ptsd C&p Exam And Suicide Talk

[USMC_VET]

Starting a new thread for a conversation out of a different thread.

Below is the succession of these posts/replies

USMC_Vet,

I had my initial MH eval/consult 2 weeks ago, and go again on the 3rd of August. My question is....suicide, thoughts of, one or more attempts/near attempts, while on AD, and such...how much do you say? I told the MH doc that I battle such thoughts constantly.

Semper Fi.

Andy

Is this a MH eval through the VA?

What im guessing you are asking is "how much truth do i tell without putting myself down a road i dont want to be on"

You want to be honest but you dont want to be considered "unfit to handle finances" or not be able to go rifle hunting or be put inpatient.

I m in the same boat brother. I have had these issues however i have kept them out of any official VA document and had the IMO doc remove references from his report and my DBQ.

There is no easy answer or set of directions i can point you to like the ratings for PTSD are.

There is no "if Suicidal ideation over 3 days a month loss of firearms, over 10 mandatory inpatient program"

Its kind of up to the doctors and raters

The best way to guard against having the VA say you arent fit to handle your finances is to have a private psych to a DBQ and IMO and in the section of the DBQ make sure they check the box that says you are ok to handle your own finances.

As far as firearms go i know this is very rare but it does happen, inpatient treatment against your will Ie getting locked up for observation? also i beleive at the discretion of the doctor.

In reality fighting the va for compensation is par tof th ebattle, the bigger part is actually getting treatment and get better. I think that this is more important than the money. If you really do think about this constantly then you should be seeking help brother. We all think that "well i have these thoughts but i would never do it" maybe so, but if some family tragedy hits, or bad couple of months you never know. Thats why i finally decided to go and seek private therapy.

as far as the compensation goes having suicideal ideation and attempts in the past combined with some other things from the schedule of ratings should get you into the 70-100%. if you get 70% you can file for TDIU as well if the symptoms are bad enough to keep you from being able to get even menial low paying jobs

seek help brother. thats the most important part.

USMC_Vet,

Welp....first things first, I own no firearms, I do hold two, one for each of my kids, rifles their Pap, who left us last year, left for them. 2ndly, my wife(the boss) handles the finances, and our credit score is in the mid to upper 700 range.

My suicide attempts or near attempts all happened while on AD. Once I nearly cut my wrists, the long way, fellow Marine interrupted me. A few times I drank myself unconscious. Once I was out for 3 days.

I initiated the contact with my local VAMC MH department by calling "Peggy" and she put me through to the hot line. My PCP signed a waiver to have me seen by MH without him seeing me first. Thanks doc for that one.

I told the MH doc that I get these brain fires, where it feels like my head is cooking from the inside out. He told me that, while not very common, he does have experience in his 30 yrs, of dealing with Vets with that. Said it's usually with the long tempered types, who bottle it up for years and years, then explode like a dormant volcano waking up.

Biggest thing was, I thought I was alone in this, since I don't have a Nexus event, I'm not combat experienced, or combat arms for that matter. And had no personal trauma. I figured I was not eligible for treatment.

It sounds like even if they found you unfit that your finances are in order. The biggest thing is if they decide to say you arent and then based on your financial history you miss a lot of payments, have collections then its a pain. if you are good to go then its hard to make that decision.

Im glad you sought help, thats the most important thing.

As far as a nexus event it does not matter regarding combat, however if there is no "trauma" that happened in service that started this its hard to make a case for a comp claim, i should say its near impossible. Now from what i can understand is that nothing happened specifically to start this, not a specific X happened, and Y suicidal symptoms appeared after type of thing correct?

These symptoms, the depression and the suicide attempts just started to appear? Im not a MH expert so i cant opine on what that means? has your doc shed any light on where this may have come from?

[Andyman73]

I'm not exactly sure if this would be the qualifying event, but at that time my squadron was prepping for a Commanding General's Inspection(CGI). I was tasked to participate in the "Junk on the Bunk" portion, which involves inspecting your complete uniform issue, and such. All of which would be laid out on your bunk in a precise and orderly(pre-determined) fashion. All items not on the bunk would be staged in the same fashion in your closet. You will be grilled on general common USMC knowledge while being inspected.

Seems pretty easy, however the MSGT who was tasked with running this part was quite the unbending micro-manager! Any free time to be had was his to take. Even on the weekends. He made it seem as if I had to have perfect uniforms, so I bought a complete replacement set of my cammo uniforms(4 sets!) He implied anything less would fail you! I was drinking most nights, to get to sleep, and stay asleep, and this seemed to be the straw that broke this camel's back.

During this same time frame, I was dealing with a lot of pain from my knees. I hadn't heard from my GF in over a month. And regular work was moving along at brisk pace on top of all this. After I had spent nearly a full month's take home pay, I found out I did not have to do that. The regulations state that uniforms must be serviceable, not pristine never worn. That pushed me over the edge, and that's when I was caught with the utility knife almost in my arm, in my work space.

During the actual CGI, the full bird Colonel asked me how long I had been in, and then asked Y my cammies looked like they were fresh from Cash Sales. I told him that I was 18 mos in, and the cammies were new. He asked to see my regular ones, so I dug them out and showed him. He said that they were perfectly serviceable and would have passed his muster. And he wanted to know why I bought new ones, I said bcuz the MSGT implied that I would fail with out the new ones. Needless to say the inspector was not happy, and I was emotionally crushed.

I spoke with my section chief and the base Chaplain, but that was the full extent of the "official" interest in my suicide attempt. No follow up, and no MH eval. I do have a SMR record where I went to sick call for gastro-intestinal issues and it mentions the undue stress of the CGI, out of touch GF, and a large part of my unit being deployed to Africa.

Would this be my "nexus event"?

Andy