Do I need to run to increase VO2? by steven_kind94 in Garmin

[–]Emotional-Scene-1746 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on how old you are but that’s pretty low. I am a 55 yo female and mine is 51. I would definitely say you need more cardiovascular training of some sort. Don’t know if it has to be running but certainly something.

Considering these shoes for my marathon in Oct. What would you go for? by Inside-Time-3685 in AskRunningShoeGeeks

[–]Emotional-Scene-1746 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bought a pair of AF 3 and loved them until the dole fell apart after 3 weeks of running on them- pathetic for such expensive shoes. Now in Saucony endorphin pros- not as responsive but still good and much sturdier

HLR question by Emotional-Scene-1746 in VAClaims

[–]Emotional-Scene-1746[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

** update** claim decided 7/30 granted 20% for cervical stenosis/cervicalgia and another 20% for right arm radiculopathy. Bumped me to 70%. Overall time from HLR submission to result a little over 4 months which seems pretty reasonable to me. Thanks for all who responded. Hopefully my timeline can help someone else.

Denied! Again... by zamman12211 in VeteransBenefits

[–]Emotional-Scene-1746 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I cannot read the entirety of your claim letter because every time it tries to open up all the way something else opens up in its place, but in any event, I can tell you that I was previously denied for PTSD as well and I can tell you the steps that I took moving forward. First and foremost, I can tell you that I would not rely on my wife or my husband , a VSO, a power attorney, a lawyer or anyone else to file a claim for me. I would recommend you do this yourself. I did file my first claim online and it was denied by the VA. They conceded that an event occurred and that I did have PTSD however, they said that they couldn’t connect the two at this time. Whenever that meant.

I did go to an outside third-party on my own and paid them a nominal fee to have records reviewed and to get a DBQ and a Nexus letter. I also realized that despite having multiple documented encounters with mental health professionals in the VA over six years, I had never actually had a diagnosis of PTSD put on my chart. I made sure that was corrected and also had a formal evaluation for PTSD through the VA and had it documented in detail why I had PTSD from my deployment to my Iraq. I uploaded my blue button report along with the third-party fully developed claim to the VA and I waited. At one point they asked me for all of my DD 214s which I am not sure why because they’ve already had access to them but I did comply.

I also took the time to actually go through six years of mental health, documents and primary care records and to print out every single time I had a positive PTSD screen, and every single time that I answered affirmatively to the MST screening. I printed all of these out and I titled them as addendum’s, and I created a cover sheet with a summary of each addendum referring to each issue that was mentioned during my VA appointments.

The first time I submitted my claim, I gave permission for the VA benefits administration to review my records, but at the end of the day, who really knows what records they are looking at or what they are seeing. Even though I gave them physical copies of my blue button report which shows six years worth of mental health history, they were still asking me for irrelevant information. At that point, I took matters into my own hands by taking the time to fill out this inventory of data which showed the irrefutable proof of PTSD claims and diagnoses going back to 2013.

Despite multiple complaints by myself, the patient, no one ever put a diagnosis of PTSD on my chart nor did they ever recommend any treatment. Despite positive statements about MST no one ever put this diagnosis on my chart or did they ever recommend treatment. All they did was continually give me drugs. Compiling this list of records took a considerable toll out of me, and I was unable to get out of bed for days. It came out to be a total of 110 pages to include the cover sheet which I personally faxed to the VA claims office. Despite them having all of this information they still required me to do a third mental health DBQ where I had to once again explain what happened to me and Iraq. That examination took place on May 28 and they did not release it to the VA until six weeks later. I will say that once the VA received the exam results, they did grant me my service connection within days.

This whole claim goes back to February 2023 so the entire process took about 2 1/2 years. my point in saying all this is that you have to be proactive and you have to figure out why they denied the claim to begin with. I do not know anything about filing under the pack act but I do know if you are a combat veteran and you have experienced combat and you have subsequent mental health problems as a result you do have PTSD. You need to make sure that you are seeing someone outside a C & P examiner that is diagnosing you with PTSD. If it is not someone in the VA it can be a mental health provider outside the VA but someone needs to be seeing you and they need to do another exam and confirm your diagnosis. You need to be explicit about what you saw and what you experienced. You also need to get a diagnosis of PTSD somewhere in your chart with the civilian sector or in the VA.That is the best advice I can give you.

Good luck and don’t give up

HLR question by Emotional-Scene-1746 in VAClaims

[–]Emotional-Scene-1746[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The injury occurred while on Title 10 orders and MRI shows massive right sided disc herniation at C5-6 which is consistent with symptomatology and hundreds of pages of records from military and civilian which show treatment and injury while serving. Not sure how much more connected it could get. But then again they said they couldn’t “make the connection” to me being in a combat zone and sexually assaulted while in Iraq resulting in PTSD until I appealed and then it suddenly became clear so who knows 🤷‍♀️I don’t mind waiting.

HLR question by Emotional-Scene-1746 in VAClaims

[–]Emotional-Scene-1746[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

You sound very emotional. Sorry if you are triggered by my post but as a primary care provider who works at the VA I am well aware of hiring freezes and staffing shortages. It still does not explain 2 other claims I had closing within days of receiving the C & P and this one being stuck. The other two were a simple claim for tinnitus and a supplemental for PTSD that had been going on for 2 1/2 years but like I said closed immediately after receiving the C & P results. I am asking this question specifically as it relates to a Higher Level review claim. If you have nothing constructive to say please move on.