Nexus letter if I have photographic proof?

[LKF050813]

Hello, new here. Working through getting an increase on my s/c issues and it has been brought to my attention I should have had my left knee s/c this whole time (medically retired 12 years ago). I have photographs of me competing in triathalons while wearing a knee brace on my left knee while on active duty. Platts data with my matching bib number backs up the dates of the photographs. Is this enough for the VA to service connect or should I still get a nexus letter? I’m s/c for pes planus and right knee, so could definitely get a letter for left knee secondary to those issues, but would prefer to just submit what I have. It seems like a smoking gun, but don’t want to assume how the VA will look at this.

Thank you!

[Lemuel]

4 hours ago, LKF050813 said:

Ok my apologies, I definitely skimmed through your paperwork too quickly and thought you got out in 1985. It's great they eventually gave you an EED that went so far back. I had no hope of that when I started this claim.

So my story is I have an 82% rating P&T from July 2011. This is my first attempt at an increase of any kind and also at TDIU. They have been filed concurrently. I have not been able to work since my medical retirement from the Navy and have an IMO DBQ stating my mental health rating of 50% should increase to 100% and that based on a medical record review, I have been unable to work since July 2011. 

2 problems may present themselves:

1) The VA may rate me at 100% P&T and then toss the TDIU claim, which makes it hard for me to ask for an EED for TDIU.

2) If I get the TDIU awarded, how do I ask for the extra-scheduler EED? Since it's already filed, can I amend it? Do I just add a statement to the IMO asking for the effective date for TDIU to be my last day of gainful employment?

My VSO did not even want me to apply for TDIU because he prefers the P&T route, but knowing what I know now, it seems I should have applied for TDIU first and then go after increases...but I've rung the bell so not sure how to pivot at this point.

Yes, combined total is better than TDIU.  But no, why give up what you should have had.  The extra-schedular claim to the Director of Compensation Services is reviewed at the Central Office.  The AOJ did not forward my claim for review and I mistakenly thought their decision, which appeared blanket at the time, was all I could get.  Nothing prevents you from increasing schedular after you have TDIU.  And a higher schedular helps with SMC.

Since they are two separate channels, one at the AOJ, and the other at the Central Office, and the AOJ was required to submit your case for TDIU to the Secretary even if you did not meet any of the presumptive qualifications.  I suspect your TDIU will be much faster and now money is worth more than future money.  It will buy more bread or gasoline.

[pacmanx1]

14 hours ago, LKF050813 said:

Crap. That's what I'm afraid is going to happen to me too. The psychologist IMO is enough to get me 100% on mental health alone, plus I'm looking at increases on some of my other s/c stuff. I don't know what to do at this point. ugh! SMH

It is what it is, just keep in mind that I have been rated 100% scheduler P & T for most of this time and the two EEDs granted me two EEDs in my ratings and in my TDIU effective dates. 

[LKF050813]

4 hours ago, pacmanx1 said:

It is what it is, just keep in mind that I have been rated 100% scheduler P & T for most of this time and the two EEDs granted me two EEDs in my ratings and in my TDIU effective dates. 

I’m so you do have both 100% scheduler and TDIU? I was thinking they don’t grant both, but that gives me something to fight for then.

[pacmanx1]

40 minutes ago, LKF050813 said:

I’m so you do have both 100% scheduler and TDIU? I was thinking they don’t grant both, but that gives me something to fight for then

Some veterans do not fully understand that their effective dates are the key to when their protection period begins and when they are fully covered. My records contains all three ratings. I will give examples. These are not my actual effective dates, but my records show something like them. Because we have VA employees come to this site from time to time. I choose not to post my actual information.

So, let’s say I was originally granted 100% schedular P & T with an effective date of 2006. When the BVA granted me a new disability with a 30% increase that was not already included in my combined 100% scheduler P & T rating. This caused me to be granted a TDIU P & T rating with an effective date of 2004.

I disagreed with this decision and because the BVA directly service connected my new disability to my military service, I requested a higher rating and the BVA granted me a 50% rating in which that TDIU P & T rating gave me an even earlier effective date of 2003 which put me under the 20-year protection period. So, I have a TDIU P & T from 2003 protected.  I have a TDIU P & T from 2004 protected and I have a combined 100% schedular P & T that will be protected in 2026.

[LKF050813]

12 minutes ago, pacmanx1 said:

Some veterans do not fully understand that their effective dates are the key to when their protection period begins and when they are fully covered. My records contains all three ratings. I will give examples. These are not my actual effective dates, but my records show something like them. Because we have VA employees come to this site from time to time. I choose not to post my actual information.

So, let’s say I was originally granted 100% schedular P & T with an effective date of 2006. When the BVA granted me a new disability with a 30% increase that was not already included in my combined 100% scheduler P & T rating. This caused me to be granted a TDIU P & T rating with an effective date of 2004.

I disagreed with this decision and because the BVA directly service connected my new disability to my military service, I requested a higher rating and the BVA granted me a 50% rating in which that TDIU P & T rating gave me an even earlier effective date of 2003 which put me under the 20-year protection period. So, I have a TDIU P & T from 2003 protected.  I have a TDIU P & T from 2004 protected and I have a combined 100% schedular P & T that will be protected in 2026.

So very helpful! Thank you for sharing and for the heads up to not put exact information on here. I wish I would have come onto this page before I started my claim. I’ve learned so much from the members on here and feel like I’m finally understanding all of this. One of the reasons I never attempted to go for an increase over the last 10 plus years was because the process seemed so confusing and overwhelming. I’ve had 3 different VSO’s and I can say with certainty they don’t know half of what the members of this group know.

Let’s say I get rated 100% P&T regular scheduler and they deny my TDIU bc they say it’s moot, if I appeal the TDIU denial, do I not get paid any of the back pay or regular pay for the 100% until the TDIU appeal is finalized?

[pacmanx1]

16 minutes ago, LKF050813 said:

Let’s say I get rated 100% P&T regular scheduler and they deny my TDIU bc they say it’s moot, if I appeal the TDIU denial, do I not get paid any of the back pay or regular pay for the 100% until the TDIU appeal is finalized?

The reason why I was awarded two separate increased ratings and assigned two separate TDIU ratings is because the VA failed to correctly process one of my original claims. I filed the claim around 1998 and it was denied, I then filed a NOD that got lost for two decades (20) years. It took me 20 years complaining about my lost evidence. When the BVA finally reviewed my records and granted my claim/appeal, the regional office low balled it and I filed a new NOD. The BVA finally found my NOD and granted me an unadjudicated (still open and pending) claim dated prior to my 100% schedular rating. So, with their help they back dated my awards

The only way you can get an earlier effective date, you will have to prove that you have a disability that should have been rated prior to your 100% rating. If the VA denies your TDIU rating and grant you 100% schedular. Yes, you can appeal and request a TDIU rating based on your current symptoms.