TBI MEB process

arubin

arubin

New Member
Registered Member
Hi everyone! I've been following this thread for a while now, as I suffered two TBI's in the past 12 months and the last one really got me good. I've been diagnosed with migraines that cannot be controlled by medications, have tried a full range of medications (Relpax, Zomig, Gabopentin, etc.) to some other ones, received BOTOX treatment in November 2015 without any success, still going to try it again in Feb 2016 as my condition is getting worse (and I am just really struggling to go through the days now). It started with consistent migraines after physical exertion (after the first TBI) to now it's a wide range of things that flare up my migraines: fluorescent light, sound, diesel fumes, physical exertion, stress, anxiety. I've also been having problems with sleeping and went through the sleep studies and had been diagnosed with chronic insomnia, anxiety and migraines by the doctors at the sleep center. It's been more than a year since the first TBI and finally this month I entered the MEB process. My direct NCO has been really supportive and understanding of migraines that I get as he was present when the last TBI happened. (Had a heavy light set fell on my head out of connex).

I know that there is a lot of information posted on the threads in here, but I was wondering what to expect as far as MEB? What are the C&P's? What are the VA doctors like? I have my initial meeting with the person... not really sure what her title is, and she is supposed to give me a memo to take to my command, what happens after that?

thank you in advance for your insights and information!
 
arubin said:
Hi everyone! I've been following this thread for a while now, as I suffered two TBI's in the past 12 months and the last one really got me good. I've been diagnosed with migraines that cannot be controlled by medications, have tried a full range of medications (Relpax, Zomig, Gabopentin, etc.) to some other ones, received BOTOX treatment in November 2015 without any success, still going to try it again in Feb 2016 as my condition is getting worse (and I am just really struggling to go through the days now). It started with consistent migraines after physical exertion (after the first TBI) to now it's a wide range of things that flare up my migraines: fluorescent light, sound, diesel fumes, physical exertion, stress, anxiety. I've also been having problems with sleeping and went through the sleep studies and had been diagnosed with chronic insomnia, anxiety and migraines by the doctors at the sleep center. It's been more than a year since the first TBI and finally this month I entered the MEB process. My direct NCO has been really supportive and understanding of migraines that I get as he was present when the last TBI happened. (Had a heavy light set fell on my head out of connex).

I know that there is a lot of information posted on the threads in here, but I was wondering what to expect as far as MEB? What are the C&P's? What are the VA doctors like? I have my initial meeting with the person... not really sure what her title is, and she is supposed to give me a memo to take to my command, what happens after that?

thank you in advance for your insights and information!
Click to expand...
_______________________________***:D*** Happy New Year! ***:D***________________________________

Welcome to the PEB Forum! :)

Indeed, I am sadden to read about your current medical situation albeit the referral with acceptance into the DoD IDES was definitely the proper avenue of approach by your medical healthcare providers that this point in time for sure!

In reference to your specific inquiry "What are the VA doctors like?" from my experiences when in the DoD IDES process, I offer the viewing of my URL http://www.pebforum.com/site/thread...tements-within-c-p-examination-reports.18732/. As such, the DoVA Compensation and Pension (C&P) examinations are the medical documentation of record used by the MEB Physician to generate the Narrative Summary (NARSUM).

Nonetheless, please reference my specific URL for a detailed explanation about the DoD IDES MEB/PEB process:
Of most importance in my opinion while in the DoD IDES, never default acceptance to any injustices; fight then continue to fight some more until receipt of all desired outcomes supportive via medical evidence and/or medical documentation!

Moreover, if you foresee that your current medical impairment(s) shall have a severe affect on any potential future employment upon the successful completion of the DoD IDES process, you may want to consider applying now for SSA SSDI federal disability compensation. As such, I offer my following URL for additional information to potentially yield some assistance in the pursuit for any SSA SSDI disability compensation benefits:
With that all said, please take care and I hope for much success during your DoD IDES process proceedings! :cool:

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer!"

Best Wishes!
 
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arubin said:
I know that there is a lot of information posted on the threads in here, but I was wondering what to expect as far as MEB? What are the C&P's? What are the VA doctors like? I have my initial meeting with the person... not really sure what her title is, and she is supposed to give me a memo to take to my command, what happens after that?

thank you in advance for your insights and information!
Click to expand...

C&P's are the compensation and pension exams that are either conducted by the VA itself, or a contractor the VA uses such as QTC.

