ptsd Members Opinion Needed!

[Buck52]

Hello,

As most you guys know I was recently diagnosed with PTSD and Moderately Severe Depression by the VA in June 2015...code 9411 not sure on this rating?

also Unspecific Depression disorders code for that is 9435...which for the rating I would ask for that suites my symptom's would be 70% I understand there suppose to award/rate the highest of the two!

My dilemma is I cant make up my mind rather to file a claim or not, I am getting TDIU P&T on a combined rating of 90% for servere hearing loss/tinnitus, been that way now for almost 14 consecutive years. (paid at the 100%rate) Iam well over over 55..actually 63

IF I get a 70%rating with PTSD this would qualify for SMS's House Bound &some extra income If I win the claim and it sure would help out.

I just don't know what to do.? need suggestions and opinions & I do know it all boils down to my choice I realize that but just needed some suggestion as what maybe you guys would do if you were in my shoes?

If I decide to file I need to file as this as a new claim correct? not an increase claim or FDC claim.

I can't file it as FDC because I need some STR's and more Service Records to prove some stressors, as evidence this PTSD is because of my Military Service From RVN. years later.

The VA social Worker says this can happen to Veterans years later , as same as what my MH doc said & she a license BOARD CERTIFIED VA Physiatrist.

Matter fact the physiatrist ask me if I was going to file a claim? I told her I don't know yet?

So as my friends & experience members with compensation claim here on hadit (in your opinion or advice) do you have any suggestion as to rather or not I should file a New Claim with this and just hope for the best?

I trust everyone here on Hadit especially the elder members such as Ms Berta, Jbasser, Jerrel Cook, asknod, Ms tbird, Carlie, Phillip Rogers, Georgiapapa , broncovet, Pete 53, Pete 992, Chuck 75 John999,Gastone,and other hdit members as well.

Thanks you all for your support and your valuable Advice.

I'm at loss right now and can't think very well....and just need a little help on this matter, as my spouse wanted me to ask on here, as she too trust all the hadit members vs any VSO or Vet Center, or any other Veterans organization.

We both Appreciate you guys!

..........Buck & Ms Buck

Edited August 1, 2015 by Buck52

[Buck52]

yes Andy it all is because of the PTSD and there's not a cure for it  just adjustments and learn to basically live with it  if the meds don't help,

 

I too have the nightmares 3 to4 times a week and the night sweats, my anger and patients are getting worse, they ny MH Docs ask me to or promise them MH Docs  to get rid of all my guns in the house, so I gave them to my son,  they said tha'ts good  but I said well I can go buy a gun any time may have to barrow the $$ but I can get a gun,

 

some times I think they )MH) could care less what happens to the veteran, look at  Navy Seal Chris Kyle  the guy that shot him had PTSD and the VA should have had him in the hospital instead of letting him run around lose  like a time bomb  and you see the results.

 

Iam waiting on my records to come in  so I can go through them and send what I need, and stillthat probably won't be enough to warrant a rating..guess we;ll see??

good luck to you on your claim  just make sure you send them all the evidence you can to support your claim...medical evidence wins claims and makes it much harder from them to pick up that old denial stamp.

 

Buck

 

[FormerMember]

Never rule out a medical reason for night sweats. I confused them for years with a MH issue and discovered they were directly related to my Hepatitis C. Never diagnose yourself or have your friends do so. By the same token, never allow VA ''experts'' to do it. They discover what they want to...or don't.

I see folks regularly hereabouts in my neck of the woods who were Vietnam combat Vets. One, Butch, had a 60mm gook mortar hit his bunker. He's still picking SFWs out of his arms and legs. He almost lost an eye over it. He lost 3 or 4 buddies that night. If ever there was a poster boy for night sweats, it would be Butch. He has PTSD, of that there is no doubt, but he has no night sweats. He's just about beaten his wife silly innumerable times waking up in the throes of nightmares only he can imagine. He held a job about a year at a time and usually got fired. This went on until 2008 and he finally threw in the towel. Bent brain has many facets. For me, assuming I have it, it's the sound of a chopper flying over. I target shoot regularly to desensitize myself to the sound of gunfire. I moved to the country to reduce the number of people around me because crowds don't work for me. 

