100% but my appeal from 2019 now has a date. Advice Needed

[CavScout19DRecon]

Currently rated 100%. The issues on appeal are lower back and PTSD. PTSD was initially 30% and then when I had my TBI CP it rose to 70%, with an additional 50% for migraines.

I am scheduled for a Virtual hearing at a local office (2 hours away) in a few months.

I really don't want to mess with the PTSD rating as I feel its a fair rating. Should I send the form to cancel that in the appeal, it can only hurt me to continue with that right?

For some background I submitted the appeal in 2019 and I am represented by a lawyer.  Do I have ANYTHING to gain by keeping this appeal?

As always, thank you all for your help. Rock of the Marne.

[broncovet]

Its unlikely that "withdrawing your claim" will reduce stress for you.  How do I know?  I withdrew a claim, hoping it would speed up others, and doing so actually increased my stress level by greatly reducing MY options.  

Instead what may well work better is to continue to persue your claims through your attorney, but get you a hobby of something you like that occupies your time, so you dont spend it fretting with your claim.  

There is likely very little you have to do with your claim...it sounds like your attorney is taking care of that.  No paper work to file.  If your attorney needs something from you, he will contact you.  

Indeed, at some point most claims are eventually granted..provided you are persistent enough and dont quit.  That's pretty easy when you have an attorney doing all the work for you.  And, for many, a nice size retro check reduces or greatly reduces financial stress.  It did for me.  

When I lost my home in 2005-2006, I was extremely stressed.  (I had applied for benefits in 2002, but VA figured out a way to delay it long enough for me to lose my home.  "Nobody delays claims better than VA".  They are the best in the world at that.  

Fast forward to 2020, when I finally got my full benefits..including SMC..and the earlier effective date I had sought.  I have another home, a better one than before, and "the big bad wolf at my door" rests peacefully in his grave. 

Here is what advice I was given in that "tough" interim period while you are waiting on VA. Get a hobby.  Go fishing.  Visit your grandchildren often.  Spend time improving your relationship with family, especially your spouse.  Work on being a better, more loving husband.  Learn a new trade.  Play chess.  Go to church and make new friends.  Research new cars or trucks you can consider when your retro arrives.  Make a plan to help others, both now and with a part of your retro.  

Help your neighbor by shoveling the snow, mowing the elderly neighbors grass, or just by  being friendly, and maybe find out what they like and make them a gift.   

Improve yourself to the "You.2.0" version...the upgrade.  You wont regret it.  

[CavScout19DRecon]

21 hours ago, pacmanx1 said:

My appeal and both my rating effective dates went back well over a decade and my TDIU effective dates went back well over five years. 

Wow that is fantastic news.  Glad to hear that it worked out for you. 

[CavScout19DRecon]

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I talked to the lawyer clerk today and said that their appeal hearing people would contact me, and then the lawyer would contact me a week or so before the hearing.

I have heard horror stories of them opening things again and lowering the rating.  I am currently 100% with 5 contentions.  My PTSD+TBI is rated at 70% with a 50% for Migrane headaches due to a vehicle explosion in Iraq.  I have sworn statements and all of that but just hate thinking of the fact they could go in and reduce it.  Am I worrying for nothing?  

Also for Lower back they didnt even give me a CP exam, just straight up denied me.  

[pacmanx1]

My appeal has been pending/going on for more than two decades and the VA never reduced my current rating. Once a veteran is rated, it is hard for the VA to reduce that rating. It does happen but it is rare. 38 CFR 3.344 covers all that, as long as your symptoms are about the same the VA cannot reduce your rating. 

 eCFR :: 38 CFR 3.344 -- Stabilization of disability evaluations.

[broncovet]

Exactly:  The VA loves it when we dont apply for all the benefits we deserve "out of fear of reduction".  

Read, and reread 38 CFR 3.344, above.  Its actually quite difficult for the VA to reduce you if you are P and T or over 5 years, "unless" you have actually improved under ordinary conditions of life AND that improvement is sustained and expected to continue.  

I hate it when Vets dont apply for all the benefits they are due out of fear of reduction, but VA loves this as it saves them money and work.  

Its simply false that "applying for additional benefits" will cause a reduction instead.  Nowhere, in 38 CFR3.344 does it say:

"Whenever the Veteran applies for an increase reduce his rating instead".  

You either meet the criteria for reduction or you dont.  THE VA has tried to reduce my rating twice, and twice I beat it.  Neither time had I applied for more benefits.  Both times they tried to reduce my dependent spouse, suggesting I GOT a divorce.  My wife and I both wrote a letter that we have been continuously married, living together, since 2006, and none of the rumors of a divorce or seperation are true.  

[Vync]

10 hours ago, broncovet said:

Exactly:  The VA loves it when we dont apply for all the benefits we deserve "out of fear of reduction".  

Could this be some form of due process and/or duty to assist violations resulting in the veteran being harmed by the VA failing to maximize benefits?

For example, my first C&P's were the result of a BVA remand with very specific instructions. It seems the BVA was attempting to maximize my benefits and fulfil their duty to assist, but the VARO and the C&P examiner dropped the ball. The BVA remand required a review my claimed issues, but also any other issues which are present. It also required the examiner to opine as to SC for all found disabilities, not just the claimed disabilities.

I did initially claim TMJ and was prescribed multiple times daily NSAIDs. During the exam I also complained about heartburn. The examiner diagnosed me with reflux, a very common side effect of NSAID use, but failed to opine regarding SC.

The examiner and the VA did not notify me that they diagnosed any unclaimed disabilities. It was not on the rating decision letter and they did not send me a copy of the C&P exam findings. After finding Hadit years later, I requested a copy of my entire claims file and learned of the diagnosis. I filed for reflux and won SC as secondary to TMJ. I was still learning at the time and did not know it was possible to file for an increase and request an EED.

I asked about this here previously and was told the lack of an opinion on those other issues was considered a "deemed denial". In other words, if they did not say "yes", it meant "no". The 1 year appeal window has come and gone. However, I still wonder if this could still be considered an open claim because the VA failed to follow the initial BVA remand instructions... Probably not because I won SC later...