You may be subjected to two different forms of VA doctors, those who will treat you for your injury and those who perform an examination for the basis of completing the disability benefits questionnaire (DBQ).

Typically the MEB process works like this, you are given a MEB referral by your primary care physician, you are then assigned a Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer (PEBLO). Those are on the DoD side, on the VA side you are given a Military Service Coordinator (MSC) who assists you in filing your VA claim.

Your TBI is rated based upon the residual conditions that are associated with it. There are 10 facets that the VA looks at when determining the rating. The ten facets are below:

MEMORY
JUDGMENT
SOCIAL INTERACTION
ORIENTATION
MOTOR ACTIVITY
VISUAL SPATIAL
SUBJECTIVE
NEURO BEHAVIORAL
COMMUNICATION
CONSCIOUSNESS

You are given a rating of 0-3 and total in each of the areas by the examiner (0 = 0%, 1 - 10%, 2 - 40% and 3 = 70%, total = 100%) , who uses information found in your medical records as well as a face to face physical exam. You may be given neuropsychological testing.

Migraines are not considered a cognitive impairment and should be rated separately from the TBI.

Here is the rating schedule for migraines:

  • With very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability 50%
  • With characteristic prostrating attacks occurring on an average once a month over last several months 30%
  • With characteristic prostrating attacks averaging one in 2 months over last several months 10%
  • With less frequent attacks 0%
 
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Warrior644 said:
_______________________________***:D*** Happy New Year! ***:D***________________________________

Welcome to the PEB Forum! :)

Indeed, I am sadden to read about your current medical situation albeit the referral with acceptance into the DoD IDES was definitely the proper avenue of approach by your medical healthcare providers that this point in time for sure!

In reference to your specific inquiry "What are the VA doctors like?" from my experiences when in the DoD IDES process, I offer the viewing of my URL http://www.pebforum.com/site/thread...tements-within-c-p-examination-reports.18732/. As such, the DoVA Compensation and Pension (C&P) examinations are the medical documentation of record used by the MEB Physician to generate the Narrative Summary (NARSUM).

Nonetheless, please reference my specific URL for a detailed explanation about the DoD IDES MEB/PEB process:
Of most importance in my opinion while in the DoD IDES, never default acceptance to any injustices; fight then continue to fight some more until receipt of all desired outcomes supportive via medical evidence and/or medical documentation!

Moreover, if you foresee that your current medical impairment(s) shall have a severe affect on any potential future employment upon the successful completion of the DoD IDES process, you may want to consider applying now for SSA SSDI federal disability compensation. As such, I offer my following URL for additional information to potentially yield some assistance in the pursuit for any SSA SSDI disability compensation benefits:
With that all said, please take care and I hope for much success during your DoD IDES process proceedings! :cool:

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer!"

Best Wishes!
Click to expand...

Warrior644, thank you for your reply! And for this extensive information! Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I can't log in to my original account, not sure what happened.

So far I've already been through the VA briefing, the AW2 briefing, and met my PEBLO.

On Feb 4, permanent profile approved with P3 and E3, because of the focusing problems (have been going to vision therapy sessions for the past two months).
On Feb 8, will be going through the Legal briefing, and then filing the VA claim.


In the mean time my commander had already signed the Commander's Statement - I saw the email sent to him from PEBLO's assistant and then he just went ahead and filled out the form without talking to me or anything. After reviewing what he wrote - he put "I recommend to retain", is it going to matter? The thing is when I had my second TBI, the commander wasn't even notified by CoC that I went to the ER, he only found out the day he had to sign my new profile from the TBI Clinic (that was about a week later), how crazy is that?
So I asked my NCO and a battle buddy that was with me when it happened to write letters as verification of facts about everything that's going on with me. I feel like the Commander a lot of the time was in the unknown and not tracking. Should I submit those letters? Is Commander's Statement going to make a big impact?
 
gsfowler said:
C&P's are the compensation and pension exams that are either conducted by the VA itself, or a contractor the VA uses such as QTC.

You may be subjected to two different forms of VA doctors, those who will treat you for your injury and those who perform an examination for the basis of completing the disability benefits questionnaire (DBQ).

Typically the MEB process works like this, you are given a MEB referral by your primary care physician, you are then assigned a Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer (PEBLO). Those are on the DoD side, on the VA side you are given a Military Service Coordinator (MSC) who assists you in filing your VA claim.

