ptsd Iu Filing Help

[wnappster]

Can someone help me understand am I eligible to apply for IU or should I file for secondary to existing condition.

The situation is I am currently 90% combined. 70% PTSD, 50% sleep disorder, 10% herniated disk, 10% Wrist pain, 10% HBP.

I had an auto accident that was caused by PTSD flashback and I suffered a concussion and have made 2 attempts to return to work both failed the 2nd required a trip to the ER after loosing my sight briefly, I have not been able to work for more than 14 days in 6 months and am currently out on employer short term disability, I am a gov. contractor an most likely will be terminated shortly. I have been seeing a neurologist ever since the accident and been to vascular rehab but the post concussive symptoms dizziness, lack of concentration, photophobic, nausea, lack of balance, memory problems prevent me from driving and returning to work. I am hoping to a second opinion from a TBI clinic to assist in recovery and more rehab.

[Berta]

I assume you were employed when you got the 90% SC.....

"am currently out on employer short term disability,"

Is the PTSD documented in their med write up as causing or contributing to the accident?

Is that documented in any police report?

I think the VA should award you TDIU for your SCs without considering this accident.....

as I am sure the 70% PTSD as well as the sleep disorder contribute to your inability to work......

Otherwise it might take an IMO to get the TBI SCed to the PTSD and/or support the TDIU claim.

"Can someone help me understand am I eligible to apply for IU or should I file for secondary to existing condition"

Definitely apply for the TDIU....others will chime in on the secondary as well here...

And apply for SSDI as well.

(But if SSDI awards, and they often decide SSDI claims faster then the VA does ,it would not help the TDIU claim if they included SSDI for conditions like the TBI that VA might not SC.)

Is tour Neuro a VA doc or a private doc?

Has your VA shrink documented the circumstances of this accident?

[MPsgt]

Can someone help me understand am I eligible to apply for IU or should I file for secondary to existing condition.

The situation is I am currently 90% combined. 70% PTSD, 50% sleep disorder, 10% herniated disk, 10% Wrist pain, 10% HBP.

I had an auto accident that was caused by PTSD flashback and I suffered a concussion and have made 2 attempts to return to work both failed the 2nd required a trip to the ER after loosing my sight briefly, I have not been able to work for more than 14 days in 6 months and am currently out on employer short term disability, I am a gov. contractor an most likely will be terminated shortly. I have been seeing a neurologist ever since the accident and been to vascular rehab but the post concussive symptoms dizziness, lack of concentration, photophobic, nausea, lack of balance, memory problems prevent me from driving and returning to work. I am hoping to a second opinion from a TBI clinic to assist in recovery and more rehab.

IMO apply for unemployability (TDIU) using VA Form 21-8940 and speak to the Social Security Administration (SSA) about Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)

[Berta]

One other thought....was there an occupant in the car who witnessed the manifestations of the flashback?

And who could provide a buddy statement.

I am personally very much aware of how a flashback can cause driving problems.

That was one reason I had to transport some vets to and from the vet center when I worked there....

But the best thing you could have is an opinion from a shrink, that could state it is as least as likely as not that the veteran's flashback regarding .............. caused him to have this accident and back that up with a medical rationale.

I put the blank there.because

A PTSD vet punched me once while I was driving,almost causing an accident because he thought the tractors in a field were the enemy.and he panicked.

[rosypalm]

hope goes well!

[wnappster]

Berta,

I was award the 90% SC while working.

I was the only occupant.

The PTSD is not documented in the police write-up, as I did not remember anything until last week and told my shrink (civilian, and he has been great to work with) when I saw him, he thinks I should get a TBI eval and write a statement that the flashback contributed to the accident. BTW this is the second time this has happened. 1st was no ticket I admitted fault no injury and shrink knew about it also.

I asked a lawyer about SSDI and he told I had to wait a year and to contact him if my employers short term/long term disability gets turned down of rejected at any time. But I am willing to try so as not to lose my house.

My Neuro is a private Doc and I was going to ask him to do a MACE test and TBI Exam to be submitted along with 21-8940.

[Berta]

"My Neuro is a private Doc and I was going to ask him to do a MACE test and TBI Exam to be submitted along with 21-8940."

