- Did you come home from the Gulf War
with an inexplicable illness?
My name is Zack Evans.
I'm a VA disability benefits attorney with Woods & Woods,
a nationwide VA disability benefits firm.
It's estimated that about 35% of Gulf War Veterans,
suffer from Gulf War illness,
a chronic debilitating array of interrelated issues,
characterized by diffuse physical pain,
fatigue, mental fog,
gastrointestinal disturbance and skin rashes.
While there's mounting evidence
that points to chemical exposures,
and nerve agent inoculants,
the ultimate cause is not well understood.
The mysterious nature of Gulf War syndrome,
and difficulty in pinpointing the source,
has left many veterans feeling neglected,
and forgotten by their own government,
especially as the war drums have beaten onward
into Afghanistan back to Iraq,
Africa and Syria.
Gulf War veterans have watched today's
news cycle pivot to more recent conflicts,
especially as today's currently serving combat troops,
were not born during the September 11 2001 attacks,
and especially the Persian Gulf War.
For nearly 30 years,
veterans have seen little movement from their government,
in advancing the way that we treat or understand,
Gulf War illness.
A common tactic employed by the VA
in Gulf War illness cases,
is to take a veterans file,
review multiple doctors differing opinions,
from primary care providers to specialists,
and attempt a concrete diagnosis
after a single consultation.
If the VA can pigeonhole your condition
into a specific diagnosis,
and by definition,
it is not an undiagnosed or medically unexplained condition.
The key to these types of cases
is to argue onset and to develop evidence
that supports your timeline of your illness.
The VA can play games with the way
they label your illness.
But if your symptom onset occurred
while you were in service,
you are owed service connection.
During your C&P exam,
the VA examiner will likely do an exhausting accounting,
of your family's medical history.
It will seem disproportionately focused
on your non-service connected conditions.
This is intentional.
There are very few open-ended,
"so when did this all come about" kinds of questions,
that you'll hear in these exams.
You shouldn't be surprised by this,
the VA is looking for an out.
Chronic Fatigue must be a sleep hygiene issue,
associated with anxiety related to finances,
separate from combat-related PTSD.
Another example,
intermittent painful rash,
the veteran likely has some type of contact dermatitis
and should change his fabric softener.
It sounds ridiculous,
but you'd be surprised the kinds of things
that turn up in these exams.
Make sure you are given the chance to tell your story
and to convey your timeline of onset for your illness,
there's nothing more important than these exams.
The VA examiner is going to do everything that they can
to dictate the pace of the exam
and to control the conversation.
You must make sure your voice is heard.
The examiner may try to interrupt or redirect you,
but this is your exam.
This is about your conditions and the story behind them.
The best way to combat the VA's attempts
to give you a concrete diagnosis,
for a medically unexplained chronic condition,
is to focus on the facts that you do know.
When did this begin?
How has it worsened?
What is your condition like now?
How has it impacted work?
Stick to your guns and tell your truth,
the facts which you know are indisputable.
Remember, everything you say will end up
on the record in your appeals.
Make sure you discuss your onset
truthfully and completely.
Don't leave anything out.
That way,
if VA examiner Jim wants to stand on the migraine diagnosis,
and say that it's unrelated to Gulf War syndrome,
that's fine.
Since you've told your story
and you've gotten your timeline on the record.
In that same exam, VA Jim,
is going to have to explain why your onset
discusses how all of these symptoms
and conditions started,
while you were on active duty in Saudi Arabia.
Why am I telling you this?
Because if the VA is going to pick a horse
in your Gulf War exam,
we can make them ride it and win anyway.
I'm Zack Evans with Woods & Woods attorneys.
Give us a call.
[Soldiers Marching]
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