Your TBI is rated based upon the residual conditions that are associated with it. There are 10 facets that the VA looks at when determining the rating. The ten facets are below:

MEMORY
JUDGMENT
SOCIAL INTERACTION
ORIENTATION
MOTOR ACTIVITY
VISUAL SPATIAL
SUBJECTIVE
NEURO BEHAVIORAL
COMMUNICATION
CONSCIOUSNESS

You are given a rating of 0-3 and total in each of the areas by the examiner (0 = 0%, 1 - 10%, 2 - 40% and 3 = 70%, total = 100%) , who uses information found in your medical records as well as a face to face physical exam. You may be given neuropsychological testing.

Migraines are not considered a cognitive impairment and should be rated separately from the TBI.

Here is the rating schedule for migraines:

  • With very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability 50%
  • With characteristic prostrating attacks occurring on an average once a month over last several months 30%
  • With characteristic prostrating attacks averaging one in 2 months over last several months 10%
  • With less frequent attacks 0%
Click to expand...

Thank you for all of the info gsfowler! Would it be appropriate to bring migraine log/journal to the VA appointments or give them to PEBLO?
 
Commanders' letter count, but they do not necessarily trump medical records. I had to MEB's, in both a cases the CC wrote a retain letter. During the first MEB I was retain, but on the second one I was retired. My only point is that the CC letter is not the final word.
 
arubin1 said:
Thank you for all of the info gsfowler! Would it be appropriate to bring migraine log/journal to the VA appointments or give them to PEBLO?
Click to expand...

Typically you do not bring anything to the C&P appointments, however you need to make sure they are getting to the MEB medical records technician. If they are not already in your AHLTA notes and the NARSUM does not acknowledge the frequency, you can do an IMR and present them to the reviewing physician.
 
arubin1 said:
Warrior644, thank you for your reply! And for this extensive information! Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I can't log in to my original account, not sure what happened.

So far I've already been through the VA briefing, the AW2 briefing, and met my PEBLO.

On Feb 4, permanent profile approved with P3 and E3, because of the focusing problems (have been going to vision therapy sessions for the past two months).
On Feb 8, will be going through the Legal briefing, and then filing the VA claim.


In the mean time my commander had already signed the Commander's Statement - I saw the email sent to him from PEBLO's assistant and then he just went ahead and filled out the form without talking to me or anything. After reviewing what he wrote - he put "I recommend to retain", is it going to matter? The thing is when I had my second TBI, the commander wasn't even notified by CoC that I went to the ER, he only found out the day he had to sign my new profile from the TBI Clinic (that was about a week later), how crazy is that?
So I asked my NCO and a battle buddy that was with me when it happened to write letters as verification of facts about everything that's going on with me. I feel like the Commander a lot of the time was in the unknown and not tracking. Should I submit those letters? Is Commander's Statement going to make a big impact?
Click to expand...
Indeed, you are welcome; no worries! :)

In my opinion, your immediate supervisor and buddy statements should provide additional validating evidence of your medical impairments albeit what is your expectation from the DoD IDES MEB/PEB process at this point (e.g., a "fit for duty" determination or an "unfit for duty" determination)?

As such, based upon your response to the aforementioned question may offer a potential course of action with the submission any additional medical evidence and/or medical documentation in order to assist your DoD IDES outcome desires.

In reference to the Commander's Statement, I concur with @chaplaincharlie's feedback; it's an important document but the overall determination of any "medically acceptable" or "medically unacceptable" finding by the DoD IDES MEB should be based upon the available totality of all medical evidence and medical documentation.

With that all said, please take care and I hope for much success during your DoD IDES process proceedings! :cool:

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer!"

Best Wishes!
 
Thank you all for your replies and for feedback!

@Warrior644 my expectations are to be found unfit. I was worried that the commander's statement might interfere with that. However, when I went to IDES legal help this week, they just confirmed what everyone else had already said. But I guess there is one way to find out for sure - to wait for the results of IPEB - and that should be soon, since all of my VA appointments are scheduled to take place in the next two weeks.

Thanks again everyone!
 
arubin1 said:
Thank you all for your replies and for feedback!

@Warrior644 my expectations are to be found unfit. I was worried that the commander's statement might interfere with that. However, when I went to IDES legal help this week, they just confirmed what everyone else had already said. But I guess there is one way to find out for sure - to wait for the results of IPEB - and that should be soon, since all of my VA appointments are scheduled to take place in the next two weeks.

Thanks again everyone!
Click to expand...
Okay, understood and that's a viable and realistic expectation; you are indeed welcome! :) Take care! :cool:

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer!"

