TDRL 1st Examination - Outcome: 100% rating reduced to 10%

jdreew

New Member
Registered Member
Hello Everyone,

Pretty new on here but wanted to share my experience and get some input.

I was discharged in September 2017 with Bipolar Type II (unstable) with a rating of 100% for both DOD and VA and was placed on TDRL. I did my first TDRL examination in June and received notification from the PEB that they are reducing my rating from 100% to 10% and be removed from TDRL with severance pay. After completing my TDRL examination I requested for the summary of the findings for my review but the doctor who did the evaluation never gave it to me. In essence the first and last notification I got pertinent to my case was just the letter from the PEB informing me of their decision.

I did of course request for a formal hearing and was notified yesterday of the date being on September 18. I'm pretty anxious with how this will turn out to be. Having a Bipolar disorder you never know how your cycles can impact your livelihood, so I am a bit confused to why the Navy wants to call it quits with me and give me severance pay when at the end of the day I will be facing the struggles of a Bipolar disorder for the rest of my life.

Please feel free to share your experience if they are similar to what I have mentioned above. All inputs are welcomed, thanks in advance!
 
Welcome to the forum Jdreew. If you don't have legal counsel yet, you absolutely need it. The owner of this site provides this type of service if you are in search of one. @Jason Perry (1-800-576-5648) www.peblawyer.com

That is definitely a huge swing going from 100% - 10% and absolutely worth fighting. Keep us posted on how your case goes.
 
First sign up for a premium account on myhealthevet and look at your CP exams! Or walk into any VA clinic and ask for a copy of your records, CP exams will be there.

Second, have your currently treating mental health doctor fill out a VA disability benefits questionnaire


Then notice on the form question 3A. This is the occupational and social impairment statement that the VA rater looks at to determine your percentage for mental health.

This is the rating criteria:

General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders:

Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as:
gross impairment in thought processes 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.
 
Now once you’ve seen how they went from 100 to 10 based on your occupational and social impairment statement, get your currently treating MH doctor to fill out a DBQ and submit that as evidence along with any other medical records since you’ve been out that the PEB May not have seen. They have to have some justification, a drop of 90% is a LOT!!!

Fight back and lawyer up. But most importantly educate yourself!
 
You would have to have jump down your PEBLO's throat to get a copy of the exam the examiner is not the one that forwards it to you only your official liaison.

Most of these large reductions tend to have some common dominators 1. Are you in college or some Voc-Rehab Program? did you go to college at all since discharge? Are you currently working at all? How has your follow up treatment with the VA or your private provider been, have you been keeping up with meds?
 
Now once you’ve seen how they went from 100 to 10 based on your occupational and social impairment statement, get your currently treating MH doctor to fill out a DBQ and submit that as evidence along with any other medical records since you’ve been out that the PEB May not have seen. They have to have some justification, a drop of 90% is a LOT!!!

Fight back and lawyer up. But most importantly educate yourself!

Thanks for your response. The MH provider I was seeing retired earlier this year. With the minimal resource Veterans have here on Guam I was forced back to see a provider through the VA. Will it be ok for me to have my MH provider with the VA fill out the DBQ?
 
Thanks for your response. The MH provider I was seeing retired earlier this year. With the minimal resource Veterans have here on Guam I was forced back to see a provider through the VA. Will it be ok for me to have my MH provider with the VA fill out the DBQ?

To overcome reductions the DBQ usually has to address the negative evidence the first examiner gave you, you need a copy of the first exam ASAP.
 
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