Has anyone filed more than 1 mental health claim? I understand that you can only be rated once for mental health. My question is if I'm already rated at 50% ptsd can I file a chronic pain claim as well? Do they combine the ratings to give you one? For example if I am rated at 50% ptsd and the symptoms with my chronic pain would put me in the 70% category will they combine them?
Filing a second mental health claim
- Thread starter KC13
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What is the chronic pain for? If you look at the 38 CFR the Mental health is more based on your symptoms and they give examples of what those would be. I think Chronic pain plays a factor in ratings as you act differently in pain then not in pain. It honestly comes down to how you answer your DBQ on how your rating will shake out.
Ok So your the same as me then. You would get one rating for the back and one for mental health. The mental health will be rated on the following:
0% – This category is for veterans who have the diagnosis but do not show enough symptoms to impair work performance or social functioning or to require regular medication. No compensation is awarded at this level.
0% – This category is for veterans who have the diagnosis but do not show enough symptoms to impair work performance or social functioning or to require regular medication. No compensation is awarded at this level.
- 10% – In order to meet this rating, a veteran must have mild symptoms that impair work performance and social function only during times of high stress. This rating is also appropriate for veterans whose symptoms are managed by continuous medication.
- 30% – This rating requires a generally regularly functioning veteran to have work and social impairment with occasional decreases in work performance due to symptoms from their diagnosed disorder. At times, veterans in this category may be unable to do certain tasks related to work due to their symptoms. These symptoms range from depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness, weekly or less frequent panic attacks, trouble sleeping, to mild memory loss.
- 50% – This rating requires a veteran to have regular impairment of work and social functioning due to their symptoms. The symptoms may range from a flattened affect (not being able to show any emotion, good or bad); “talking in circles;” panic attacks that happen more than once a week; trouble understanding complex commands; poor short- and long-term memory; impaired judgment; trouble with abstract thinking; disturbances in motivation or mood; and trouble making and maintaining relationships.
- 70% – In order to meet the criteria for this rating, a veteran must suffer from
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;picture class="wp-image-6818"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; source type="image/webp" srcset="https://2cifs12chxqx3agryc2g13kr-wp...positphotos_182626626_m-2015-300x200.jpg.webp 300w, https://2cifs12chxqx3agryc2g13kr-wp...positphotos_182626626_m-2015-768x512.jpg.webp 768w, https://2cifs12chxqx3agryc2g13kr-wp...19/01/Depositphotos_182626626_m-2015.jpg.webp 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 373px) 100vw, 373px"/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; img src="https://2cifs12chxqx3agryc2g13kr-wp...01/Depositphotos_182626626_m-2015-300x200.jpg" alt="US soldier struggling with mental disorder" width="373" height="248" srcset="https://2cifs12chxqx3agryc2g13kr-wp...01/Depositphotos_182626626_m-2015-300x200.jpg 300w, https://2cifs12chxqx3agryc2g13kr-wp...01/Depositphotos_182626626_m-2015-768x512.jpg 768w, https://2cifs12chxqx3agryc2g13kr-wp...ds/2019/01/Depositphotos_182626626_m-2015.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 373px) 100vw, 373px"/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; /picture&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;<span class="fr-marker" data-id="0" data-type="true" style="display: none; line-height: 0;">&amp;#8203;</span><span class="fr-marker" data-id="0" data-type="false" style="display: none; line-height: 0;">&amp;#8203;</span>There are many symptoms that may cause impairment such as continuous depression and others.”<span class="fr-marker" data-id="0" data-type="true" style="display: none; line-height: 0;">&amp;#8203;</span><span class="fr-marker" data-id="0" data-type="false" style="display: none; line-height: 0;">&amp;#8203;</span>
impairment in most, if not all, of the following areas: work, school, family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood. There are many symptoms that may cause impairment, among them suicidal ideation (thoughts of suicide); obsessive rituals interfering with daily activities (for example, compulsive hand-washing); illogical, obscure, or irrelevant speech; continuous panic or depression affecting the ability to function on one’s own; impaired impulse control (for example, irritability with periods of violence in response to minor inconveniences); spatial disorientation (getting lost or disoriented); neglect of personal appearance or hygiene (intentionally or unintentionally not showering or brushing one’s teeth); difficulty adapting to stressful circumstances, including at work; and inability to make or keep up professional and personal relationships. Even if you do not have any other disabilities, a single mental condition rated at 70% means you may be qualified to receive individual unemployability benefits. - 100% – The highest possible rating. A veteran rated at 100% is considered totally disabled. As such, the requirements for this category are very severe. A veteran who receives this rating must be totally impaired due to symptoms such as overall impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations (believing things that are not true or seeing and/or hearing things that are not there); inappropriate behavior (for example, undressing oneself in public); persistent danger of hurting self or others (including suicide attempts); recurrent inability to perform activities of daily living (this includes feeding oneself, bathing oneself, dressing oneself, and using the toilet); disorientation to time (being unsure of time of day, date, or year) or place; memory loss to the degree of forgetting the names of close relatives, one’s own occupation, or one’s own name. This rating entitles you to the same benefits as an award of individual unemployability.
I have occipital neuralgia, sciatica in both legs and have 40% rating for my back. So I am in a pretty good amount of pain throughout the day. It gets worse throughout the day. Chronic pain is typically tied to an injury. That's why I was asking what yours was. You need a diagnosis, nexus and service connection for direct service connection. For Secondary's you need a diagnosis and a link leading one injury to the new injury. Example being: Your back causes you to walk differently and because of this you now have hip issues. etc.
In your case you could request for an increase in your rating, or turn in a supplemental claim to try to raise your PTSD because it is exacerbated by your back pain. Which makes sense for most of us. Just keep in mind they can lower your rating as well when you do that. That choice is yours alone to make. But as far as chronic pain being its own rating.....I don't think that's the case. There are things I know that are claims for instance fibromyalgia but I don't know anything about how that is because I don't have it. There is also a number of radiculopathy claims if you have those issues, but again need a diagnosis and link with current direct service connections for that.
In your case you could request for an increase in your rating, or turn in a supplemental claim to try to raise your PTSD because it is exacerbated by your back pain. Which makes sense for most of us. Just keep in mind they can lower your rating as well when you do that. That choice is yours alone to make. But as far as chronic pain being its own rating.....I don't think that's the case. There are things I know that are claims for instance fibromyalgia but I don't know anything about how that is because I don't have it. There is also a number of radiculopathy claims if you have those issues, but again need a diagnosis and link with current direct service connections for that.
Thank you. This was very helpful. I guess need to decide the right path to take.