Best Wishes!
 
@Warrior644 & @gsfowler

Thank you again for all the input you've provided to me so far. I just got my NARSUM today, and have some questions for you and to the forum regarding it. While the NARSUM is correctly written and addresses each of the issues that I have, one of the C&P, specifically the Neurologist, in his VA report notes said that I do not have a TBI and that it has been resolved. WOW!!!!! How crazy is that?????

That guy literally spent no more than 5 minutes with me, and I had to ask him what he wrote down and every time I had to ask him to make corrections to what he wrote.

He also said that I do not have any subjective symptoms such as:
Headaches with Migraines (one of the disqualifying conditions)
Tinnitus (which was verified in another C&P exam)
Visual impairment (verified in another C&P exam and also a disqualifying condition in my NARSUM)
Section 7 Subjective Symptoms - he checked "do not interfere with work" - I told him that many days my command has to release me early to go home or to a dark room/place because of migraines, and also that I have photophobia (another disqualifying condition), migraines, hypersensitivity to sound, and he didn't check any of these
Section 8 under neurobehavioral effects he said no effects even though the psychiatrical evaluation states otherwise (another disqualifying condition in my NARSUM)

And in his remarks he said:
"It is likely than not, that the claimed condition of TBI accounts for the current symptomatology or has exclusive causal relationship. Given the mild nature of 2 concussions suffered by the claimant in 2014 and 2015, one would expect physiologic resolution of symptoms rather than a clinical course of progressive worsening of symptoms. For the claimant's claimed condition of TBI (MEB referred condition), there is no diagnosis because the condition has been resolved"

WTF?????? Is there anything I can do to fight this guy's statement? My appointment with legal is on Monday, but I want to put together some evidence, but what can I use? Personal statements? Calendar of migraines? Doctors' notes? Obviously he hasn't looked through them at all. ALSO, WHAT CAN I DO PUT THIS GUY OUT OF PRACTICE? he is full of crap and should not be administering exams to soldiers. He said on his VA paper that he spent 1.5 hours with me. WTF??? I waited for him in the QTC office at the VA in Ft. Bragg for 40 minutes and he spent 5 minutes with me. How is he even allowed to do this kind of work?
 
arubin1 said:
@Warrior644 & @gsfowler

Thank you again for all the input you've provided to me so far. I just got my NARSUM today, and have some questions for you and to the forum regarding it. While the NARSUM is correctly written and addresses each of the issues that I have, one of the C&P, specifically the Neurologist, in his VA report notes said that I do not have a TBI and that it has been resolved. WOW!!!!! How crazy is that?????

That guy literally spent no more than 5 minutes with me, and I had to ask him what he wrote down and every time I had to ask him to make corrections to what he wrote.

He also said that I do not have any subjective symptoms such as:
Headaches with Migraines (one of the disqualifying conditions)
Tinnitus (which was verified in another C&P exam)
Visual impairment (verified in another C&P exam and also a disqualifying condition in my NARSUM)
Section 7 Subjective Symptoms - he checked "do not interfere with work" - I told him that many days my command has to release me early to go home or to a dark room/place because of migraines, and also that I have photophobia (another disqualifying condition), migraines, hypersensitivity to sound, and he didn't check any of these
Section 8 under neurobehavioral effects he said no effects even though the psychiatrical evaluation states otherwise (another disqualifying condition in my NARSUM)

And in his remarks he said:
"It is likely than not, that the claimed condition of TBI accounts for the current symptomatology or has exclusive causal relationship. Given the mild nature of 2 concussions suffered by the claimant in 2014 and 2015, one would expect physiologic resolution of symptoms rather than a clinical course of progressive worsening of symptoms. For the claimant's claimed condition of TBI (MEB referred condition), there is no diagnosis because the condition has been resolved"

WTF?????? Is there anything I can do to fight this guy's statement? My appointment with legal is on Monday, but I want to put together some evidence, but what can I use? Personal statements? Calendar of migraines? Doctors' notes? Obviously he hasn't looked through them at all. ALSO, WHAT CAN I DO PUT THIS GUY OUT OF PRACTICE? he is full of crap and should not be administering exams to soldiers. He said on his VA paper that he spent 1.5 hours with me. WTF??? I waited for him in the QTC office at the VA in Ft. Bragg for 40 minutes and he spent 5 minutes with me. How is he even allowed to do this kind of work?
Click to expand...

