 2nd denial? You know, you have one year to file a "Notice of disagreement" (NOD)... have you filed a NOD yet?

Good Luck,

C.B.

[63SIERRA]

they are doing the same thing to me, they try to downplay and rename conditions, to suit themselves. they want to make it sound like it was either a birth defect that has gotten worse, or a natural progeression that had nothing to do with an injury or your service. Your lucky you even got them to give you an MRI. They dont want to approve back conditions because most are not fixable and almost always get worse. you will likely have to end up doing what im going to have to do, is get an Independant Medical Opinion, that says the back condition was started or aggravated by millitary service.

Back before PTSD was so common, back conditions were the thorn in the VA side. and they learned to deny them woth great skill.

you got a battle ahead of you but never give up. thats what they want.

[silverdollar22]

I do have copies of my service medical records. Been using them to try to rub there noses into times and dates and outcome of every time i went on sick call for my back so they would be better informed. By the way, thanks again for the info on the back parts. Now i see that both parts of the back are one unit. In reply to commander bobs comment, my third claim is still in the gather evidence phase. I have been working with a va rep and trying to explain the doctors finding about my back and to relay this info to the RO and maybe it's doing some good because my claim went from the gather evidence phase to review of evidence phase back to where it is now at the gather evidence phase. Sometimes i think they just want you to give up and leave them alone!!! With all the help and reserch i know a whole lot more about certain things like the ROM test. I wont be straining to try to touch my toes this time like i did last time. No one at the test told me to stop when the pain starts so i just kept pushing myself to the limit. Thanks again for the time taken to respond to my thread an for the ongoing help!!

Edited March 27, 2014 by silverdollar22

[T-M]

I do have copies of my service medical records. Been using them to try to rub there noses into times and dates and outcome of every time i went on sick call for my back so they would be better informed. By the way, thanks again for the info on the back parts. Now i see that both parts of the back are one unit. In reply to commander bobs comment, my third claim is still in the gather evidence phase. I have been working with a va rep and trying to explain the doctors finding about my back and to relay this info to the RO and maybe it's doing some good because my claim went from the gather evidence phase to review of evidence phase back to where it is now at the gather evidence phase. Sometimes i think they just want you to give up and leave them alone!!! With all the help and reserch i know a whole lot more about certain things like the ROM test. I wont be straining to try to touch my toes this time like i did last time. No one at the test told me to stop when the pain starts so i just kept pushing myself to the limit. Thanks again for the time taken to respond to my thread an for the ongoing help!!

The first time I went in for a C&P for my back, the doctor asked me to bend down (I guess till I could touch my toes). I leaned forward about 15 degrees and I said "it hurts"!. I've learned that even though we're in pain, we will continue to do what we have to do to live our lives. Like know, my wrist are hurting from typing this message, but hey, I'm not complaing for the world to know, but you better beleive that when I go into that C&P room I tell them my wrist hurts by just moving my fingers. The moral of the story is that we all have good days and bad days and I'll be damn if the day I see the C&P doctor I'm having a good day!! The VA likes to play games and the only way to beat them at their own game is by knowing the laws and regulations that govern them (38 CFR) and know how to apply them to your benefit. Good luck!

[ArNG11]

I think a lot of our problems as veterans has to do with the mentality that was instilled in us when we were in service. Ignore the pain do what's necessary to get the mission accomplished at whatever costs and sacrifice. Our biggest ethical strong point is our greatest weakness. Don't push it. Don't put yourself in a wheel chair because of arragonce or pride, it's not worth it. I have come to terms with my situation and I know how I neeed to live my life from now on to live to an old man and be thankful for what I still have. JMHO.