Crohn's disease help with med discharge please.

gordond5

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Hello everyone, my name is SGT Gordon Dawson. I have been in the army for almost 4 years now and coming up on my ETS date fast (aug 3 2013). I was just recently diagnosed with crohn's disease early january. My symptoms are really bad pain,nausea,diareha EVERY DAY! After on month of prednisone and no pain relief i have just started HUMIRA yesterday. I talked to my doctor about getting a medical discharge so i can get covered medical for life. Can someone please help me out by telling me what i need to tell me doctor to get the board to accept the 30% medical retirement. I am not very savvy with the med board process. We havent initiated the med board yet but we are going to very soon, I just want to get as much insight as I can before i start it because i do not want to extend my contract because I am fighting the percentage. I want to get it right the first time. I am aware that the med board process is at least 90 days. So i still have time, but I would rather get it right the first time and take my 2 months terminal leave rather than fight the board percentage and have to extend my contract or not take my terminal leave. Please can someone tell me what I need to do to get the 30%. I am young, smart, and fit (well used to be im starting to get a belly now because no PT lol ). I did not want this disease and it has RUINED my life! I want what i deserve, and I want the army to pay for it! please help!!
 
Hello everyone, my name is SGT Gordon Dawson. I have been in the army for almost 4 years now and coming up on my ETS date fast (aug 3 2013). I was just recently diagnosed with crohn's disease early january. My symptoms are really bad pain,nausea,diareha EVERY DAY! After on month of prednisone and no pain relief i have just started HUMIRA yesterday. I talked to my doctor about getting a medical discharge so i can get covered medical for life. Can someone please help me out by telling me what i need to tell me doctor to get the board to accept the 30% medical retirement. I am not very savvy with the med board process. We havent initiated the med board yet but we are going to very soon, I just want to get as much insight as I can before i start it because i do not want to extend my contract because I am fighting the percentage. I want to get it right the first time. I am aware that the med board process is at least 90 days. So i still have time, but I would rather get it right the first time and take my 2 months terminal leave rather than fight the board percentage and have to extend my contract or not take my terminal leave. Please can someone tell me what I need to do to get the 30%. I am young, smart, and fit (well used to be im starting to get a belly now because no PT lol ). I did not want this disease and it has RUINED my life! I want what i deserve, and I want the army to pay for it! please help!!

Even if you were to start med board process today, August would be very quick...possible, but, quick. And 90 days is really not possible for IDES (what you are calling "med board"). In other words, if I were a betting man, you will probably have to extend...but just until IDES proceedings were complete. Could be for 2 months, could be 6-12 months. Med board is not for the faint of heart and impatient. ;)

As far as being retired at 30% or greater for Crohn's Disease, you need to look at the VASRD. Or maybe someone else will chime in with experience or expertise in regards to Crohn's. What I can say is that getting retired due to your condition will depend on just as much on whether or not it prevents you from doing your job and whether or not you can produce enough evidence to substantiate such a claim as it does your symptoms and side effects. So, the best thing you and your doctor could do at this point, if not already done, is to get you on a profile which prohibits you from deploying, PT, and basic duties of your MOS.

If this is any consolation (but not suggesting you should settle for this over med board and possible retirement)...if you are rated by the VA for crohn's disease (you do not have to go through med board for VA disability), they will cover medical costs associated with treatment. Again, not suggesting you not fight for med board and retirement.
 
gordond5, I am an e-5 in the Navy, Active, been in 9 years. The Navy is medically retiring me in 20 days for Crohns, 30%. I have had the disease for over 4 years, and did multiple deployments to OEF and OIF with this disease. I was on Humira for a while and it made my systems worse. I am 100% disabled thru the VA for over 20 conditions. My MEB/PEM took almost a year. So, I would be prepared to stay a while. Sometimes it moves faster when there are only a couple of conditions. I dont know your whole situation. I have had over 10 Colonoscopies and well documented with this disease. Usually when you are just diagnosed the Military and Docs will make you wait atleast 6 months to see if it improves. I will have to have over 5 ft of my intentstin removed here soon, that is why the Navy medically retired me. Since you have been in a short time, and have not had the disease long, if they do discharge you, it will probably be a medical discharge, not retirement and you will get a severance. It is your base pay x 2 x the years you have in. For you that will probably be somewhere around the 20K to 25k range before taxes. Every situation is different, but there really is not anything you can do or say. The Military PEB docs are very thorough and they go by the medical documentation and what all the docs concur. Good luck and God Bless and if you have any questions, dont hesitate to write them on here. Eat right and take care of yourself, no smoking, or drinking and that will help alot, also no fast food, bread, or alot of meats. My twin brother does all of the above, and his crohns is alot worse than mine, because of not listening to the doctors.
 
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