Just got boarded, have questions that I cannot find answer to..

IstillLoveVistaBaby

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So I'm being MEB'd and likely PEB'd for multiple conditions that I have. I just discovered this place a few days ago, is this the right subsection of the forum to post my case story and some questions about what to do next?

Active duty, flyer (formerly). Flt docs are trying to get me stable first before handing me off to the MEB process, in short some severely limiting physical injuries and complicated mental health problems / sleep issues have become pretty horrible to the point where I can't workout, can barely and hardly sleep, am unable to function normally, and even move around without being in extreme pain.

Why do they want to wait until I'm more stable before starting the MEB? What does this mean? They also mentioned for me to start logging everything to work through the IDES process (ie medications taken doctors seen for this & that etc)
 
Well first and foremost your medical sounds like they have your best interests in mind.

Its in your best interest to be as stable as possible before the process starts so they can write a better prognosis. For example, my shoulder has a surgical anchor in it. I went for my C&P exam just after the 1 year mark after surgery. If I had gone for my C&P exam 2 months after surgery they wouldn't be able to say much in their prognosis because they'd have no idea if I would get better.

Keeping the full log every day is smart advice.
 
I agree with @jahlon. You flight doc appears to have your 6.
 
What happens if you don't get stable soon enough? Ahh here it goes... in short, I have spondylolithesis of L5-S1, disc rupture/tear at L4, slight stenosis, arthritis of my joints, especially knees where it is IT band syndrome. On the mental side: major depression/anxiety, horrible migraines, recursive memories of a bad sexual encounter (before I got married) constant sleep issues which just got diagnosed as narcolepsy. The back pain is pretty severe and I am not going to do surgery, I'm only 26. The chiropractor I see gives me the only relief, but tricare doesn't cover chiropractic if your base doesn't have one, however the VA does.

I hurt my back on duty and have witnesses who saw it go out.

The doc mentioned that for the mental health aspects, it's not a matter of a security clearance / military issue anymore, and that they just need me to get better. So does this mean that separation is very likely after this MEB processs? They have me on all kinds of sedatives first like valium, then clonozepam, then ativan, none of which realyl helped with the sleep issues. Then for my anx/dep they had me on lexapro, that didn't work so now been on cymbalta for 2+ months and it doesn't do anything but make me more tired and dizzy and a little nauseous. I think I'm going to ask them to try something else next visit (base psychiatry / pscyhology)

My original plan was to do this contract then re apply for a pilot slot (I' was a nav until this medical thing happened). But since my security clearance may not be valid after this as the doc hinted at, what am I looking at? I'm curious is it the drugs that have X'd me? Or just me being honest telling them that their treatment doesn't help me. Also the narcolepsy diagnosis was a few days ago so I don't know how that's going to change their treatment.

If they're going to separate me I want to be able to continue seeing a psyche, as well as a physical therapist and a chiropractor, can it be possible to keep my healthcare because none of this happened to me before I was in the military? I have all my records to prove and back up everything I've been talking about, just have to organize them.
 
Ok, lets break this down.

Mental Health (Read Psyche) Conditions: Medications are a big disqualifier. Certain medication (mainly anti-psychotics) prevent you from staying in the military. There are a whole array of diagnosis you can have and stay in the military. There are however, a whole array of diagnosis which are incompatible with military service. You generally have 12 months of mental health treatment before the docs decide if what your true prognosis is. Now, it doesn't always have to be 12. If they came up with schizophrenic, psychosis, or other out of the normal conditions, they will work faster than 12 months. In my case, I had 22 months of treatment before the MEB ball started.

Now, your topic of flight status. If you have to be on any medications, realize you are most likely not going to get flight status. These guys have to report anything they take (and I do mean anything).

For your personal health: Keep working with your team to try he different drugs to see what works for you. Trazedone isn't too bad, Zoloft works well for daytime anxiety. Atarax (Hydroxyzine) is really good for sleep at 100mg, no real sluggish side effects and withdrawing from it is easy. Your tolerance drops after about seven days off it, so its really mild, but it does work.

Your back: Yes, you have the right to decide not to do surgery; however, if the military says you need it, and you don't take it, then you reach and impasse. The military will try to do "everything" they can to fix you. If they can't do everything you've basically elected to not get better. Shitty situation, but that's the game. Also, on the you can't see a chiropractor, I'm not sure if that's 100% accurate. I've been sent off base for chiropractic services due to need.

If they are going to separate you, you will more likely than not get awarded VA disability by what you have said. That would allow you to continue getting treatment.

Depending on how many years you have in service is what will decide if you get retired, severance, etc.
 
So what happens if they cannot stabilize me? If cymbalta doesn't work for relieving symptoms of depression / anxiety what is the next class of drug that they will try? I'm not schizophrenic, psychotic, or having any personality disorders. I also have very low testosterone and it was tooth and nail trying to convince them to let me see an endocrinologist for hypogonadism. I had to go see a urologist because of the random flare-up of orchitis / epididymitis so now I can't get testosterone boosters until that blows over to try and conceive (another problem I've been having is fertility).

I'm a complete mess at the moment, and still trying to piece together what they're going to make of my case. I can barely function on a day to day b asis.

I've been active duty 2 years 2 months, but when do they decide on your VA disability, is it during the MEB process or afterwards? I don't think I'll make it to 3 years being unstable like this... How can I find out if severance is assured and whether or not it full be full or half?

Also the orthopedic doctor the flight doc referred me to does not recommend surgery for grade I spondylolisthesis because it is just something debilitating that will affect your life. It is symptomatic and very painful / mobile limiting.
 
