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HMMV Accident did more than what I realized

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ArNG11

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Folks I wanted some opinions and critiques.  I have been thinking about putting a new claim in however, have been reluctant to consider the loooooooooong whoo hah fight it would be.

From folks that know me on here my tragic story is in the form of an ejection from a HMMV.  That is how I had earned the nickname "Airborne" and was known by that in my old unit.

 

Anyways, Tragic tale yes but live and learn. Lucky to be around to complain.   If I knew then what I knew now it would be a different story and I would have approached the claim differently.  But as my old bud use to say, If "ifs" and "and" were pots and pans the whole world would be a kitchen"  

Multi faceted claim that should have been filed for Neck, back, hips, nerve and all the secondaries.  Live and Learn like I said.  Anyway, without further delay here are the results.

cspineedit.pdf

Edited by ArNG11
adding sanitized file
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Oh lastly the effective date.  Can't forget that part.  If I can manage this pipe dream, it will go back to my initial filing date of 2012.  I'm dead certain there will be an all out battle royal for the effective rate but I will keep sane by flying and maybe a few 3DS games.  :tongue: 

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Congrats on the increase, ArNG11! I believe you have a great case, and your right, they should have picked up the other issues when they conceded your accident. Probably were praying you wouldn't notice, or that you were not aware you have the right to compensation to ALL injuries inflicted or aggravated while in-service. Good Luck with the hips and secondary conditions, and again congratulations!

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Thanks.   I will need a little bit of lady luck.  But yes I think you are right. Secondaries.

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ArNG11, please excuse me, i believe the mental portion of your claims are the only secondaries, the back, hips, and c-spine should all be direct connected from the accident. As far as the nerves, are we talking about neuropathy? I'm not sure if that would be secondary to one of the main issues or direct connected as well. I have neuropathy in my lower legs, and take gabapentin for it, which does seem to help.

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flores97, thanks for the courtesy, but you have the right to state your opinion. No harm no foul. You are correct on the second part at least from the aspect that the HMMV accident should have been developed more. That will be addressed and corrected when I go in front of the Board.  The mental portion of my claim was connected from issues in Iraq, however, depression from service connected injuries can be attributed as well.  I took a different route and went for primary service connection on the mental health as well as the doctor's opinions of the latter as secondary.

Nerve pain, neuropathy, I claimed as directly related to my back injury. The VA c&p examiners didn't argue the relationship just the degree of disability and the timing of the service connection.

I was on Gabapentin for a time.  It was working for a while, however, the medication did not help completely in my case.  I also gained a significant amount of weight because the medication so I tried others, such as cymbalta, lyrica, and another that I can't recall of hand.  Peoples chemistry and exact nature of injuries can vary results quite a bit.  

Depending on the nature of the injury and how the doctor/specialist provides the nexus to service will vary on the specifics of the circumstances. In my specific claim, the VA did not fight me regarding service connection.   I will admit that the VA at least got some of it  right.:wink:  

Gotta be careful here giving too many kudos to the VA,  however, credit is due when it is due.

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ArNG11, I wish you the best of luck on your hearing, did you request a video teleconference at the RO? That seems to be the quickest(hardee har har), route when appealing. Of course, if we do not request a hearing at all it would probably be even faster_-to be denied, in most cases. I guess they feel if we do not request a hearing we'll be more inclined to just give up when our claims are denied. The hearings, i feel, gives us the best chance to make certain the judge gets the full picture, and sometimes can even tell us(hopefully), which way the VLJ will go. As to your neuropathy, do you have peripheral neuropathy? That is what I have, and the biggest issue is the numbness. I have gained about 5 pounds since i lost my job, which i feel is from the steroids(prednisone) im taking. I am taking 900mg of gabapentin a day currently, and i am a 5ft 2in female at 129 pounds. I was somewhat surprised to be on such a high ddosage. As to the examiners arguing timing on your claims, i had that same issue. I was "tentatively" diagnosed with lupus in-service(the docs stated that they "thought" it was lupus), and filed almost ten years after discharge. What I believe was the greatest help in my case was showing"continuity of symptoms". Not treatment, but symptoms. I did not even realize i could go to VA for treatment until 2009, i thought once our military ids expired, that was that. However, i did go to the ERs at private hospitals quite often for lupus flares. Starting during 2010, i went to VA for treatment at least once every other month, they eventually did a biopsy and confirmed it was indeed lupus, and i won my appeal(from 2011), in August 2015.

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