One Disabled Veteran's Experience with PTSD

Occasionally, I run across stories from disabled people on the internet that I share with the readers of this blog. The reason is simple: most of my disabled clients do not realize that there are thousands of other people just like them...experiencing the horrible effect of some illness or injury that keeps them from working too.

If you suffer from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), have a family member that does, or just want to understand how PTSD impacts someone, I encourage you to visit this blog post: Female Vet With PTSD. After 9 years in the regular Army, this soldier relates her experiences with symptoms and the reactions of others. She talks about how the VA does not believe everything she told them in her claim for service-connected compensation. Perhaps the most difficult thing that she relates - and it is something I hear from female veterans a lot - her husband (also in the Army) simply was not supportive and did not understand.

Sometimes, it is important just to understand that your symptoms are not strange. In fact, they are often common. You just don't know that because you are the only person you know with a particular condition.

If you or someone you know suffers from PTSD, I urge you to find a support group. Call you local VAMC or even ask at the local Legion or VFW post. I am sure you know someone who has PTSD too....they are just afraid to talk about it to others, because, like you, they feel that they are alone.

If your claim for service-connected VA Disability compensation was denied, call Veterans Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260 for a free consultation. Copyright (c) 2011 by John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved.

Navy researcher may have found key to Gulf War Syndrome

USA Today reported on May 12, 2011 that a Navy researcher studying the dust inhaled by veterans of Irag, Kuwait, and Afghanistan may have found the cause for the many symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.

Kelly Kennedy, reported:

"From my research and that of others, I really think this may be the smoking gun," says Navy Capt. Mark Lyles, chair of medical sciences and biotechnology at the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. "It fits everything — symptoms, timing, everything."

Lyles and other researchers found that dust particles — up to 1,000 of which can sit on the head of a pin — gathered in Iraq and Kuwait contain 37 metals, including aluminum, lead, manganese, strontium and tin. The metals have been linked to neurological disorders, cancer, respiratory ailments, depression and heart disease, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers believe the metals occur both naturally and as a byproduct of pollution.

The Department of Defense has not accepted the dust as the cause of the symptoms found in Gulf War Syndrome. It found the dust is "not noticeably different from samples collected in the Sahara Desert and desert regions in the U.S. and China."

SOURCE: USA Today online edition, May 12, 2011.

For assistance with your Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call VA Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.

Female Vets Get PTSD Too

With more and more females being exposed to combat operations, the incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for women in the military is bound to increase. When added to PTSD resulting from things like sexual assault, this is likely something the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will have to address in its medical system in the future.

LestweforgetPTSDSupport.com is a good resource for Vets and their families as they deal with PTSD and the impact it has. They have a good page on "Women in Combat and PTSD" which I encourage everyone to read.
If you know a Veteran who has had their service-connected compensation claim denied, call Florida VA Disability Attorney John Tucker at (866) 282-5260 for a free consultation. Our firm represents veterans and their families across the United States in appeals to the Board of Veterans Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

Copyright (c) 2011 by John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved.

Social Security and VA Benefit Payments Go Paperless Starting Today - May 1, 2011

To reduce costs, the U.S. Treasury is going paperless. Starting May 1, 2011, the Treasury Department will begin phasing out paper checks. Benefit payments for things like Social Security Disability, SSI and Veterans Compensation will be made through electronic funds transfers directly into recipients' bank accounts. It is estimated that it will take 2 years to change the entire system away from paper checks.

The government estimates that this will save $1 billion over the next decade. This is in part due to the large influx of baby boomers who will begin receiving Social Security retirement checks - 18 million or so. Though a lot of people already get benefits directly deposited into their banks, the government still cuts paper checks to 11 million people.

Anyone that is receiving a check currently will have to change to direct deposit by March 1, 2013. The Treasury Department is saying that they will notify recipients of how to make that switch. If someone does not make the change, they will receive a Direct Express card.

Many of my clients have been doing this for years, and it works very well. Once benefits start, I have never had a client tell me they had a problem with their deposit being made on time.


Copyright (c) 2011 by Florida Disability Benefits Lawyer John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. All rights reserved. For assistance with your Long Term Disability claim, ERISA Disability benefit claim, Social Security Disability claim, or Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.

VA Urges Veterans to Sign Up for Direct Deposits

Treasury Department Publishes Final Regulation to Phase Out Paper Checks by 2013

WASHINGTON (Dec. 21, 2010)- The Department of the Treasury announced a
new rule that will extend the safety and convenience of electronic
payments to millions of Americans and phase out paper checks for federal
benefits by March 1, 2013. Officials at the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) urge Veterans to sign up for electronic payment of their
benefits.

"Receiving VA benefits electronically will increase the security,
convenience and reliability of these vital payments," said Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "VA encourages Veterans who are now
receiving their benefits in paper checks to set up direct deposits
before the deadline."

On March 1, 2013, VA will stop issuing paper checks. People who do not
have electronic payments for their federal benefits by that time will
receive their funds via a pre-paid debit card. Called the Direct
Express card, it is issued by Comerica Bank as the financial agent of
the U.S. Treasury.

Another deadline affects people receiving VA's compensation or pensions
for the first time after May 1, 2011. Those people will automatically
receive the benefits electronically.

Anyone already receiving federal benefit payments electronically will be
unaffected by the changes. To learn more about the federal government's
switch to direct deposit - or to change VA benefits to direct deposit --
visit http://www.godirect.org. Information about the federal government's "Go
Direct" campaign is also available at 1-800-333-1795.

Along with payments for VA benefit, the change will also affect
recipients of payments from Social Security, Supplemental Security
Income, Railroad Retirement Board,or Office of Personnel Management.

For more information about VA benefits and programs, go to www.va.gov or call toll free 1-800-827-1000.

John V. Tucker and Tucker & Ludin, P.A. represent Veterans in claims for compensation based upon service-connected disabilities and non-service connected pensions. For assistance with your Veterans compensation or pension claim, call Attorney John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.

Veterans: How to Download Your MyHealtheVet Personal Health Record

On August 2, 2010, President Obama announced the “Blue Button” capability that allows Veterans to download their personal health information from their MyHealtheVet account. The government wants Vets to have control of this information to enable Vets to share the data with health care providers, caregivers, or people they trust. Download yours at myhealth.va.gov.

The My HealtheVet Personal Health Record (PHR) is comprised of self-entered health metrics (blood pressure, weight, heart rate, etc.), emergency contact information, test results, family health history, military health history, and other health related information. The Blue Button extract that Veterans can download is a so-called “ASCII text file”, the easiest and simplest electronic text format (see a sample Blue Button file).

Blue Button PHRs can be printed, or saved on computers and portable storage devices. Having control of this information enables Veterans to share this data with health care providers, caregivers, or people they trust.

For assistance with your Long Term Disability claim, ERISA Disability benefit claim, Social Security Disability claim, or Veterans Disability compensation or pension claim, call Disability Lawyer John Tucker at (866) 282-5260.