Degenerative Dics Desease

[jacanah83]

I'll try to be brief with this explanation, my last post here looked more like a short story. The shorter story is that I've had a long time go around with the VA to get a proper diagnosis for knee and hip pain when I was in the Navy. I was discharged with a 10% service connected disability that the VA has matched. The problem is they never wanted to put a very good diagnosis to it; calling it polyarthralgia which is a very vauge diagnosis (simply means pain in one or more joints in the body) so it doesn't rate more than 10%. I'm seeing a private doctor to get a more proper diagnosis. So far we've found out that I have degenerative disc desease in my neck. The VA actually has this very well documented as it's given me a lot of problems since 2007. Our next step is to do an MRI on the lumbar spine to see if there is deneration there as well. I had x-rays done a year after getting out of the Navy as the knee and hip pain was out of control and the VA at the time turned me away; they didn't believe there was anything wrong with me. Those x-rays showed my lower spine was twisted off center and that was the source of the pain. I feel confident that the MRI is going to show degeneration there as well and it will be termed DDD. So, my question is two fold. #1: Is degenerative disc desease on the VA rating schedule and at what percentage is it ratable? #2: Can the DDD in my neck be claimed as a secondary disability as the condition has worsened to include another part of my spine? I should add that during my entrance physical to enlist in the Navy it was noted that there was evidence of "moderate sclerosis of the spine" but they accepted my enlistment anyway. They knew I had a problem; one that I didn't even know I had or what the heck it even was (I was 21 and clueless), and then when I had a problem with it, they wouldn't do anything about it.

Thanks for answers to my questions in advance. I love this site, wish I'd known about it since my battle started with the VA in 2008.

[jacanah83]

Thank you for the info J. I'm seeing a doctor now to get a bettter grip on a diagnosis and an IMO. The rep at Senator Pauls office advised me to check into getting with a neurologist for an IMO but my budget doesn't allow too fancy of a doctor. I can't really complain about the doctor I'm seeing right now. After three visits, she prescribed Gabapentin to see if it was neurological and the stuff works wonders. All the VA would prescribe was NSAID's out the ying yang. At one time I was taking a combination of 800mg Ibuprofen, Flexiril and Tramodol. They really didn't do anything for me except help me sleep at night as they made me quite drowsy. My PCP was concerned that the Ibuprofen was jacking my blood pressure up so he switched the prescription to Maloxicam. After taking it for two weeks; and not knowing what it was doing to my BP, I burst a blood vessel in my nose and ended up in the ER to get the bleeding stopped. My BP in the ER was 186/135. The ER doctor said it was probably a blessing to blow that blood vessel before something worse happened. So, I got upgraded to a narcotic with a prescrip for Hydrocodone mixed with Flexiril and Tramadol. My younger sister was a pharmacy tech at the time and found out what I was taking and told me he's trying to kill me taking a combination like that. I doubt he was trying to kill me but they didn't do any good anyway so I quit taking all of them. I guess my whole point about this is this has never been properly diagnosed from either the Navy or the VA.

Where is this Craig Bash located? I'm having an MRI of the lumbar spine done next month to see exactly what's going on there; x-rays don't really show anything, and will be getting with Senator Paul's office with everything I have so far to see if I need a stronger IMO. If so, I might be interested in making contact with him if he's not too far away. I'm in Glasgow, KY very close to Bowling Green.

[jbasser]

Dr Bash is located in Maryland.

Send him an email at Drbash@doctor.com

He may work with you.

You may have to drive to louisville to see him??

J

[georgiapapa]

jacanah83,

You received good advice from jbasser and your senator's rep. You need to have an IMO from a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating your specific medical condition. It will carry more weight and be given more credibility than an IMO from a PCP. Consider the cost of an IMO from a neurologist or neuroradiologist as a solid investment that gives you your best chance of an appropriate rating increase within the shortest period of time and minimizes the chance of spending years in the appeals process. JMO

Good luck to you.

[georgiapapa]

Dr. Bash's website is www.veteransmedadvisor.com.

[Carl the Engineer]

I was SC for DDD/DJD of the cervical spine, treated for stiff neck in service. I was rated at 20% for range of motion. You get 10% for arthritis by x-rays, anything more is range of motion.

I was then SC secondary for DDD/DJD lumbar, DDD/DJD thoracic, combined, at 20% for ROM. Lumbar and thoracic are combined, you cant get rated separate for those two.

So one rating for neck and one for back. Arthritis on x-rays gets you 10%, ROM can get you 20%+ etc,.

I had same scenario with my SC shoulder at 20% ROM, then elbow SC secondary to shoulder at 20% ROM.

I believe now that my exams state "foresters disease" when (not if) my arthritis gets worse, I should be able to secondary many of my problems. My only saving grace is my arthritis in not painful, just stiffening.

Hamslice