PTSD INFORMATION Are you Properly Prepared to File a PTSD Claim???? Please read this entire piece of information before you call me if you feel you need help. You should be familiar with Gaff Scores, Stressor letters, having letters written about your PTSD from your Dr’s and Social Workers, and anyone you meet that is qualified to diagnose your condition when you are done reading this. I also strongly recommend you attend PTSD groups for at least 6 months or more on a regular basis and seek medical help from a VA Dr. and/or outside Psychiatrist, Psychologist and Social Workers and also ask for possible medications that will help you with your problems. Please remember the VA Dr’s cannot read your mind, if a medication or a treatment they have you on does not work, tell them, they will work to see that changes are made to stabilize your medications to suit your particular needs. You must show that you have tried to have your illness treated before you file a claim, The more information you can provide from Professionals verifying that you are indeed suffering from PTSD and that you are being treated for it the better chance you have of your claim being approved. The following carries a lot of weight when your claim is filed, and this is a case of more information is better. I would like to add that PTSD does not go away normally, but it can be treated and many times stabilized with the help of medications and counseling. It will also help very much in strengthening your claim. Remember you would never I am sure go to any court without evidence to support yourself, the VA is only looking for fair, very clear and proven evidence presented to them so that they can make a decision. If you provide little evidence you can count normally on receiving a smaller amount of compensation. As we were all taught in the Military “Do it by the Number” that’s what you need to do. Prepare a complete and detailed claim!!! First, to start your claim, get a complete copy of your VA records, you can obtain them from your local VA hospital or any VA hospital where you have been treated, you will have to sign a release to receive them and it sometimes takes a week or two to receive them, if it takes longer get on the phone to them and ask them what the hold up is. Ask for a confirmed date they will be sent, do not allow them to ignore your needs. For that matter never allow anyone to ignore your needs, leave you waiting beyond 1 hour or so for a scheduled appointment and if they fail to show up especially if this is consistent behavior on their part, and this does include Service Officers also contact their Supervisor and demand better treatment. You are only asking what is fair. Never, Never threaten someone!!! For any reason…….. Now you will need to call the VA PTSD Department, and ask to make a appointment to see someone there about receiving help for PTSD. You will likely go through a screening process so that they are sure you are indeed a candidate for PTSD treatment. I would then suggest you start seeing a VA Psychiatrist, Psychologist and Social Workers as often as possible. Ask to join PTSD groups make sure you attend them and interact with the leader of the group and others present, Do not settle with seeing a Dr. or Professional only every 2 or 3 months, Ask for help more often, tell them how bad you feel and that you need counseling more often. If you can afford any outside help for PTSD from certified Professionals I recommend it highly. Don’t forget now is the time to ask for medications to help you and remember if they don’t work or are to overpowering for you, tell the Dr, do not quit taking them! They can help you greatly. I speak from many years of experience. I have never used alcohol with my medications, Please do not do that. You stand a good chance of harming yourself and possibly someone else. We are here to help you get better. Now once you have been attending group, seen these Professionals for 6 months or so it’s time to get down to business and start preparing a claim. The First thing You need to find is a Service Officer to file this claim for you. I would NEVER try to file a claim without their expertise. You will find these people at the major Vets groups. Remember Always use your intuition and if you are not being treated fairly and quickly and all of your questions are not being answered or phone calls returned you can always go to another Service Officer and file a complaint about anyone. They work at no charge for you. Ask your Doctor or Social worker frankly anyone with little letters behind their name only privately (Never in front of another Vet) if they would write you a letter on their stationary diagnosing you with Severe and Chronic PTSD and also include your Gaff Score. These are very powerful items that help confirm your illness. If they offer to put something written in your file only, Thank them but ask them if they would write the personal letter as it will mean much more when your PTSD claim is looked at by the VA. If they still resist ask them if they are Doctor’s or Professionals, why they are not willing to help you? Do not be rude or demanding. Just be frank. Also try and contact buddies you served with in the Military that were exposed to the same hostile actions you were and if they were ask them to write you a buddy letter. Have them have it Notarized. Buddy letters are Golden proof of your service and trauma suffered in Combat or Stressful situations you might have encountered. Get all you can! Remember that if you don’t show emotion and tears and the others signs of PTSD symptoms in your interview and meetings your claim will likely go no where. You have a tremendous amount of Stress bottled up in you, now is the time to release it, this is part of the healing process. You can walk around a room, cuss, show anger, just never threaten or put your hands on a VA employee. That is unless you want to see prison from the inside out!!! These people understand usually how hurt and sick you are. This is now your chance to expunge many of the horrors you witnessed in your PTSD Stressor and in combat. When you are called in for your C&P (that means your Compensation and Pension review) Take all of your related records with you. If you have photo’s take them also. Offer copies of them before the C&P begins. Chances are they may not have all of this information, this same thing applies when you go in for Social Security. If they tell you not to bring papers or records into the interview take them anyway. I have been to 3 C&P’s when the VA had not forwarded my records and I was approved simply because I had copies of everything with me. It was a done deal once I presented them. Without them I likely would have been refused and would had to have went through the Appeals process that sometimes can take years. Now this is very important! If you end up with a total disability rating of 70% or more for PTSD or any combination of Service Connected disabilities you are considered unemployable (that’s assuming you are not working) You can then get paid 100% from the VA and if you have worked enough quarters with Social Security you are eligible for 100% for them….This is called unemployability or IU for short!!! If you take this money you can never work again!!! I encourage you to call me if I can assist you. Also if you like call me before you go to a C&P, I can give you a idea what to expect and hopefully you won’t walk in blind and unprepared. Don’t forget more evidence is better, Your Stressor letter is very, very important you will read about that soon. In the Military we did everything by the number if you will recall, Well do it now. The least that can happen is you will be turned down or given a rate less than 100% But you went prepared. You tried, you can always file a appeal and I can help you with that. If you were accused of a crime you know you would never go to court with no conclusive evidence, He ya go! This is the same thing. Work hard at this, Your future can be greatly affected by it. Many Vets will say you don’t need Stressor or this or that, well it’s your call and your life how you prepare yourself. I was taught well by my Dad, He always told me you do a half assed job and your will get a half assed pay in return. Welcome Home to all of You, Good Luck and I am always here for you. I am the National Director for the Order of the Silver Rose We also help Veterans or the families of Veterans who are sick or deceased due to Agent Orange Cancers and sicknesses. We offer a Gratis Medal and Honors to these Heroes. Please go to our website and check it out at http://silverrose,org. Tell your friends about our Mission or better yet join us; we are all Volunteers. We need help and donations. So you know about me. I was in Vietnam 1967/68, My name is Gary Chenett, I Proudly served with The Big Red One, 1st of the 4th Calvary, B Troop as a M-60 gunner on a APC. I am 100% disabled service connected of course and the information you are reading here is what I learned in over 7 years of fighting for my disability. I am disabled 100% for PTSD and I have also had 3 Agent Orange related cancer surgeries, including brain and lung cancer. Gary J, Chenett fuzzyfrog@intouchmi.com. |