So what happens if they cannot stabilize me? If cymbalta doesn't work for relieving symptoms of depression / anxiety what is the next class of drug that they will try? I'm not schizophrenic, psychotic, or having any personality disorders. I also have very low testosterone and it was tooth and nail trying to convince them to let me see an endocrinologist for hypogonadism. I had to go see a urologist because of the random flare-up of orchitis / epididymitis so now I can't get testosterone boosters until that blows over to try and conceive (another problem I've been having is fertility).

I'm a complete mess at the moment, and still trying to piece together what they're going to make of my case. I can barely function on a day to day b asis.

I've been active duty 2 years 2 months, but when do they decide on your VA disability, is it during the MEB process or afterwards? I don't think I'll make it to 3 years being unstable like this... How can I find out if severance is assured and whether or not it full be full or half?

Also the orthopedic doctor the flight doc referred me to does not recommend surgery for grade I spondylolisthesis because it is just something debilitating that will affect your life. It is symptomatic and very painful / mobile limiting.

If they cannot stabilize you, they will eventually move to a RILO (Review in Lieu of) and then most likely proceed with the MEB process. Medication therapy is long and tedious, because two drugs in the same family can have totally different affects on you, and then even when they find one that works, sometimes it only works for a short period because your body builds up a tolerance to it.

You will get your VA ratings and your DOD ratings during the MEB process. This should help if you haven't already seen it.
 
If they cannot stabilize you, they will eventually move to a RILO (Review in Lieu of) and then most likely proceed with the MEB process. Medication therapy is long and tedious, because two drugs in the same family can have totally different affects on you, and then even when they find one that works, sometimes it only works for a short period because your body builds up a tolerance to it.

You will get your VA ratings and your DOD ratings during the MEB process. This should help if you haven't already seen it.

So what happens during a RILO? I've seen something like that, so I'm looking at anywhere between 6-9 months for AC? (i'm actvie duty). Any advice on how to spend your time during these waiting periods?
 
Good luck with medications man. I've been on 12-13 different meds for my panic disorder and nothings worked for me. I'm still trying different ones since there are a LOT of different kinds. I'm hoping you have better luck than I've had.
 
A RILO is just a quick once over for them to see what they can see. Its just a quick way to get people Returned to Duty versus making everyone go through the full MEB.

As you can see in my signature block, it took 1 week from the time my package went for the I-RILO to the time AFPC came back and directed a full MEB.

I am fully confident my package will be back down to AFPC by the 17th of May, which puts my whole MEB/VA C&P step at 8 weeks or less.

The next long pole is going to be waiting for VA ratings.
 
A RILO is just a quick once over for them to see what they can see. Its just a quick way to get people Returned to Duty versus making everyone go through the full MEB.

As you can see in my signature block, it took 1 week from the time my package went for the I-RILO to the time AFPC came back and directed a full MEB.

I am fully confident my package will be back down to AFPC by the 17th of May, which puts my whole MEB/VA C&P step at 8 weeks or less.

The next long pole is going to be waiting for VA ratings.

What happens then if they can't stabilize AND the RILO says not to return to duty? Yours had them start an MEB due to the results of the RILO directing an MEB be initiated immediately? So just to be clear, a RILO or an I-RILO, whichever applies to me for active duty, will analyze my current condition, state to return to duty or start an MEB immediately if the person it is reviewing is in an unstable condition?
 
Not necessarily.

My mental health doctor still had to write up his NARSUM (Narrative Summary).

My provider had seen me for 7/8 months when he wrote his, but he had 15 months of notes from my prior base.

The big thing is they have to have 2 parts for any condition Diagnosis and Prognosis.

If you aren't stable, they may not be able to do the prognosis. Until the prognosis is "Won't/can't get better" your MEB is not going to start because you are still fit (or may yet become fit) for duty.
 
With the recent diagnosis of narcolepsy, I'm unsure how they are going to proceed. That on top of the other issues just compounds my medical profile into looking like a horror dossier. The usual drugs to treat narcolepsy often work unfavorably against the results of other medications for other conditions ( i.e. stimulants for narcolepsy <--/--> anti-depressants for anxiety / depression ).

Thus I'm in a medical mobius strip here. I've only gotten this from the sleep study and haven't seen my providers yet, will next week, but not sure what to do now. Other than that the killing pain of an epididymitis / orchitis flare-up (pray to God you never have this, it's worse than depression) debilitates me to not moving around at all on some days more so than my back injury.

Can they make a prognosis if I am unable to get better? I can't control the speed at which this is happening. My life feels like its passing me by.
 
Given everything you've said, yes you are going to be in for a long ride on your MEB, but you are probably done with the military.

Your appointments next week will be crucial for prognosis.
 
My life feels like its passing me by.[/QUOTE said:
I 100% understand this feeling. Its tough, but there are people out there who can help us with this. We have a Wounded Warrior Program manger on our base and he might be able to help you start to plan out your care and future lifestyle. See if your base has one, and if they don't, I'm sure there is a regional office of some kind. If not, PM me and I'll ask my guy how you can find your rep. If nothing else, its one more resource to help you when thing go wrong.
 
Given everything you've said, yes you are going to be in for a long ride on your MEB, but you are probably done with the military.

Your appointments next week will be crucial for prognosis.
Jahlon,

I just completed my C&P exams. Will the results be sent directly to my MSC? And what happens after that - are they sent to the PEBLO, etc..? thanks.
 
Jahlon,

I just completed my C&P exams. Will the results be sent directly to my MSC? And what happens after that - are they sent to the PEBLO, etc..? thanks.

They will be sent to the MSC who will send them to your PEBLO who should share them with you. Then are then bundled up with your NARSUM, commanders letter, medical record and send to the IPEB.
 
Can anyone tell me how to calculate VA disability ratings for my conditions and compare them to what the VA calculates?
 
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