ptsd Calculating For Tdiu

[nlualum82]

I am 50% SC for my hearing loss.

I have 4 claims that have been C & P'ed recently and am hoping I can last long enough at the post office to see some security for my family - possibly OPM disability retirement-SSDI-TDIU route.

If they were to low-ball me on PTSD at 30% (I've only had 2 GAF's, both 45 from different people) that would be 50 + 30 = 65, rounded to 70% check.

Would that fulfill the 70% requirement? For the TDIU standard do they use a "real math" total (80%), a VA math total, or the amount of your compensation check?

My other 3 are being grumbled about (knee, tinnitus, chronic otitis) and are probably all 10%'ers. By VA math they would have to grant me at least 2 of them to top an actual 70 in VA math!

I know TDIU can be granted under certain conditions with less than 70% but I'd feel more secure waiting for the process if I had that one less thing to worry about.

Gary

[Pete53]

To get TDIU you will probably have to not be working.

[RockyA1911]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe if it is 65 it rounds down to 60%. If you had like 65.1 or better then it would round up to 70%. If I were you I would file the application for Unemployability anyway. By not doing so, you are losing months of retroactive back pay if it is awarded, if it is not awarded you haven't lost anything. Do not wait, apply for it anyway. Do you have a IMO stating you are unemployable?

RockyA1911

I am 50% SC for my hearing loss.

I have 4 claims that have been C & P'ed recently and am hoping I can last long enough at the post office to see some security for my family - possibly OPM disability retirement-SSDI-TDIU route.

If they were to low-ball me on PTSD at 30% (I've only had 2 GAF's, both 45 from different people) that would be 50 + 30 = 65, rounded to 70% check.

Would that fulfill the 70% requirement? For the TDIU standard do they use a "real math" total (80%), a VA math total, or the amount of your compensation check?

My other 3 are being grumbled about (knee, tinnitus, chronic otitis) and are probably all 10%'ers. By VA math they would have to grant me at least 2 of them to top an actual 70 in VA math!

I know TDIU can be granted under certain conditions with less than 70% but I'd feel more secure waiting for the process if I had that one less thing to worry about.

Gary

[JR Reihs]

Gary

By your post I think you are safe in that I feel your Knee will be rated between 20&30%, and you will get the 10 % for the arthritis.........BUT you should realy get an IMO for the knee and be prepared to NOD the coming rating, anything below 30 % on your knee is a low ball with what you described as the condition.

Remember that over time you will be straining other parts to make up for the weakness in the knee, so you need to be prepared to file secondary conditions as they may waranted. You need to seek and keep in touch with a good ORTHO to continualy deal with this, so I would find a good one if I were you.

Do not worry about the PO Slugs, just hang in there until you think you are ready to go, if you need help , there are several of us who can guide you through the maze.......just keep pluging your thrift plan with as much as you can until then. This is YOUR MONEY, you have complete control over how you want it, and it may help you over this transitional hump oneday.

[Guest Morgan]

Gary,

If you have 65% combined it is rounded up to 70%. I've pasted the regs about combined ratings below.

And if you get tired of trying to figure out the VA math, then here's a great link to a veterans calculator for quickly figuring combined ratings. So easy to use.

http://www.vamrc.com/calculator/vetcalc.php

I'm not sure who gets credit for this calculator, but it is the best I've seen.

Here are the regs:

(a) ". . . This combined value will then be converted to the nearest number divisible by 10, and combined values ending in 5 will be adjusted upward. Thus, with a 50 percent disability and a 30 percent disability, the combined value will be found to be 65 percent, but the 65 percent must be converted to 70 percent to represent the final degree of disability. Similarly, with a disability of 40 percent, and another disability of 20 percent, the combined value is found to be 52 percent, but the 52 percent must be converted to the nearest degree divisible by 10, which is 50 percent. If there are more than two disabilities, the disabilities will also be arranged in the exact order of their severity and the combined value for the first two will be found as previously described for two disabilities. The combined value, exactly as found in table I, will be combined with the degree of the third disability (in order of severity). The combined value for the three disabilities will be found in the space where the column and row intersect, and if there are only three disabilities will be converted to the nearest degree divisible by 10, adjusting final 5's upward. Thus, if there are three disabilities ratable at 60 percent, 40 percent, and 20 percent, respectively, the combined value for the first two will be found opposite 60 and under 40 and is 76 percent. This 76 will be combined with 20 and the combined value for the three is 81 percent. This combined value will be converted to the nearest degree divisible by 10 which is 80 percent. The same procedure will be employed when there are four or more disabilities.

Good luck,

Carrie

[jimlane1949]

I am 50% SC for my hearing loss.

I have 4 claims that have been C & P'ed recently and am hoping I can last long enough at the post office to see some security for my family - possibly OPM disability retirement-SSDI-TDIU route.

If they were to low-ball me on PTSD at 30% (I've only had 2 GAF's, both 45 from different people) that would be 50 + 30 = 65, rounded to 70% check.

Would that fulfill the 70% requirement? For the TDIU standard do they use a "real math" total (80%), a VA math total, or the amount of your compensation check?

My other 3 are being grumbled about (knee, tinnitus, chronic otitis) and are probably all 10%'ers. By VA math they would have to grant me at least 2 of them to top an actual 70 in VA math!

I know TDIU can be granted under certain conditions with less than 70% but I'd feel more secure waiting for the process if I had that one less thing to worry about.

Gary

I had to quit my job before TDIU claim was granted. The first time I file the claim was denied and the Statement of The Case explained I was denied because I was employed. Fair sailing and calm seas as you proceed with your claim.

Jim Lane

[nlualum82]

Thanks for the help - no doubt I'll be taking up your offer for future advice!

I've got a lot of steps to take, but first must wait on the envelope for some SC and percentages.

I bookmarked the calculator into my favorites, it'll be handy if I get a favorable envelope.

I hope you are right about the knee, I've been trying not to get my hopes up. You're also on target about straining other parts to compensate. I'm in a nosedive these days getting through a work week. It's hard to "lift with your legs, not your back" with this knee.

I've got to try to stay focussed and be ready to fight the paperwork war and hope it rolls along without a hitch. It's amazing what some "Hadites" have had to put up with. I've had it comparatively easy with the VA so far, but that's not so unlikely because I've just taken what they've decided to give me.

I can't lay claim to an effective date yet because I'm currently working - scared to death of giving them a window of opportunity to put my family on the street! As soon as the numbers are in the ballpark I'll see if I can get some breathing room (Drs. slip for FMLA) from my shrink, and maybe ortho and go after OPM retirement, then initiate the SSDI and TDIU processes.

I see 2 strong possibilities if I attain retirement. The way I idealize it is getting my life together best as possible, putting things in order around my filthy little house as the days roll on, getting rested and ready to be there when my family needs me for a task. Listing things I need to do and actually scratching completed ones off.

My fear is that once I have more than a weekend to rest and recover, I won't respond, just stay in my sleeping clothes, lay in bed trying to sleep, and withdraw even more.

Anyone have any experience with that? Advice on how to cope, adjust, motivate? Sometimes I seem to be as afraid of not working as I am of working.

Gary