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Sleep Apnea claim with only a diagnosis from active duty?

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afvetwife2000

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I'm new here so I hope I am doing this right. I am actually the wife of the vet that is filing a claim. In April of 2011, 2 weeks before being placed on TDRL for a heart condition, my husband had a sleep study done at a VA sleep center. The result was sleep apnea and recommendation was a CPAP machine. Because he was on TDRL he did not pursue VA benefits. He also did not receive (didn't ask either) for a CPAP machine. We didn't realize that was recommended until recently when we requested the diagnostic paperwork. My husband has been completely separated from the Air Force since October of 2015 (no longer on TDRL).  In Nov 2016 he filed a claim that included sleep apnea. The sleep apnea was denied in May of 2016 as it said it was not service connected. That's when we called the sleep center and requested the diagnosis to be printed. We assumed the VA would have access to this because they said they did not need him to send any medical records, they could filter through them on their own. Once we got it printed from the sleep center he "reopened" the case (didn't know he should have just appealed) and included the diagnoses paper. As far as any other history related to sleep problems while he was enlisted.. it is documented a couple of times that he visited the military hospital post deployment for sleep issues and was told to take Benadryl.  He never thought of going to the doctor because he snores a lot.. we always assumed he had sleep apnea but honestly didn't realize how dangerous it could be so he never went to the doctor about it while active duty. He just went for the study before being put on TDRL because like I said, we knew by his symptoms he had it and he wanted it documented. We are in the process of waiting to see if he will get denied again. I'm including the diagnosis information we have. Based on what you guys usually see.. do you think he has a chance of getting benefits? He was rated at 0% for his heart so no benefits currently

*Overall sleep architecture was consistent with sleep disordered breathing. The patient demonstrated a severe degree of sleep fragmentation (arousal index 82.6/hr). The majority of these arousals were secondary to sleep disordered breathing(SDB). The patient slept 114.4 of 282.0 minutes in the supine position. The lowest oxygen saturation was 86%. The patient had a periodic limb movement of sleep (PLMS) index of 0.9/hr and a PLMS arousal index of 2.77/hr. The EKG revealed no abnormalities. EEG no abnormalities.

IMPRESSION: Obstructive Sleep Apnea

RECOMMEDATIONS:

1. Discuss with patient treatment options considering CPAP or surgical evaluation

the rest is just about if patient was CPAP what to do.

 

 

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Carry your "Naughts," SC SA DX'd requiring use of Cpap or Bipap = 50% Rating. The Comp Rate $836.13 x the number of mos since your original SA Claim file Date, should be the total amount of his Retro Deposit.

Be sure your Direct Deposit Bank/CU account, is set up to notify you by Txt/Email on a real time basis regarding ALL Financial Transactions.

Retro should hit before the Award Letter.

What other Medical Problems does he have? CAD, Depression, Hypertension, other Pulmonary Problems?

Semper Fi

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Got the packet in today. It shows that he'll get backpay from Nov. 2015 for the 30% until Aug. 2016 when they got info that he was prescribed a Bipap.  Here's the thing.. they are holding his backpay. It says that is because he is retired.... He's NOT. He was separated in Oct. 2015 from TDRL.  He just called and they told him it could be 2 months for it to go through DFAS to show he isn't retired and then get the backpay. Also said the reg pay won't start until Nov 2016

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4 hours ago, afvetwife2000 said:

He did already have a service related rating of 0% related to heart problems that he will be appealing later on ( one thing at a time right now).

afvetwife2000--- NAM Vet with boots on ground, "heart problems" ;automatically qualifies for compensation...and this should be retro back to when he was rated "0"..jmho...thomas

 

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Also.. I was informed today by someone that because my husband received severance pay for his heart condition (after being on TDRL) that it will have to be paid back. He is rated at 0% for heart but now 50% for sleep apnea. His sleep apnea was not a reason that he was separated... it was only because of his heart. In fact.. sleep apnea was found a few days before he went on TDRL.  So... can they really hold his sleep apnea pay to pay back that severance?

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