I ran into a similar issue. I too have suffered a TBI (twice), and the second one gave me seizures. The scale the VA uses to determine TBI severity etc, is very rudimentary, because my VA Neuro said both my TBIs were mild. How can you suffer a mild TBI when you have uncontrolled seizures at least twice a week? Makes no sense.
Anyway, where I had the issue was the TBI doc that did the C&P for me claimed that I had only mild TBIs and that I had 5 to 8 MINOR seizures per week. In his narrative, and discussions with my wife and I, he even contradicted his own statements. I talked to the VA, my MSC, and my PEBLO and I got the same answer from all of them, You can't change the C&P once its done, unless you appeal the findings/ratings.
What I did, was add a letter to my PEB package stating my concerns with the TBI exam, and including references to the CFR section that described epilepsy conditions and how they were rated. (I had other issues, like the exam was performed over the phone, while the Dr had a broken foot, waiting surgery and that his kids were running around in the background screaming and yelling)
I do not know if it made a difference because I have yet to receive my ratings, but it made me feel better. I was also assured by my local MSC that the raters review your record and the C&P exams, and rate accordingly, because the C&P exams are just not long enough for some conditions to truly understand the extent.

I hope this helps, and Good Luck!!
 
I am so sorry you are going through this. We have really struggles wight the TBI piece of the MEB/PEB process as well. My husband has ad several TBI's. A couple mild and one moderate. With literally hundreds of blast exposures. He was an explosives expert and trainer. There is no denying he has TBI and the C&P's seem to rate it and all the residuals fairly well. The issue we had was it being fitting. His neurologist on base here at the Concussion Care Clinic said it was not unfitting and refused to write an addendum. She said he could possibly go after migraines being unfitting. She blamed most of his symptoms on PTSD which he also has. So his board when up with only PTSD as unfitting. TBI is clearly shown on multiple MRI"s and medical records post accident. Neuropsych testing shows deficits but they claim they are not bad enough to be unfitting. Really frustrating since we feel TBI should also be unfitting. We were never told by IDES legal, peblo, RCC, etc about IMR or Meb rebuttal, letter w/ package etc. We were pushed to send it off without TBI being a referred condition. PTSD has been found unfit and we are waiting on ratings. We may need to consider a FPEB to get it added as unfitting as the residuals are all being rated as well. This is very frustrating and no one seems to know how to handle TBI.
 
ReinaCat said:
I am so sorry you are going through this. We have really struggles wight the TBI piece of the MEB/PEB process as well. My husband has ad several TBI's. A couple mild and one moderate. With literally hundreds of blast exposures. He was an explosives expert and trainer. There is no denying he has TBI and the C&P's seem to rate it and all the residuals fairly well. The issue we had was it being fitting. His neurologist on base here at the Concussion Care Clinic said it was not unfitting and refused to write an addendum. She said he could possibly go after migraines being unfitting. She blamed most of his symptoms on PTSD which he also has. So his board when up with only PTSD as unfitting. TBI is clearly shown on multiple MRI"s and medical records post accident. Neuropsych testing shows deficits but they claim they are not bad enough to be unfitting. Really frustrating since we feel TBI should also be unfitting. We were never told by IDES legal, peblo, RCC, etc about IMR or Meb rebuttal, letter w/ package etc. We were pushed to send it off without TBI being a referred condition. PTSD has been found unfit and we are waiting on ratings. We may need to consider a FPEB to get it added as unfitting as the residuals are all being rated as well. This is very frustrating and no one seems to know how to handle TBI.
Click to expand...
Thats unusual and it just shows you how different areas and doctors handle it differently. My neuro in his NARSUM covered my TBI, seizures, mood disorders, sleep apnea, and auditory processing disorder in detail. Basically everything that i was being seen for at the TBI clinic here he listed as referred conditions. And all of the conditions up there except sleep apnea were due to the TBI. (Sleep apnea did not get formally diagnosed until I was under care at the TBI clinic) Then on my VA claim we listed everything else in my medical record that we could think of. I had 16 conditions listed total, and when I went for my Eye C&P they found more issues. I am not sure if they will get included this time around or if I will have to submit a new claim for those.
Either way, I have heard similar issues to yours where they pick and choose the conditions. One person I know was found unfit for bipolar. He asked for a FPEB and all he wanted was for PTSD to be the unfitting item vice the bipolar. They agreed, and up'd his rating. He did not even have to go to DC for the board.
I hope everything works out for you.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies!

