Posted on Jul 26, 2016
Still a chance for a Medical Evaluation Board (MEB)?
Suspended Profile
60.6K
18
7
I am currently Active Duty Army looking at a Chapter 18 discharge "Honorable Discharge". I was doing a rotation in Kuwait last summer and I got a Mild TBI during combatives. Since then I have had nothing but problems. Started getting seen for depression and anxiety. Consistent mild headaches directly after the injury for 3 months and multiple symptoms that have stayed with me since injury. After the 3 months I started to develop in my opinion migraines. Once these terrible headaches/migraines started my doctor in Theater had me go do a CT scan which was the only thing they could do and according to them it was normal. "Note that I failed the MACE test after the injury, I went to the ER the day of injury and was put on quarters back to back for 7 consecutive days." The Doctor told me that they were going to send me to either Germany for a few weeks of testing to get everything covered as long as my Command would approve. Well they didn’t and decided to send me back to the States to my unit. I was told that all the treatment I needed was back on my home base. Problem was it wasn’t on my base. I am with an Army unit that is stationed on an Air Force base and the closest Army base is 45-55 minutes away. Another problem is I don't have a Driver’s License. So my leadership said they would give me rides to my appointments by using the Government vehicle and help me out after a month of being back. I went and seen the same TBI doctor at the nearest base who's only treatment provided was Acupuncture. I tried it maybe 3 times and each time they did it I told them I feel relaxed but I still have pain in my head. I asked after the first and third time I got the treatment if there was anything else they could do and the doctor got very angry at me and told me he couldn’t do anything else and if I didn’t do the acupuncture that I would be denying help and would not be trying to get treatment. He referred me to another Army Base that is 2 hours away and I went there a total of 2 times. Once for TBI and once for Neurology. After my appointment in March to Neurology they stopped giving me transportation or even someone to take me in their own vehicle. I would have been more than willing to pay my own money for gas and what not to get to the appointments. So after all the medications not working and all the treatments showing no affect I finally after 4 months finally got to see the Neurologist. The Neurologist gave me a 200 unit injection of Onabotulinumtoxina all around my head and in my traps. Ever since then my headaches and migraines don’t come as frequent but now they come maybe 2-3 times a week and are extremely bad in reference to pain. I haven’t been able to work out properly since November because when I strain too much or don’t get enough air I get a jolt of pain into my head and it usually stays with me all day. It makes me feel week and I have extreme light sensitivity and nausea. I haven’t seen any specialty doctors since March because I can’t get to my appointments. I recently got married and have my next appointment already set up so my Wife can take me. But after 3 month of fighting for a MEB and 7 months’ worth of temporary profiles the MEB physicians have denied my case and will not let me get a MEB. My chapter has been on hold since I started fighting for a MEB. The ombudsman couldn’t win my case and my leadership isn’t helping me at all because they just want me gone at this point. I tried resting my case about my weight because of the antidepressant I was on and got off of it once I actually had a chapter set to me after telling the doctor that it was making me very sleepy and also gaining a lot of weight fast but they didn’t care about that.
Ive had muliple doctors tell me there is no evidence or thoughts of Malingering. Also that my notes for my medical stuff is all welly wrote and documented. So I have no idea why this is all happening the way it is.
So now my question is what can I do if anything? I see 1 thing that maybe could help me but don’t know if it will work. AR 40-501, 3-30 says that the neurologist can refer to MEB if treatment doesn’t work. Could I still get the MEB if got a referral for MEB from the Neurologist in my upcoming appointment which is my first since March or not? Any help or information at all will be more then appreciated! Comments or messages work fine. Thank you!
Ive had muliple doctors tell me there is no evidence or thoughts of Malingering. Also that my notes for my medical stuff is all welly wrote and documented. So I have no idea why this is all happening the way it is.
So now my question is what can I do if anything? I see 1 thing that maybe could help me but don’t know if it will work. AR 40-501, 3-30 says that the neurologist can refer to MEB if treatment doesn’t work. Could I still get the MEB if got a referral for MEB from the Neurologist in my upcoming appointment which is my first since March or not? Any help or information at all will be more then appreciated! Comments or messages work fine. Thank you!
Medical
Medical Board
Retention
Law
Edited 8 y ago
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 3
Medic here, with lots of experience dealing with and processing MEB's.
Allow me to be blunt: from everything you have just described, your case has very little to no merit in terms of an MEB. Here's why:
-Initial injury was mild, and appropriately managed
-Subsequent persistent symptoms have not been alleviated by multiple different treatment regimens
-Physical examinations, radiographic imaging, and laboratory tests yielded no meaningful or remarkable results (physiologically, there is no structural abnormality or other clear pattern of injury)
-Multiple specialists and providers have had an opportunity to manage injury with little to no relief of symptoms
You've actually shot yourself in the foot by claiming that absolutely nothing that they've done has helped. 99.9% of the time, modern medicine is capable of working miracles, especially when you talk about the Army, who is at the forefront of TBI care and management. For you to claim that half a dozen doctors and specialist care providers, combined with the entire weight of cutting-edge medicine, have collectively been unable to treat and manage your symptoms means one of two things. Either A) you are the special 0.1% for whom no modern treatment has been developed, in which case I'm sorry because that sucks, and your only solution is to wait for medicine to advance enough to help you. Or, more likely, B) you are not a special snowflake and have overexaggerated or entirely fabricated your symptoms in an effort to gain compensation for a nonexistent or extremely minor injury.
