DDD Or IVDS

[JLino19]

Good evening brothers and sisters,

I have been on the journey a while and I have a question on a recent claim for increase to my ddd. It went rather fast I was only increased for a rom problem for a shoulder. My lower back is the one that is completely killing me. I have been rated for neuritis for lower extremities but the va claimed it as radiculopathy. My main question though is because my ROM is what is stopping my increase but my neurologist and pain clinic doctors have me on all types of meds and therapy to sooth that s1. My most recent MRI came back bit worse with more disc herniations, but my main concern is that no doctor has been prescribing my bed rest. I have just been keeping tabs on my bed rest but how can I get my ddd to IVDS..should i NOD or ask for an increase again and at my c&p explain my bed rest and hope that the C&P examiner changes it to IVDS with incapacitating episodes? Thank you all for any and all help. 

[brokensoldier244th]

DDD is IVDS. As as for the bed rest, rarely will a doctor that is not pretty aged prescribe bed rest. It just isn't a treatment that is used for IVDS anymore. Not moving around is worse than moving conservatively as my physical therapist says. 

[JLino19]

So should I NOD or request an increase because my c&p exam was really early on and my disability has gotten more severe most recent mri,neurology/pain clinic can all vouch as I got some procedures in the coming days to sooth the nerve in my back. How can I go about the bed rest then? I've seen a case law that described the vet annotating his own bed rest, my main concern is that when I can't move I'm down for the count and the wife needs some form of note to be able to take care of me. I appreciate the response. HOOAH! Where's the 244th btw?

[brokensoldier244th]

Are you still in your year or less after the decision? If you are you can appeal. If not you'll have to request an increase. Most of the time they are going to base on ROM. If a dictor won't prescribe bed rest then they won't. It's an outdated treatment. You can document time off work; I did that. It was anecdotal but it was still considered when I was first rated in 2002. 

 

244th is FT Lee, VA.

Edited July 22, 2016 by brokensoldier244th

[JLino19]

Thanks, I got the denial on the 12th of July. If I appeal am I asking them to consider IVDS? I guess my question is they are going off ROM which wasn't great but not enough for the increase which is complete bs because my legs are going numb now and they are giving me epidurals and acupuncture to help sooth the nerves. I got a lot going on with claims and Im going in for my GWI registry. I am going to appeal in hopes that they will reevaluate the new information given by my neurologist and ambulatory pain. 

Ft. Lee had a good commo buddy come out of there. 

[brokensoldier244th]

They should already be considering it- basically if you said " I have DDD, Im claiming this condition...." It still is IVDS because that is the only scheduled disability for that. They will use your words as the claim. Not implying that they deny based on that, just that they call it whatever you do but rate it with whatever is the closest applicable condition in the CFR. 

Numbness is not part of ROM- its a separate condition and you can claim it as peripheral neuropathy or radiculopathy under sciatic or whatever nerve is involved, though its usually sciatic.(same thing but I claimed mine as radiculopathy before I knew what it was called in the CFR)

ROM to 30% will rate 40% disability rating- the only way to get higher is if your spine segments start to fuse together (ankylosis) so depending on what you are rated for your back now you may not be able to go much higher. 

 

The key to ROM is to stop when YOU feel pain. Not to please the doctor, not to 'win one for the MFing day', not to save pride. Stop moving when your body says STOP moving and tell them that. How far can you bend/twist etc on a flare up day? That is your guide.  You may go in high as a kite for your C&P on pain meds but that doesn't do you any favors because if you were to stop taking them what would your condition actually be like? That is what you need to convey to them and show them.

 

I kept a log for a few weeks- daily activities, trouble wiping my butt, getting out of bed taking 5 minutes of moving around slowly to get there, not picking up my kids, bending over to change my neice's diaper when she is already on the couch being painful at X much bending over. That kind of thing. I had a few cute little drawings showing about how much I could bend over on a bad day, and a letter from my wife expressing her observations, also, about my walking like a little old man, not bending, getting stuck on the floor, etc. Im 39. It sucks. But suck it up, because if you don't tell them stuff like this they don't know, you know? :-)

 

 

Edited July 22, 2016 by brokensoldier244th

[john999]

I have DDD and I feel it most in the morning and when I bend forward like for washing dishes.  I doubt I will even bother to try and get it SC'ed.  I just notice that since I have arthritis in my knees, ankles, hips and lower back it really keeps me from getting around that much.   However, I do know that "bed rest" would be the worst thing possible.   I would be so stiff and a day or so in bed I would need help getting out of bed.  Sometimes I bend down and need help to get back up.   I started  exercising by doing deep knee bends and that seems to help believe it or not.  My back still is sore and stiff but my knees are better.