Vets do not realize they can be proactive to improve their mental lot. Medicating yourself silly is a band aid that covers up a major wound that will have to be treated eventually. Pills are not a catch-all repair order. VA did a wonderful job of getting me addicted to Dilaudid after screwing up 4 surgeries. It took me three years to find my way out of that jungle. These days I celebrate pain drug-free. Butch has never taken any meds to alter his conscience and he rightfully should according to the brain doctors. Same for a Huey door gunner friend who conservatively sent 200-300  souls to Valhalla with his M-60 yet he is as solid as any man who never pulled a trigger in anger. 

I want all of you to think about that. Many are the Vets who come to me and say "Alex, I drove an 18 wheeler from Baghdad to Mosul every week and I always worried about getting blown up by an IED. I have PTSD bad." My rejoinder is usually quite blunt- "How many times did you hit one? How many of your fellow troops did you see get blown up and killed?" If they say none and complain that the threat was omnipresent but was never actually realized, then I'd say they need counseling but I would never be willing to advance a diagnosis of bent brain. The mere threat of violence is everywhere these days in society but I do not see a large portion of the American populace huddling in fear. 20% of those who served in SWA are coming home with bent brain. Oddly, only about 8-11% of troops deployed actually see real Cowboys and Indians combat and its attendant bloodshed.

By today's standards, I would qualify. We had a 40% casualty rate and usually never recovered  our pilots. I  sat on body bags and ate lunch because they were in the shade. Death and destruction around you is almost always the proximate cause of PTSD. Do not confuse major sexual trauma with PTSD. It sets up an equal ricochet in the brain but should be classified under a different metric-male or female. I  watched an F-4 C auger in with no survivors. After it cooled off, we canvased the wreckage for security concerns. Imagine picking up a flight helmet still occupied. That ought to queer you for life but it didn't. Everyone has a different level where the rubber band breaks but my take is that it is usually something far more traumatic than 'almost' or ten miles away.

When we enter the service, we are adjudged defect-free. Certain events can obviously provoke mental issues for life but I do not believe a drill sergeant yelling in your ear is one of them. I also believe the mere ''threat'' of harm cannot be a valid stressor based on the theory that no one would sign up in an all-volunteer force with reservations about what they are getting into. Quite simply put, we go into the Service with eyes wide open. The military is all about war, violence and the possibility of injury. Can any of you say you joined but were ignorant of that possibility? I can't. I've been so afraid of getting wounded I almost shit my pants. Fear. Major shaking butt pucker fear. Cut and run fear. Getting shot was almost anti-climatic when it finally happened.

Everyone has a breaking point-that's a given. Worrying about something that might happen can never  qualify or none would ever join except for us idiots who tended to run towards gunfire rather than away from it.  And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

[Berta]

Well Put Alex......

I know a vet locally well who thinks he has PTSD. He was in Kuwait but if you knew his MOS and and what he seemed to think his 'stressors' were, and why his TDY was cut short ,. it was an insult to me, and he had mentioned it all to me  many times, thinking I could help him with a PTSD claim,.but  I told him to get a well paid vet rep,who probably has more time than I do. (I saw no basis for the claim at all.)

I meant it as insulting when I think of all the men and women who really were in fear of their close proximity to hostile activity ,etc as the 2010 regs read.

It really was close proximity, via their MOS,  and their fear was rationale and the enemy was highly hostile....

I only read your reply here...didn't read what led up to this yet  but you made some good points.

[FormerMember]

I sure don't want to sound like a troll or a VA "plant", Berta, but it irks me to listen to one of our elite club turn into Caspar Milquetoast and ruminate on how he/she was impacted by their tour. I get it. If you feel you were forever harmed, go for it. If you feel it was something that was so horrendous, fly at it and file. I just worry that too many will cry "Wolf!" and eventually queer the deal for all the others who follow behind in their footsteps. A classic example, if you wish to mark my words, will be the eventual haircut we are going to see on sleep apnea. It's way over-diagnosed and Vets are getting 50% for it. VA is not going to  let that stand for long. Expect to see them start offering the surgery to correct it and see how many fall out to the wayside.

Edited August 19, 2015 by asknod