>For member jfrei (SMC-t)

[Buck52]

jfrei

Just wanted to let you know

If you have not done so  check out the SMC-t Criteria for your TBI w/ residuals

As I under stand  if you been S.C for TBI & have  the Residuals you may qualify for the SMC-t  ?  and if you do .....>you may want to request it  or file a claim for it, I'm not sure how  so you may want to check with your VSO.

The SMC t is fairly new, but I was searching some of the SMC S to see if veterans qualify's for it when Awarded TDIU  w/ P&T AND Their disability is not expected to improve over there life time  and  they can't leave home for work   so in essences  this makes him/her Home Bound by reason of there S.C. Disability./ infact house bound

When a Veteran meets the Criteria for SMC or other special circumstances  the VA don't Always infer this to him/her. We veterans has to  put a bug in their ear so-to-speak & wake them up from their dream world or what ever type world they live in. and apply the CFR's and Dr's opinions medical reports to our s.c. disability's  ect,,,ect,, as this is what they want.

[Lemuel]

On 10/18/2017 at 8:37 AM, jfrei said:

So my rating at 100% for my TBI p and T with SMC S could qualify for SMC T? Sorry Buck I just saw this, my new meds are killing my thought processes definitely not as bad as Topamax but another failed drug for the VA guinea pig or to high of a dose. I really need to get to talking to a VSO.

I'm on Keppra now for my TLE from TBI.  At 78 I'm more employable than I was at 35.  Been that way only 5 years.  But got TDIU back to September 16, 1985 now.  The TBI rating from 2009 gave me presumptive and then an old unadjudicated claim for extra-schedular TDIU got remanded by the BVA.  The Executive Director, Compensation Services granted and DRO processed a granting Decision on April 16, 2020 picking up the EED.  Buck suggested I look at your posts and this is the first I found.  Hope you see this.  Don't know what your TBI residuals are yet.

[jfrei]

On 5/2/2020 at 12:03 AM, Lemuel said:

I'm on Keppra now for my TLE from TBI.  At 78 I'm more employable than I was at 35.  Been that way only 5 years.  But got TDIU back to September 16, 1985 now.  The TBI rating from 2009 gave me presumptive and then an old unadjudicated claim for extra-schedular TDIU got remanded by the BVA.  The Executive Director, Compensation Services granted and DRO processed a granting Decision on April 16, 2020 picking up the EED.  Buck suggested I look at your posts and this is the first I found.  Hope you see this.  Don't know what your TBI residuals are yet.

Other then my permanent short term memory impairment and headaches 3 to 5 days out of a week managed by medication. I’m functional they told me. I can live just fine, as long as I don’t forget my wallet and keys anymore in public places, I’ve had my wallet mailed back to me twice in the past 3 years I’m on my 4th issued driving license. My panic attacks are generally daily when I freak about misplaced things, and my anger is uncontrollable at times and I have complete memory lapses at Times.  But apparently don’t qualify for a caregiver or smc-T because I’m able to walk on my own, shower eat shit and shave I really stopped fighting for anything with the Va when they decided to raise my headaches rating from 0 to 50% no EED then 2018 and not when I filed in 2010. But I have two young children to worry about making myself on the bottom of the totem pole again for at least a few years....

Edited May 7, 2020 by jfrei

[Lemuel]

Symptoms are too similar to mine.  They got progressively worse until I was finally treated with Keppra.

Do you have sudden losses of energy?  In my medical record they are reported as "drowsiness" but are not.  It is like you can't hold your head up because of inability to keep the muscles from relaxing as though you were drowsy and nodding while not at all being sleepy.  To me this seems to be a primary symptom of TLE but is not always necessarily there.

My suggestion to you is to put in a claim for temporal lobe epilepsy.  These lost wallets are similar to mine.  They are inattentive signs of short complex partial seizures.  So put in a claim for them secondary to your head injury to at least get an EEG screening.  If you do make sure you print and take the attached research article to the examining neurologist.  Even at this late date, many of them are not aware of the brain making its own drug.  Try not to take any drugs or alcohol for 3 days before the EEG.  Tell your PC why and ask your PC which meds you can get away with doing that.  Don't stop something that is critical.

Claim under 38 CFR 4.42 as an unadjudicated claim of residuals of your TBI from your first injury examination which did not include all body systems.  If you have had EEG exams, make sure they are re-read by a neurologist who accepts the new widely published protocol for diagnosing TLE from postectical EEG tracings.

20101116 Brain studies by Oxford.pdf

[Buck52]

This may help some? or you may already know all of this?

thought I'd post just incase you don't

The severity of the TBI is determined at the time of the injury and is based on evidence of a positive computed tomography (CT) scan (evidence of brain bleeding, bruising, or swelling), the length of the loss or alteration of consciousness, the length of memory loss, and how responsive the individual was after the injury.

Most TBI injuries are considered mild, but even mild cases can involve serious long-term effects on areas such as thinking ability, memory, mood, and focus. Other symptoms may include headaches, endocrine, vision, and hearing problems.