Occam's razor tells me that the simplest explanation is often the most accurate. So either you've undergone a year of various treatments up to and including Botox injections in your head, none of which have had ANY impact on your pain; OR you're a PV2 looking down the barrel of a premature separation due to a failure to meet weight standards, trying to grasp at straws to milk your enlistment for every last penny.
Let me bottom line this for you--I've treated dozens of soldiers for all kinds of TBI. I've had guys knocked out in blasts, guys who've fallen off trucks, guys who've had their bell rung by a burly dude named Bubba. And every last one of them had demonstrable, observable, and treatable symptomology. I wish you good luck with your chapter, and hope that you find relief from the ills that plague you.
Allow me to be blunt: from everything you have just described, your case has very little to no merit in terms of an MEB. Here's why:
-Initial injury was mild, and appropriately managed
-Subsequent persistent symptoms have not been alleviated by multiple different treatment regimens
-Physical examinations, radiographic imaging, and laboratory tests yielded no meaningful or remarkable results (physiologically, there is no structural abnormality or other clear pattern of injury)
-Multiple specialists and providers have had an opportunity to manage injury with little to no relief of symptoms
You've actually shot yourself in the foot by claiming that absolutely nothing that they've done has helped. 99.9% of the time, modern medicine is capable of working miracles, especially when you talk about the Army, who is at the forefront of TBI care and management. For you to claim that half a dozen doctors and specialist care providers, combined with the entire weight of cutting-edge medicine, have collectively been unable to treat and manage your symptoms means one of two things. Either A) you are the special 0.1% for whom no modern treatment has been developed, in which case I'm sorry because that sucks, and your only solution is to wait for medicine to advance enough to help you. Or, more likely, B) you are not a special snowflake and have overexaggerated or entirely fabricated your symptoms in an effort to gain compensation for a nonexistent or extremely minor injury.
Occam's razor tells me that the simplest explanation is often the most accurate. So either you've undergone a year of various treatments up to and including Botox injections in your head, none of which have had ANY impact on your pain; OR you're a PV2 looking down the barrel of a premature separation due to a failure to meet weight standards, trying to grasp at straws to milk your enlistment for every last penny.
Let me bottom line this for you--I've treated dozens of soldiers for all kinds of TBI. I've had guys knocked out in blasts, guys who've fallen off trucks, guys who've had their bell rung by a burly dude named Bubba. And every last one of them had demonstrable, observable, and treatable symptomology. I wish you good luck with your chapter, and hope that you find relief from the ills that plague you.
Had very similar issues as what you are describing, though I did not seek a MEB. Ultimately, your main concern should be solving the issue by means you can achieve through personal action. I highly recommend drinking large amounts of liquid, setting very strict sleeping patterns, eating well, and working out until achieving profuse sweating every day. If you get headaches during exercise, take OTC anti-inflammatory medication to minimize it. Go until you literally pass out; for you will have a much better case for a MEB if you do, and for good reason.
TSgt (Join to see)
Don't get me wrong, shit sucks. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but it worked for me.
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google
I'm with SPC Shaffer here. Your story sounds unbelievable- suffering symptoms like yours with zero objective findings over the course of months of working with specialists, all after what would be a quite minor mechanism of injury. Couple that with disciplinary problems and facing potential discharge for HT/WT issues, and it makes this all the more unbelievable.
Secondly, your trauma may indeed have caused you pain upon exercising, but as TSgt (Join to see) has pointed out, if you have the drive to succeed in the military, physical fitness is something that can be maintained with appropriate dietary restrictions and exercise, regardless of ongoing pain. As I said before, I have treated many other soldiers with TBI who experienced headaches when they exercised, but found ways to maintain their fitness within Army standards.
Every indication you have given is that you are attempting to attribute the woes in your life to the one root cause of "I got hit in the head a year ago". The harsh, difficult truth is that you have made countless decisions that led you to this juncture in your life. The only decision that was made for you in this entire process was someone hitting you in the head during MACP (and realistically, you were well-informed of the risks of participating in that program).
Ask yourself the following questions, and be honest with yourself.
-Did I do everything in my power to adhere to the recommendations of my providers? Or did I doubt their expertise and do what I felt was best in spite of their advice?
-Did I push myself to the absolute limit of my physical abilities in order to maintain my fitness? Or did I sacrifice my physical fitness for the sake of avoiding pain or discomfort?
-Did I prioritize my health above all other concerns, and make getting better my first priority? Or did I split my attention between other desires, thereby sacrificing my potential for recovery?
This is not a dig or an attack on you. This is shining a light at some very uncomfortable places that will help you better make the transition to civilian life by understanding what truly led you to your military separation. I sincerely hope you recognize the impact your decisions and actions have on your future, and take to heart the wisdom and advice that the many, many people in your health care team have likely given you regarding your issue.