VA Disability Ratings and how to cure them.

[Dadams09]

Hey everyone! 

I'll start off with the essential "sorry if this post is incorrect I'm a new guy." I'm looking to get some answers I've been hard pressed to find on VA disability ratings and whether mine are passable or overall what needs to be done in my circumstance; as well as for anyone that has medical records accessible in the military system.

Essentially, I was a former paratrooper in the Army. As is to be expected with paratrooping (and the infantry in general), your body gets rocked a bit, and I left the service with a 90% disability rating. With that, I'd like to say I'm still in excellent condition and am active; even leaving with a class 1 medical status and am able to reenlist and still on IRR status. I believe genuinely in the case of my C&P the doctor was trying to help me out and word the conditions to increase a case for disability once hearing I was a paratrooper.

I just genuinely wanted to be examined and checked out for any future issues. Taking the advice on most of the people I knew getting out at the time and the medical staff themselves I was told to report everything just so I could go through examinations to see if there even was an issue at all. Funnily enough, all I did was go through the C&P with no follow on examinations and no real medical history leading up to that point. 

FINALLY, The questions I have are:

- How are disability ratings viewed when getting back into the military?

- What should I do about my disability ratings and medical history (if anything)?

- Does this medical history disqualify me permanently; or are waivers possible at all?

- How do you lower or drop VA disability ratings? 

- What records and medical history is accessible by SG?

Some greater explanation is "Not Service Connected" were the issues to be found non-existent. 

The TBI worries me the most as I'm not sure where that even came from. The only thing I could think of is my motorcycle accident though I didn't even lose consciousness or report it as such. I especially didn't have memory loss or insomnia and even headaches. The rest of the body pains come from being infantry and him aiding me out though I could receive doctors notes and much more that I am fine. My only final issue is a torn labrum and SLAP tear in my right shoulder that I haven't had surgery on. Though I plan to undergo physical therapy and overall I have full mobility and it's strong; but if physical therapy fails I may get surgery on it. 

ruptured spleen/ pain in chest		Not Service Connected
right thigh limitation of flexion	0%	Service Connected
right shoulder labral tear, superior labral, anterior-posterior lesion with frequent dislocation (claimed as bilateral shoulder)	30%	Service Connected
bilateral hearing loss		Not Service Connected
shortness of breath		Not Service Connected
left wrist sprain (claimed as left wrist condition)	10%	Service Connected
left shoulder strain (claimed as bilateral shoulder condition)		Not Service Connected
traumatic brain injury and insomnia disorder (claimed as TBI/memory loss, insomnia, headaches)	40%	Service Connected
lumbosacral strain (claimed as back condition)	10%	Service Connected
left knee strain (claimed as bilateral knee)	10%	Service Connected
right hip strain (claimed as right hip)	10%	Service Connected
right ankle deltoid ligament strain (claimed as right ankle)	10%	Service Connected
Tinnitus	10%	Service Connected
painful motion, right shoulder labral tear, superior labral anterior-posterior lesion (SLAP)	20%	Service Connected
right knee strain (claimed as bilateral knee)     I know this seems a lot, though like I said, I don't have much medical records on any of these outside of that one C&P exam which is the part that maddens me most. I'll still send it and see what happens at Wright-Patterson, I just wanted to know whether to get my hopes up or not; and to start preparing any documents that are needed. I still plan on getting further exams through the VA and trying to clear this up. Just so far, the VA isn't very receptive.  Thank you guys again, and I'll explain more on my health stuff if needed!	10%	Service Connected

Edited May 24, 2021 by Dadams09
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[Tonka]

I would talk with a local VSO, they are free to chat with and usually have a lot of good advice - YMMV. Also, you’ll need to walk a thin line here, if you go in with the attitude, “LOL, none of this is true” they may go after you for fraud… and want you to pay back your disability payments. Even if you didn’t lie anywhere/time, you saw there were errors and didn’t say something earlier.

I would instead go in with the attitude that “I’ve really improved”, which is more plausible and even expected, which is the reason the VA does periodic re-evals…

[Dadams09]

On 8/30/2021 at 12:16 AM, Tonka said:

I would talk with a local VSO, they are free to chat with and usually have a lot of good advice - YMMV. Also, you’ll need to walk a thin line here, if you go in with the attitude, “LOL, none of this is true” they may go after you for fraud… and want you to pay back your disability payments. Even if you didn’t lie anywhere/time, you saw there were errors and didn’t say something earlier.

I would instead go in with the attitude that “I’ve really improved”, which is more plausible and even expected, which is the reason the VA does periodic re-evals…

Thanks for the reply, sir! I've chatted a bit with some VSO's and the advice has been the same. I'm waiting to be seen again; and with COVID the face-to-face check-ups haven't been rolling. Just gathering up the paperwork and medical records and hoping to get checked up in a year and I'll see where to go from there.