ptsd I'm Not Worthy

[coastie72]

I turned 64 a few weeks ago, after over 40 years I finally gave in and asked for help with my hearing loss and tinnitus. I was awarded 10% SC for tinnitus and 0% for hearing.

I always had both conditions since leaving the USCG in 1972. Neither was as bad as it is now, especially the tinnitus which is really bad.

I always felt I was undeserving when I look around at what other vets have gone through.

A few weeks ago I contacted the vet crisis line and just unloading all that was pent up inside of me. I had mentioned how depressing and aggravating the tinnitus was to my DAV VSO. I also mentioned thoughts of suicide and recurring nightmares. At that time he suggested we do a claim secondary to tinnitus for depression. My personal Dr. gave me a nexus. My VSO didn't realize like most people how messed up I really am so that was the way we were going.

I spent over two hours chatting and on the phone with the Crisis Line people on Oct. 11th. The lady was very nice and after answering a zillion questions and insuring me I could get help she said that my dreams that also just pop up during the daytime hours are stressors and that I most likely have PTSD along with other issues. My talk with her that day made me feel better and she very well might have saved my life.

She gave me a list of phone numbers to call including the local Vet Center. Today I needed to talk to someone again, so I called the vet center. I spoke with another nice lady that listened to my story and she too said, likely PTSD..........I did not every know until a few months ago that you could have PTSD without combat.

So as we spoke and she calmed me down, I asked her if they had after hours counseling or groups ET. She said yes we do, but ONLY for combat veterans..... That took me back to square one for this day.

I see the VA MH next week, and then I go from there..........I'm beginning to believe what I always thought.... I am not worthy!!!!! I wish I had never started this process! God Help me!

[Stretch]

I agree with Carlie.

Go to the CBOC.(Vets Center). They will help you. That is what the Center is for.

Find your local Vet Center. It won't be far from you where ever you are. Just walk in the door and ask questions.

Good Luck my friend and welcome to hadit. Things will work out fine. All for one and one for all here at hadit.

[Buck52]

coastie72

your worthy and you seem like a very good man and likable friend...and a fellow veteran brother.

With all that you have mention...Please let these good folks here at hadit help you!

They all have expert advise and will help you.

Were all in this together rather or not you had combat duty THE POINT IS YOUR A FELLOW BROTHER VETERAN!!.

Things happen to us when we were lot younger and we start to notice them later on in life & if you had anything happen to you while in the service like loud noises or gun fire or anything that was hard on your ears but you never gave it a second thought....Well later on you started to notice your hearing is a lot worse....It could have been you was exposed to loud noise hearing loss can be caused by loud noise and later on gets worse and worse...its called noise induced hearing loss and can happen over time...and it could have happen while you were in the service...same thing with PTSD..if you were tramatized like removing dead bodys out of the water or anything like that...that can cause you stress and cause you all kinds of mental problems and it can be service connected.

and you can be compensated for that....the good folks here at hadit can help you with all of this. and I promise you will make some lifetime friends here at hadit.

God Bless

I wish you the best hang in there buddy!

[Vync]

Hi Coastie,

The previous members of the Hadit family have offered a lot of great advice, but I want to focus on the tinnitus aspect. I am also SC for tinnitus and know very well how it can be a significant problem of its own. The VAMC audiologist actually provided a solution that actually helped me get some relief.

The audiologist wrote a consult and the VA mailed me a Marsona 1288A sound conditioner. I got it a couple of weeks later. This device helps drown out the tinnitus and has a lot of great options, such as a sleep timer for when I go to bed. It even came with a battery pack for C-batteries (not included) just in case of a power outage. This device is definitely a lot better than doing nothing at all. If you notice that you sleep better when it is raining or storming outside, then this device might be helpful. For me, it definitely helped reduce the severity of the tinnitus factor, which can be very depressing by itself. A link to the device web page can be found here: http://www.marpac.com/Marpac-Marsona-1288A/dp/B00E014DM6 I am not sure if they still issue that one, but I have been very pleased with the results it has given me.

[Buck52]

vync,

Does this machine Marsona 1288A help mask your tinnitus?

I too have severe tinnitus and have used the sound conditioner's but never used this one....my tinnitus sounds really werid to me coming from the inside out like thousands of crickets on a creek bank and the hiline wire hums are very loud I actualy had my spose to listren by my ears to see if she could hear anything...LoL... and even with both hearing aids on the tinnitus seems much worse I been back and forth to my Audiologist for ajustments and have them program to Bluetooth to watch tv ect,,ect,,but with this tinnitus its very hard to hear what is said...so..I just kinda learn to live with it nothing seems to help mask mine....Tinnitus can sure drive ya up the wall at times and lately it seems it just gets worse!

I may try his one!

Thank you for this info.

[Buck52]

As for a only getting 10% for sc tinnitus I wish the VA would up that rating because it is very very depressing to say the least.

[Chuck75]

Tinnitus is something that has always made me wonder!

Long ago, I could listen to a TV high voltage high frequency "whine", and tell if the

HV section was working more or less as it should. In the 1970's, I could tell when the

ultrasonic intrusion alarm systems were turned on.

These days, I (when I think about it) hear a usually faint high frequency tone or white noise.

There does not seem to be any hearing impairment, other than perhaps the usual age related one.

Perhaps I was lucky enough to avoid the problems some veterans have with hearing, even though hearing protection

devices were somewhat catch as catch can when I was in the Navy.

To me, the percentage should be based upon impact to living, rather than just the dubious hearing tests currently used.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Chuck75