Chronic pain

[chamilton]

Hello! 

So my vet rep and I put in for a increase for lower back, arthritis, si joint and chronic pain.

 

Has anyone of you ever been rated for chronic pain? And what rating are you receiving and the reasoning behind said rating. Do they rate it by itself? Thank you

 

[Vync]

Many get rated for chronic pain under MH ratings. Pain and inability to do things like before tend to make one depressed, which can be SC.

[bigoc]

I'm not sure how degenerative arthritis rating works but the 5002 type for an active disease it pretty clear on minimum rating.  10% is given for painful motion if service connected.  

I don't need to move for pain but sure doesn't get better movement.  The only thing movement does for me is break up the morning stiffness but the pain never goes away.  Be sure to mention pain and don't under estimate the effect complaints of painful motion have on a decision for the start of a claim and getting service connection.

[Fat]

Chronic pain is a fairly new service connected issue. Their doesn't need to be a specific injury, however a injury or condition helps, but you need a physician to connect the chronic pain as direct or secondarily connected.

[Vync]

When requesting an increase, it would be a good idea to go through your treatment records for the past 12 calendar months. If you have evidence showing you qualified for an increase, they should just need to verify it. 

Like you, I also am SC for lumbrosacral issues. They also SC me for radiculopathy in each leg.

If the medication you take to treat SC disabilities causes additional rate-able disabilities, consider filing for them. If they gave you NSAIDs for ages and you now have GERD or reflux, it can be SC. If medication or the disability itself causes you to malfunction in the sack, it can be SC, but it is just an SMC-K award (little more than $100/month) and does not factor toward your combined rating.

Edited October 14, 2019 by Vync

[GBArmy]

Vync is spot on. Veterans that have a s-c should do a very simple check. If they are prescribed a medication, they should look at the warnings on their spec sheet that comes with the med, and also look up in the internet, any problems or warnings when taking that med. If you have any of those symptoms you should try for a secondary because the VA prescribed it. You would might be better served to get an IMO on it from a doc because it is a secondary condition. NSAIDS taken for heart problems causing GERD is a good example. IMO

[Carl the Engineer]

I have DDD and DJD of the lumbar service connected.

Here's the scoring. 

You get 10% for x-ray, i.e., I have pain and they take an x-ray, it shows arthritis, etc..

To get more than 10%, its ROM, Range of Motion.  I get 20% for my lumbar because of ROM.  I also get 20% for my cervical for ROM, again, first service connected via x-ray at 10% then increased.  Cervical and Lumbar are rated separately, Thoracic is part of Lumbar.

You technically can get even higher ratings for lumbar, however, it takes a doctor prescribing "bed rest" which is not done anymore, so not very likely.  VA needs to get into the 21st century regards medicine.

With all that said, I was service connected for pain at 0% (ankle) which I can not find anywhere in the bible.  I didn't fight it, but did get better evidence and requested an increase and got 10% in the end.

FWIW,

Hamslice