Tomio

Gastone and Berta. Thanks for your posts. I am a 68 yr old Asian male who weighs 138 pounds with a BMI of around 23 and I have a scrawny 14 and a half inch neck. I have never smoked and have not drank alcohol in over 20 years. There is no family history od sleep apnea and I have no abnormalities in my oral and throat area. I can't understand why there has been so little success in this area

Gastone, yes I believe I did. In addition to the form I submitted 12 pages of new evidence to include comments that statements made by RO and CP examiner were erroneous. For instance, to contradict the RO's statement that outside medical records noted that chemicals and infection caused me to black out and fall off a ladder resulting in TBI, my treating physician wrote a statement on which he stated that he thoroughly reviewed all treatment records from the date of the incident and 6 months later and found no mention of chemical exposure and the only comment about infection, was that there was NO infection present at the time of the incident. He also submitted another statement where he concluded that it was more likely than not a causal relationship between my service connected diabetes and my subsequent diagnosis of sleep apnea. I assume that 12 pages of attachmentS should constitute new and material evidence

I am brand new to this group and was surprised not to find any posts about claiming sleep apnea as secondary to diabetes type 2. Perhaps I'm just not looking hard enough. My claim for diabetes was approved as presumptive due to agent orange exposure My sleep apnea was disapproved as not being service connected. I submitted an NOD claiming my sleep apnea as secondary to my service connected disability. I did a lot of research in this area and found several articles which clearly stated that diabetes can cause sleep apnea. I submitted excerpts from these articles acknowledging that these articles address the general population and not my particular case. I also submitted a statement from my physician who has been my treating physician for over 20 years. In his statement he said that I was diagnosed with diabetes while under his care and subsequently diagnosed with severe sleep apnea requiring the wear of a CPAP machine. He clearly stated that he's in the best position to comment on my medical history and current situation. He concluded that based on well known studies and based on his personal knowledge if my medical situation, he can eliminate possible causes of sleep apnea such as obesity, neck and throat characteristics, smoking, and alcohol consumption and conclude that is more likely than not that there is a causal relationship between my service connected diabetes and my subsequent diagnosis of sleep apnea. I did a search on BVA decisions on this subject and was surprised to see so few and was even more surprised about the win loss ratio. Of 6 cases, only one was approved and that one was based on the veteran claiming that because he was diabetic, he was prescribed medication that caused him to become obese and because of his obesity, he developed sleep apnea. He also submitted doctors statements from several doctors supporting his contention. I believe two cases were remanded and all the remaining cases were quite weak on my opinion. The reason I'm posting this is because I'm trying to find that glimmer of hope while I await the decision of the DRO. Anyone out there have any advice or encouraging words for this guy.

I sent in an NOD requesting DRO review about two months ago. Nothing appeared on ebenefits so I sent an ISIS message. Took them 2 weeks to reply (ignore their note that days reply would be sent in 5 workdays) Return meggage said NOD was received but ebenefits is a little behind Message said a letter was sent to me asking if I wanted DRO review. Msg said ignore letter because I already asked for DRO in NOD. Here's the killer. Average time for DRO review 631 days