Berta,
Thank you for your response and inspiration to continue to press forward. Sorry for your loss. This is a marathon not a sprint. I tried to find how to attach the response from my claim and could not find the attach button.
So here goes...
From the VA for Contention Diabetes Mellitus
Service connection for diabetes mellitus is denied since this condition neither occurred in nor was caused by service.
Service connection is denied for diabetes mellitus on a presumptive basis because the medical evidence fails to show a diagnosis within the required period after military discharge.
Your service treatment records do not contain complaints, treatment, or diagnosis for this condition. We did not find a link between medical condition and· service.
Initial Diagnosis for DM1 wasn’t until January 2005 by a Civilian Endocrinologist at the age of 34 years old.
Insulin and C-Peptide, Serum Test
Insulin Fasting <2.0 L
C-Pepticde, Serum 1.0 L
I have been in the care of 4 Endo’s since then. My last Endo didn’t believe that I was DM I either and he repeated the C-Pepticide test and came to the same DM1 conclusion. The Army never did this test nor did the proper 1 month follow up on the High Blood sugar readings in my file. I requested an evaluation after seeing the 144 number and they blew me off even after I told them about my urinary problems.
Other things to note in my file
1) I had a lot of knee and ankle problems; ruptured my Achilles tendon.
2) Throughout my military service I had many respiratory infections; sinusitis and bronchitis
3) Frostbite
4) Urinary infection issues
My feeling is if I would have reenlisted I probably would have been medically discharged at some point. Thanks again for your time.
Mark