va friendly doctors, nc

[DONALD BINGMAN]

had a tinnitus text va, says severe and i was asked how long i said 30 /40 years never said service for i never new it was service disability.  I went to local hearing doctor and they would not write letter saying

it was possible from service.  Was in USAF  security police, flight line, was at Holloman AFB, NM  was around army tanks being fired.  Got hurt, but not on records.  Am I just screwed.

[Richard1954]

2 hours ago, DONALD BINGMAN said:

Am I just screwed.

Not necessarily... what you should do is go to  the the VA or a private doctor have a hearing test, and tell them what you did in the military , specifically the title of you Military Job in the AF..  There are specific  Jobs that are know to cause Tinnitus, as well as hearing loss.  You will need a medical opinion based on your specific condition a current diagnoses  and if the doctor thinks that your current issue is related to your service.  Without the above its doubtful any claim would be approved... but to be sure my tinnitus and hearing claim took 19 years after I was retired from the Army  to get a rating  from the VA so it is not always a lost cause.

[GBArmy]

Richard is correct. You didn't "report" an in-service  event. I mean you did have several, your mos, your proximity to tanks firing, qualification with small arms, etc. are all in-service. I can't believe you didn't say your thought it was because of those factors.I mean, you went for a C&P for a VA disability! All you would have had to say was you got it because...! O.K. get a copy of the dbq exam and see what it says. It is possible that the examiner made the connection for you. Possible, but not likely. If it is negative, you have to submit new evidence; as Richard suggests, on a supplemental claim.You  will need to get a new dbq from your own doc, (Audiologist) and he should state that it was caused by in-service activity; it isn't a stretch; these exposures do cause tinnitus. If you explain in detail your doc will diagnose it. You will also need to address in a Statement in Support of your claim why you didn't cite some experiences in the service that made you think it was caused while on active duty. Maybe you forgot to say something to the examiner??? Maybe you were nervous??? You should address why.  So, since you didn't  tell them you thought your tinnitus was caused by service, let me ask - how is your hearing? Is is compromised also? Did you submit a disability for that also? If you have a problem with tinnitus, you also may have a hearing loss originating from the same exposure as the tinnitus. That is rated as a separate disability also.

[Buck52]

Noise Induced Hearing loss can happen years later  with each Individual  is different but  most veterans that were around loud noise during there military service  can and should file a claim for hearing loss.

The loud sudden noise damage the inner ear drum and  some times the progression of hearing loss takes years before the veteran notices his hearing is not what it use to be.

Veteran needs to find a veteran friendly license audiologist  to test his hearing and read his military records as the job he did while in the military and give his medical opinion as to how his hearing loss may have occurred and say'' I have read Mr Veteran medical record and service records and due to his job in the military being around loud sudden noise it is like as not his inner ear drums were damage WHILE IN THE MILITARY.from loud sudden noise....the Dr can go into more detail as to what causes this BILATERAL HEARING LOSS  and how it takes years to occur ect,,,,ect,,,,,,,,

So  if you can get a Dr to read about your MOS and you talk to the Dr about the loud noise you were around during your military, also you can get about 6 notarized statements form family and friends  to tell about how they notice your hearing has got worse over the years after military,and he has examine you and tested your hearing following the VA guidelines

Also you need to let the Dr know you have a ringing humm buzzing sound in your head   that you read about it and its called tinnitus..you need to let thew Dr know you have this...there is no testing for tinnitus  so we have to let the Dr know we hear these sounds and they are constant  never goes away its always there and worse at bed time  and dang near drives you batty.

 Remember The Private Audiologist needs to follow the VA Criteria for hearing loss and use the Maryland CNC Word test.

Believe it or not they are private ENT Offices out there that will help veterans,  just call around & them and let them know what you need after they test your hearing   a letter from them telling the above  with the Dr's name and credentials and  the Dr can state ''if you need to talk to me about this please feel free to call my office @***-***-**** my office hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm  Mon thru Fridays'' 

Regards  Dr Goodhearing

Hearing loss with the VA is very hard   because to get any kind of rating you need to be damn near deaf according to the VA Regulations   so we need a Dr help to help us and most veteran friendly Audiologist or ENT Dr's will write up a good letter to help you get your benefits

Just be honest with your test and honest with the Dr and let the Dr know what you need from him.

Just call around and find you one of these veteran friendly Dr's  there out there.

This is just my 2 cents

Edited September 28, 2019 by Buck52

[GeekySquid]

17 hours ago, DONALD BINGMAN said:

had a tinnitus text va, says severe and i was asked how long i said 30 /40 years never said service for i never new it was service disability.

I am not sure I understand what you mean here.

are you saying the VA gave you a TEST for tinnitus? what test would that be?

Tinnitus is a self-reported condition.  there is a rare situation where other people can hear the ringing in your ears, but that is so uncommon it doesn't rate a percent of known cases of tinnitus.

Tinnitus is basically the brain reacting to an absence of expected sounds. nature hates a vacuum and in this case the brain creates the sound it expects to receive.

17 hours ago, DONALD BINGMAN said:

Got hurt, but not on records. 

got hurt how? were there witnesses? can you contact them?

do you have your C-File?

go through it and pull out every hearing related document and test.

you are looking for a Significant Threshold Shift (STS) marked on one of the hearing tests and or a page that says OSHA STS on it. learn how to read the little charts in the audiograms and figure out what percent of hearing loss you may have had in service