A great idea but the VA will need a strong nexus statement that the flashback contributed to the accident.,that caused the TBI.

"I asked a lawyer about SSDI and he told I had to wait a year and to contact him if my employers short term/long term disability gets turned down of rejected at any time."

I guess I was thinking of FERS, whereby a FERS disability recipient has to apply for SSDI at some point....

Is it possible that any of your SC meds also could have contributed to any physical or mental situation ,that could have contributed to the accident?

Nothing is impossible with VA but I hope others chime in here because I feel your SCs alone should warrant the TDIU, as it appears you cannot return to work, and maybe that is how the claim should be approached.....

using the accident as symtomatic of PTSD's affect on you.

Maybe your MH provider could support some documentation to that affect and then, if the TDIU claim succeeds, you could get an IMO that supports the TBI as secondary. to the TBI........

This is an unusual situation.....and calls for thinking out of the box.

We need more input from the members here.

My husband filed an EEOC case against his employer (the VA) not knowing then how VA had malpracticed on him already.

(He had flashbacks that appeared as a movie screen over his sight, on a daily basis, and had 20.20 vision on his pre employment physical, with no need for glasses and was used to the visual flashbacks)

but in any event, some VA employees testified to EEOC said he kept getting the dietitics menus all wrong , and would use the wrong dates and fail to properly read the diet cards.

All of his performance appraisals were Satisfactory and this unusual problem had suddenly occurred around the time he had filed the EEOC case.

At the same time he had to ask Corning College ( he was Voc Rehab) to accomodate his PTSD in 2 ways,one being that he could not see the classroom blackboard well anymore. They gave him a note taker.

We felt these vision problems were because his stress levels were high because the EEOC case was because 10 other vets had felt discriminated , along with him, on a VA job hiring situation but he was the only one who actually filed EEOC and we had evidence to share but the other vets in dietetics who were furious with the job situation (they were all part time but qualified for a full time job VA gave to a civilian with no VA experience) but She knew a VA dietetics cook.(which doesnt qualify anyone in my opinion)

but not one of them would file any EEOC case themselves, much to his surprise.The other vets just griped.

His stress level was very high during this time.

The long point I am making is this.

His visual problems ,I proved, were due to numerous TIAs he had because VA was not medicating his HBP properly.(TIA transcuient ischemic attacks...brain trauma) diagnosed by VA erroneously as a sinus infection.

The top VA cardio doc in VACO, DC agreed with me.when I FTCAed them.

An MRI revealed damage to numerous brain sections to include the occitical nerves ( causing the visual probelems)

Unfortunately by that time he had not only suffered a major 100% CVA which the undiagnosed and untreated TIAs led up to, and he had also died due to VA health care.Undiagnosed IHD.

Claimants need to understand their meds and how not only side affects but in my husband's case, a contraindicated med VA gave him as well for a condition he didn't even have....Sudafed 6 times a day for 6 years ( I proved no sinus condition at all )

can cause both mental and physical reactions that are beyond their control.

I had posted here:

"I put the blank there.because

A PTSD vet punched me once while I was driving,almost causing an accident because he thought the tractors in a field were the enemy.and he panicked."

The vet was my husband, suffering from a horrible flashback.

completely unmedicated for PTSD since 1983 , but his HBP meds and the other med I mentioned ,by then were recking havoc on his vision and everything else to include his brain and his heart.

His PTSD VA shrink was the VA employee shrink, a psychologist who could not write prescriptions.

His autopsy proved also the brain traumas.

I think I have brought my husband up here too many times over the past 16 or 17 years and members might get tired of reading this stuff but whatever could go wrong medically or claimwise with him, went wrong....in his lifetime.,dealing with the VA.

We believed the VA diagnoses early on when we first came to NY and never questioned them.

Twenty years ago there was no way to research any 'internet' and a nurse screamed at him for looking at his med rec once telling him he was not allowed to see his med rec file.We believed her.

But if we had gotten a med rec copy then and had the internet then ,to understand them ,( med recs contain a lot of acronyms and medical terms) he sure might still be alive.

I am anxious to see how others here feel you should approach the TDIU claim.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Berta