Mild TBI (mTBI), also known as concussion, is usually more difficult to identify than severe TBI, because there may be no observable head injury, even on imaging, and because some of the symptoms are similar to symptoms from other problems that also follow combat trauma, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

While most people with mTBI have symptoms that resolve within hours, days, or weeks, a minority may experience persistent symptoms that last for several months or longer.

Treatment typically includes a mix of cognitive, physical, speech, and occupational therapy, along with medication to control specific symptoms such as headaches or anxiety.

Another often overlooked factor is the lifetime accumulation of TBI events. Having multiple mTBIs has been associated with greater risk of psychological health conditions. The association with neurodegenerative disease and repetitive mTBI has been a frequent topic in the news media, and there is some evidence in epidemiological studies (studies that use clinical diagnostic codes and/or health records) of a link between the two.

[Lemuel]

8 hours ago, Buck52 said:

This may help some? or you may already know all of this?

thought I'd post just incase you don't

The severity of the TBI is determined at the time of the injury and is based on evidence of a positive computed tomography (CT) scan (evidence of brain bleeding, bruising, or swelling), the length of the loss or alteration of consciousness, the length of memory loss, and how responsive the individual was after the injury.

Most TBI injuries are considered mild, but even mild cases can involve serious long-term effects on areas such as thinking ability, memory, mood, and focus. Other symptoms may include headaches, endocrine, vision, and hearing problems.

Mild TBI (mTBI), also known as concussion, is usually more difficult to identify than severe TBI, because there may be no observable head injury, even on imaging, and because some of the symptoms are similar to symptoms from other problems that also follow combat trauma, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

While most people with mTBI have symptoms that resolve within hours, days, or weeks, a minority may experience persistent symptoms that last for several months or longer.

Treatment typically includes a mix of cognitive, physical, speech, and occupational therapy, along with medication to control specific symptoms such as headaches or anxiety.

Another often overlooked factor is the lifetime accumulation of TBI events. Having multiple mTBIs has been associated with greater risk of psychological health conditions. The association with neurodegenerative disease and repetitive mTBI has been a frequent topic in the news media, and there is some evidence in epidemiological studies (studies that use clinical diagnostic codes and/or health records) of a link between the two.

Buck,

When I had my TBI in 1969 CT scans and MRIs were not available yet.  But mine is classified as severe depending on which report you read how severe.  Over 24 hours of delayed unconsciousness with an additional 30 hours of amnesia.  Either 26 hours or 50 hours depending if I remember right that it was on a Friday just before midnight and the hospital record or the BUMED message that it was Saturday and that I regained consciousness enough to take a call from my father at 2 AM (0200) Monday.

The only thing you missed is the temporal lobe epilepsy residuals that are so often missed and mistreated as a psychological health condition.  Attached may interest you.  I have EEG studies that are consistent with this study throughout my record from the very earliest in 1985.  In 2015 one was done by a neurologist who was still on the cutting edge theory that dominated from sometime in the early 1990s (I was given the "pseudo seizure" diagnosis in 1993.) until this study published in 2010.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s it appears (during the heat of reducing entitlements when President Reagan cut travel pay for those with less than 30% and the Director of Cheyenne VAMC cut it altogether if the DAV Van was available) the VA traded the use of VA telemetry units that were set up to observe and confirm epilepsy to do neurosurgical studies on status epileptus and Parkinson's. 

The outcome was a cutting edge theory that the sharp wave EEG was indicative of "pseudo seizures" a diagnosis the VA Rating Officers and thus GC Attorneys have long considered to be malingering.  That lasted from the date of a report that cannot be found now but is referenced in old neurological text books, one of which still carried it in 2016.  All of the rest that I found on the Law Library of the University of Wyoming during that 2016 research session had updated to this study.  The study was also published by NIH.

The VA GC and the CAVC Clerk (AF) obviously still believe pseudo seizures equal a malingerer from a Clerk's hearing in 2018 on Vet. App. Bray v Wilkie, 17-2990.  So even though the change from 1985 Generally Accepted Neurology Clinical Principals to a cutting edge theory that lasted a little more than a decade it still persists in some neurologist that did their residency during its dominant period and among VA Rating Officers and VA GC attorneys.  It will take some time and a lot of fight to correct.

20101116 Brain studies by Oxford.pdf

Edited May 7, 2020 by Lemuel
add additional facts

[Buck52]

Roger that Lemuel

I know the TBI is very complicated and can cause or be related to a lot of other  different  multi conditions that could possibly arise later on in life

If you can prove by a qualified Dr that if you have a condition that just pops up for no good reason ect,,,ect,,,,,  if I was you I'd sure have them to check the TBI Criteria because they are 100's of conditions the TBI Can Cause or be Related to.

I am not that familiar with the TBI Criteria and how they go about giving a rating?  

I would think if you had a TBI in 1969 & It's in your records ,YOU COULD POSSIBLY GET A EED BACK TO THAT DATE if your not happy with your current EED?

BUT KEEP IN MIND THEY USE THE EXISTING CRITERIA FOR HISTORIC RATINGS. FOR THE DATE  IT HAPPEN    WHICH IN YOUR CASE THAT WOULD BE 1969   BUT STILL BE A LARGE HUNK OF CHANGE.

Maybe time to Lawyer Up?

Edited May 7, 2020 by Buck52