The skinny of my story is this: I was medically separated with severance pay from the Navy with a 20% unfitting rating of Spondylolithesis with a pars defect, Intervertebral disc syndrome, lumbosacral neuritis, a herniated disc at L5-S1 and Spondylolysis. I have a total of 5 lumbar spine diagnosis's that were pyramided together to give me the 20% unfitting condition rating for all of them based on my ROM at the time. HOWEVER, once I was out and got my VA rating, I saw that the VA gave me 20% for my other 4 back conditions but rated the neuritis separately from my back as leg pain and also gave me 20% for it which was 10% for each of the left and right sides. When I saw this I appealed to the BCNR to correct the military's mistake of not raing it separately which would have bumped my PEB rating from 20% to 40% and I would have been medically retired instead. Just got the decision back from the BCNR and they said that the military was correct and that it is a secondary condition to the IDS and does not warrant a separate percentage but clearly the VA thinks it does?! Furthermore, this website I found (http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/thespine.html) under Secondary Conditions states this "So, if the primary condition is spinal stenosis (In my case it's Intervertebral Disc Syndrome) which causes a secondary condition of radiculopathy down the left leg by pushing on a nerve, then the radiculopathy would be independently ratable since the amount of pain it creates significantly contributes to the inability of a service member to perform his job." Which this is exactly what happened to me. I was in too much pain to walk normal and had to use a cane because my leg hurt so bad and I was bed ridden for 4 to 6 months before I got my first injection from pain management....
So my question is: how do I fight this? Any and all relevant help would be greatly appreciated!
So my question is: how do I fight this? Any and all relevant help would be greatly appreciated!