After I went to legal on Monday, the lawyer said there's no need to worry about this doctor and his statement as the VA is normally looking at all evidence. She said that there is no way to argue against that C&P exam, nor is it possible to do anything against that doctor. Wow. So I signed my NARSUM and submitted it to the PEBLO on Monday and now awaiting for the determination for the PEB for "unfit", hopefully it will come soon enough. The legal person also said that "Based on her experience in the IDES and after reading your NARSUM - you should be good as far as getting the medical retirement". Well, I guess only time will tell.

@ReinaCat sorry to hear about your husband's health and the multiple TBI's - I hope you get really good rating from the VA, PTSD alone should give you a good rating, but definitely go after the migraines. I know what's it like to have multiple migraines a week and don't wish it upon anyone.

@slayhert I hope you will get good ratings by the VA! Have you already been found unfit by the PEB?
 
arubin1 said:
Thank you everyone for your replies!

After I went to legal on Monday, the lawyer said there's no need to worry about this doctor and his statement as the VA is normally looking at all evidence. She said that there is no way to argue against that C&P exam, nor is it possible to do anything against that doctor. Wow. So I signed my NARSUM and submitted it to the PEBLO on Monday and now awaiting for the determination for the PEB for "unfit", hopefully it will come soon enough. The legal person also said that "Based on her experience in the IDES and after reading your NARSUM - you should be good as far as getting the medical retirement". Well, I guess only time will tell.

@ReinaCat sorry to hear about your husband's health and the multiple TBI's - I hope you get really good rating from the VA, PTSD alone should give you a good rating, but definitely go after the migraines. I know what's it like to have multiple migraines a week and don't wish it upon anyone.

@slayhert I hope you will get good ratings by the VA! Have you already been found unfit by the PEB?
Click to expand...

As soon as you get your VA C&P award, file a notice of disagreement and have the VA re-rate the condition. As long as you do it within 12 months of discharge, it will be back dated to your C&P award date. I would do it immediately however.
 
Well I've been found unfit since March 23, and PEBLO notified me "officially" on March 25. On the eBenefits website my status went from "gathering evidence" to "pending decision approval" to "preparation for decision" and has been sitting like that for almost a month. Today a new item showed up:

Request 1
Due Date: Not Available Status: Accepted

Not sure what that means, anyone has experience with this?

I am just freaking out a little bit, since almost everyone at my unit got their ratings back within 4 weeks, and for me that's tomorrow.
 
The best way to find out if your ratings have been completed is to look on eBenefits to see if a NEW claim has been opened. When they open a new claim, that will be used for your finalized decision.
 
arubin1 said:
Thank you everyone for your replies!

After I went to legal on Monday, the lawyer said there's no need to worry about this doctor and his statement as the VA is normally looking at all evidence. She said that there is no way to argue against that C&P exam, nor is it possible to do anything against that doctor. Wow. So I signed my NARSUM and submitted it to the PEBLO on Monday and now awaiting for the determination for the PEB for "unfit", hopefully it will come soon enough. The legal person also said that "Based on her experience in the IDES and after reading your NARSUM - you should be good as far as getting the medical retirement". Well, I guess only time will tell.

@ReinaCat sorry to hear about your husband's health and the multiple TBI's - I hope you get really good rating from the VA, PTSD alone should give you a good rating, but definitely go after the migraines. I know what's it like to have multiple migraines a week and don't wish it upon anyone.

@slayhert I hope you will get good ratings by the VA! Have you already been found unfit by the PEB?
Click to expand...
I am sorry I just saw this mention.
I got my ratings back on 4/15. 70% DoD 100% VA. The unfitting condition in my case was the TBI, and they gave me 70% due to my highest TBI facet being rated a 3. I also had Adjustment Disorder with Mixed Emotional features as a referred condition, that warranted 50% rating. But since BOTH the TBI Dr and the Pysch felt my Mental health issues were more related to the TBI vice actual psychological issues they dropped the mental health rating to 0% and wrapped in up in the TBI rating. They did that with several of my conditions.
My Cat 1 was TBI and I 4 cat 2: Epilepsy, Adjustment Disorder, Headaches, Cognitive impairment.
I am not sure where the cognitive impairment came from since that was not a mentioned condition/diagnosis on its own.
 
Finally my original case was closed yesterday with "Decision Notification Sent", I am guessing that means preliminary ratings completed? (DA199? hopefully) and another case was open with an estimated completion date in 2017 (not sure what to make of that yet)
 
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