VA faxed me my proposed ratings!

S

Snacks

PEB Forum Regular Member
PEB Forum Veteran
Registered Member
So after calling everyday this week and being shut down I convinced someone at the VA to fax me my proposed ratings! Still waiting on the AF to get back to me with the 199/356 but I can at least start planning and sleep a. Here is what I got:

Chronic Paroxysmal hemicrania 50%
Sleep Apnea 50%
Tinnitus 10%
Patellofemoral Syndrome (Left Knee Pain) 10%
Lumbar Strain (Lower Back Pain) 10%
Bilateral Hearing Loss 0%

Not too sure on what the VA math will work out to be but still happy.
 
guesstimate is 70-75% not sure how the combined ratings thing works out. check out the calculator in my signature block it was made by hutsky.
 
it is 80% from the VA, the key question is what conditions will be considered unfitting for your PEB rating?
 
Snacks said:
I was sent to the PEB for the Chronic Paroxysmal Hemicrania
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Snacks, great to hear that you were able to convince the VA to fax the proposed ratings! It sure is a shame that we have to find creative ways to get answers from them. If your unfitting condition referred to the PEB was Chronic Paroxysmal Hemicrania, then your ratings from them should be 50%...med retirement. I think your overall will be 50% DoD PDRL and 80% VA. Good luck, I think the circus music is starting to finally fade for you:)
 
usafaviator said:
Snacks, great to hear that you were able to convince the VA to fax the proposed ratings! It sure is a shame that we have to find creative ways to get answers from them. If your unfitting condition referred to the PEB was Chronic Paroxysmal Hemicrania, then your ratings from them should be 50%...med retirement. I think your overall will be 50% DoD PDRL and 80% VA. Good luck, I think the circus music is starting to finally fade for you:)
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It was really easy. Didn't even have to make up some story. I really think every person that works there is told something different and there is no set standard. Now if it were only easy to get AFPC to get there things together. Happy though...At least till next week. The circus music will never stop...It kind of replays in my head kind of like all the music from survival school.
 
Just got the email that my PEB is back from AFPC. Will go sign the finding here in a bit. I already know my ratings here is to hoping for PDRL.
 
Alright...findings are in...

50% DoD/ 80% VA TRDL...With every 6 month re-evals
 
usafaviator said:
Congrats, those are great numbers! Why did they TDRL vd PDRL?
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Well update to the update...Going to have the MEB JAG office review my file. I called and asked about why I had a 6 month re-eval and why the TDRL clinic listed Psychiatry along with Neurology. He said they normally require 6 month reeval on mental health cases. I was like I was not being boarded for mental health. I said in my NARSUM and even in the remarks section of the 356 it states. "TWO MENTAL HEALTH EVALUATIONS FOUND NO PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS FOR HEADACHES." He said something sounds wrong and that it could be a typo since they like to copy and paste or they could be trying to back me into a mental health corner. Just when I thought the madness would end! I also found numerous errors in my form 356. Wrong first name on the second page and in the remarks section instead of him they have her (e.g. maintain close follow up with her physicians). Makes me think someone copied and pasted all there shit. The MEB JAG office is requesting my file from the PEBLO and an extension to my 10 days. Hope I can get this fixed without going toa FPEB. GOD WILL THIS EVER END!?
 
Yeah, it sounds like you need to push to have the blatant errors corrected and dig into the whole headache issue/TDRL a bit. Hang in there though, you're almost done!:)
 
I totally expected TDRL just because a headache is considered a unstable condition but I need to hammer this 6 month reevaluation out. If it comes down to it and I have to go to FPEB then I will just sign it and play the game. Seems silly to have a reeval every 6 months but oh well not my money being wasted. And I will play the game of going to psychiatrist and prove to yet another doctor it is not a mental health headache. Hopefully the MEB JAG can just call AFPC and tell them to change it cause they are wrong. If not I will sign it as is because I refuse to deal with the ass pain of a FPEB for someone who half asses a piece of paper. If I did my job the way the PEB did there's, a plane would crash and 13 people would be dead.
 
I agree that you should talk to the MEB JAG and see what can be done to change from TRDL to PDRL. It will most likely take an FPEB though, and I agree....dealing with another board is ass pain. If you do have to stick with the TDRL, you know what you have to do to do what makes sense to you.

Snacks said:
If I did my job the way the PEB did there's, a plane would crash and 13 people would be dead.
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I agree, and from one Air Commando to another...I appreciate your work!
 
Snacks said:
Aviator you are the shitznit
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Has the treatment helped at all? I am just wondering if maybe the PEB thought process was treatment options exist that might alleviate the symptoms in the near future. If you have run the gauntlet, or don't believe in the treatment, I would imagine a good argument could be built for PDRL. Also, what is the rating criteria that would bump this up or down? I don't remember seeing this in the VASRD and would like to find it and see what it says.

Thanks Snacks...
 
pittpan2005 said:
Has the treatment helped at all? I am just wondering if maybe the PEB thought process was treatment options exist that might alleviate the symptoms in the near future. If you have run the gauntlet, or don't believe in the treatment, I would imagine a good argument could be built for PDRL. Also, what is the rating criteria that would bump this up or down? I don't remember seeing this in the VASRD and would like to find it and see what it says.

Thanks Snacks...
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Pitt,
I have been on 20 different medications with no relief. I also have had a couple nerve block injections with no relief and it actually hospitalized me.

The way the VA rated me on this is strange. My headaches were on set when I got a bad sinus infection 2 years ago. And ever since then I have had them. I claimed on top of everything else chronic sinusitis. As you can see I didn't get awarded anything for it. However, the VA said that since there is not rating for my type of headaches what they did is combine it with a sinusitis rating. The VASRD rating I got for my headache is 6512. So I got the highest rating I could get which is 50%. Only place I can go is down. I think the VA hooked me up because they were about to deny my headache rating but the VA rater emailed my doctor and told him she didn't want to deny a claim I was entitled to. The sinus description in the VASRD states something about problems after surgeries and headaches. I did have sinus surgery 2 months ago to pull out a large tumor. The surgery did not help with my headaches and I have had more sinus infections since than before. So weird how the VA rated it but then again I am not complaining about 50% cause it seems like most guys with migraines only get 30%. Hope this gives you some clarification.
 
Talked to the JAG office just now. The lawyer is currently in his office looking at my stuff and will have guidance for me by COB today or early in the morning. Hope they can make something happen. Don't know if I could handle the thought of a FPEB.
 
Snacks said:
Talked to the JAG office just now. The lawyer is currently in his office looking at my stuff and will have guidance for me by COB today or early in the morning. Hope they can make something happen. Don't know if I could handle the thought of a FPEB.
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Thanks for clarifying. That's makes sense and glad they rated you for them. I have to say placing you on TDRL seems pretty dumb. I hope it works out for you and they award the PDRL.
 
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