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SUCCESS! 100% PTSD/MST

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ATCJen

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ATCJen, congratulations on your rating and I truly hope you are successful in getting your EED for your 100%, stay strong and best of Luck!!

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On 1/27/2016 at 1:59 PM, ATCJen said:

Hello! 

I'd like to thank my buddies in the MST forum for the support and help fighting this uphill battle with the VA. I originally filed 12/2011 for this disability and the VA closed my case without notifying me at all, about 45 days later. They said they "tried" to advise me of this case being closed but my phone was disconnected and that i sent their letters back to them unopened. Both of those things are simply not true. I waited for 4 years like a fool thinking this claim was in the backlog but come to find out they closed it. I had it reopened, but the "new" effective date was 2/2015, over 4 years after the original claim was opened. 

It took me months to re-gather evidence and get expert opinions and my nexus letter from a therapist

10/2015 I turned in all the evidence I had. (Nexus, buddy letter, statements of evidence, statement of MST)

12/2015 I had C&P with a civilian provider.

1/2016 I am rated 100% with housebound SMC for this disability alone. 

Although I included a statement requesting the original effective date and provided evidence that my phone was not disconnected and that I was in constant reliable communication with the VA at the time they closed my case, they denied my request. In fact, they overlooked my upload of this info so it seems.

SO the fight continues, and I'll fight to my last breath for this. 4 years of 100% back pay is a lot and I will not turn my back on this. I am filling out my NOD and sending it in this week. I'll update you guys in like 8 years when this is settled. lmao. 

My best advice to win your MST case is to have your therapist write a very specific letter. In fact, ask if you can work on it with them. If they are not familiar with the VA's behavioral markers, look it up and provide them with the information. Also, I received lots of good information here, but I also received a lot of discouraging opinions on here as well. Once i uploaded my nexus letter to get opinions and got all kinds of flack for it. My therapist wasn't high enough of a medical pro, the wording was all wrong, the VA was "NEVER going to accept it.." bla bla bla. It really had me discouraged and triggered a really dark depression episode for me. Please take the opinions on here as well-intended suggestions, not as written in stone expert opinions or harsh criticisms. People on these forums DO know a lot, though. So take things with a grain of salt, arm yourself with knowledge, ask questions, but ultimately you are the one thats going to make some important decisions regarding your fight with the VA. 

I'd also like to note that PTSD for personal trauma (MST) is handled differently than combat PTSD. The burden of proof is different. The forms are different. 

Use the MST board if you need help and use the resources listed on there for guidance in understanding what is needed for a successful claim. Its what I did.  

Here is the link to the post that followed me on this journey. 

 

FIGHT! Keep fighting! Never give up! 

 

 

Congratulations on your win and please continue to fight. I agree that the MST claims are handled differently just from what I have experienced and from what I have read. Have you attended a MST support group in your area? My therapist lightly suggested I do that and when I called my local VA the individual didn't seem to really have much information. I'm not ready to talk about my story in detail to strangers but not sure how those support groups are run.  Thank you for your service and your continued service through helping everyone on this forum. Like you if anyone needs help on a MST claim I can help with little bit of information that I have. 

God Bless. 

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  • 1 month later...

Hadn't been on the site in awhile so just getting to this post a little late...but did want to repeat something that ATCJen said that can be very very helpful and I felt was crucial to winning my claim. And that is to have a letter ready for the C&P exam that you work with your therapist on. I believe it went along way in my case as I couldn't talk about my incident without disassociating. She wrote a letter stating as such and asked the examiner to keep questions simple as to not trigger me. And then so I didn't have to tell my story out loud I wrote it down for the examiner to read.

Hope that helps as well...

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  • Content Curator/HadIt.com Elder

Congratulations!!!!

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