I just received my rating of 60% today! Just going to provide my experience. I submitted my claim 9/18/2021, I had all of my C&Ps finished and was PFD by 11/30/2021. I called the WH Hotline twice and contacted my congressman multiple times. On Tuesday 7/12, I filed financial hardship and finally moved to PDA 7/16. Today 7/18 I moved to PFN and my claim closed! My claims included tinnitus, PTSD – MST and lower back pain.

Lower back pain evidence and C&P: I went to medical for my lower back pain before separating from the Navy in 2017 and was prescribed muscle relaxers, however I did not feel like I was being taken seriously so I did not seek further treatment for it. The only evidence I provided was a statement of how my pain affected me on my worst days. At my C&P, the appointment lasted maybe 10 minutes and the examiner asked me my experience with my back pain and what I thought caused it. I felt stupid the entire time (mainly because when I arrived at the doctors office, it was me, a 26-year-old female, with a bunch of older men in the waiting room lol) and even though I know the pain is real, I was gaslighting myself. Anyways, I did not feel as though I would be service-connected or rated anything, however, today I was rated 10% for Lumbosacral Strain.

For my PTSD-MST, I did not report these as at the time I did not understand what was happening and I was in a relationship with this person. I provided a personal statement of what happened and how I have been affected and a diagnosis from my therapist that I have been seeing for two years. That’s it. For this, I have to give a lot of credit to my examiner. I felt like she heard me and did her best to help me get this rating. She even told me at the end of our appointment that she was going to take a look at my record again for markers. I was rated 50% for this. Tinnitus was denied.

I am so grateful for the person who encouraged me to apply for disability 4 years after I separated and for the people in this forum who helped me through this process and offered advice! I was honestly expecting to get nothing and just prayed I would atleast get things service connected and go from there. Thank you so much! I am going to enjoy life for a bit and try to get my shit together!