ANG withholding IPEB results? TIME SENSITIVE!

Today I was given a "memorandum for HQ AFPC/DPFDD" subject: Non-duty related fitness determination.

Essentially I'm being told I have three options: accept an involuntary non-duty medical discharge, appeal to FPEB w/ representation, or appeal without.

I am diagnosed bipolar disorder directly after returning from training. With no history of mental health issues, I'm being told the burden is on me to prove that the on-set of symptoms or aggravation thereof is LOD. My personal psych attests to the aggravation being duty related.

furthermore our doctor on base submitted my paperwork to MEB before having all of my files and stated that I was AWOL throughout the process. She was confronted about it iand now swears to me that this memorandum I received today is the IPEB's determination after including ALL the missing paperwork.

I have not been allowed to review the paperwork she submitted. I have no packet outlining the IPEB's determination. The doctor on base is trying to almost scare me into not appealing this outcome, telling me the FPEB will pull all my medical records since the beginning of time in order to deny my appeal.

My question is, am I entitled to see what the doctor said about me and assure its validity? Shouldn't there be a paper defining the results of my determination? Will they really scrounge through every doctor i've ever seen to find something against me?

I have 15 days to respond to this and yet I can't help but feel like they're withholding information/ bullying me into giving up

( if pictures of the memorandum would help i will post them gladly)
 
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Get a lawyer. Not only will they be able to advise you on your decision, they will be able to request all the paperwork and see what was sent up. Contact the Office of Airman's Counsel at Randolph. You should have seen the results for sure. You have to sign the form and indicate your intentions i.e.. you accept what they said, or you wish to appeal. I saw my entire packet prior to submittal to the IPEB and was given the opportunity to even submit/correct anything and write my own memorandum in regards to it all. The FPEB will definitely have access to your entire medical history. However, they are usually only concerned with whatever pertains to the appeal. For example, mine was for migraines, and they didn't go into asking me questions about my shoulder or back issues etc. You have a right to receive a full copy of your medical records through records management that way you will know everything they will have access too. I requested a copy of mine prior to my FPEB to gather all the evidence of my migraines from 2003-present so if they asked anything about stuff from 10 years ago I knew exactly what they were referencing. If you submit he appeal to the FPEB, you can always retract it at a later date as well.
 
Have your psych that states it is duty related fill out a mental health Disability benefits questionnaire aka DBQ. Submit this to the PEB and upload via Ebenefits site.
 
How the DBQ will be rated by VBA raters:



(Notice how the first sentence about occupational and social impairment here below are EXACTLY the same as section 3 on the DBQ... This is not an accident or coincidence!!! It absolutely means something!!)

VA mental health Rating criteria key wording:
Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought process or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including maintenance of minimal personal hygiene); disorientation to time or place; memory loss for names of close relatives, own occupation, or own name …………………..100%

Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood, due to such symptoms as: suicidal ideation; obsessional rituals which interfere with routine activities; speech intermittently illogical, obscure, or irrelevant; near-continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function independently, appropriately and effectively; impaired impulse control (such as unprovoked irritability with periods of violence); spatial disorientation; neglect of personal appearance and hygiene; difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances (including work or a worklike setting); inability to establish and maintain effective relationships ...................................... 70%

Occupational and social impairment with reduced reliability and productivity due to such symptoms as: flattened affect; circumstantial, circumlocutory, or stereotyped speech; panic attacks more than once a week; difficulty in understanding complex commands; impairment of short- and long-term memory (e.g., retention of only highly learned material, forgetting to complete tasks); impaired judgment; impaired abstract thinking; disturbances of motivation and mood; difficulty in establishing and maintaining Effective work and social relationships ………………..50%

Occupational and social impairment with occasional decrease in work efficiency and intermittent periods of inability to perform occupational tasks (although generally functioning satisfactorily, with routine behavior, self-care, and conversation normal), due to such symptoms as: depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, panic attacks (weekly or less often), chronic sleep impairment, mild memory loss (such as forgetting names, directions, recent events) ............................ 30%

Occupational and social impairment due to mild or transient symptoms which decrease work efficiency and ability to perform occupational tasks only during periods of significant stress, or; symptoms controlled by continuous medication .................. 10%

A mental condition has been formally diagnosed, but symptoms are not severe enough either to interfere with occupational and social functioning or to require continuous medication .............................. 0%




It seems to me you have two distinct separate battles ongoing. One for your LOD investigation, get an attorney on that ASAP! The second is to get rated properly, if you go through the VA exams they will always tend to water things down so follow my advice on getting your current treating psych to fill out the DBQs as they will hold more weight and the VA will have to accept the higher rated of the two. I did this and in my case VA rated mental health at 50% and my civilian psych filled out the DBQ at 70%. So in the end, I got 70% for mental health...
 
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