Well some good news. For the first time since I separated, I decided to pour over my SMRs. I thought I was pretty healthy but I look at 7.5 years of records and suddenly I feel like I was sick all the time. I had bronchitis 3x, upper respiratory infections twice, was prescribed SIX different inhalers in my 7.5 years. I even complained of shortness of breath 2x (one they attributed to stress, one to costochondritis). So perhaps it was there all along and just was never noticed and it got aggravated with my final job in the military or by something shortly after I separated?
Here's the ultimate nugget though, from my graduation physical back in October of 2010, "In comparison with the two prior studies (the doctor is referring to two previous studies of my chest in August of 2007 and January of 2010), there is again mild peribronchial thickening and interstitial prominence of the mid to upper thoraces bilaterally."
Per wikipedia, peribronchial thickening (referred to as peribronchial cuffing)...
Peribronchial cuffing is seen in a number of conditions including:
acute bronchitis
asthma following exercise or during an acute episode
...it goes on to list numerous other diseases of the pulmonary/cardio systems. But the very first two are one I now have and bronchitis which per my records I had 3x not including upper respiratory infections.
At one point one doctor even noted, "Appears to have stranding in RML infiltration", which upon further research means, thickening of the bronchial wall which is related to chronic bronchitis and asthma which is what was mentioned above. So this was clearly a thing I had going on the entire time it seems.
Additionally, during the military I had tons of leg issues. I never realized how many times i went to the doctor for them though (let the record show, I never missed a physical fitness test and my best 1.5 mile was 7:22, so no I didn't try to get out of testing!). I have like 3-4 doctors visits for leg injuries and some ungodly amount of physical therapy sessions (something like 3 dozen with many lasting 30 minutes to an hour). Those physical therapy sessions spanned from 2007 to the final one in 2013. So maybe I will get some respite on those issues.
So for those who have dealt with this entire process, does this seem like any decent standing?
Additionally, here's the schedule of ratings for asthma,
6602 Asthma, bronchial:
FEV-1 less than 40-percent predicted, or; FEV-1/FVC less than
40 percent, or; more than one attack per week with episodes of
respiratory failure, or; requires daily use of systemic (oral or
parenteral) high dose corticosteroids or immuno-suppressive
medications....................................................................................................... 100
FEV-1 of 40- to 55-percent predicted, or; FEV-1/FVC of 40 to 55
percent, or; at least monthly visits to a physician for required
care of exacerbations, or; intermittent (at least three per year)
courses of systemic (oral or parenteral) corticosteroids...................................... 60
FEV-1 of 56- to 70-percent predicted, or; FEV-1/FVC of 56 to 70
percent, or; daily inhalational or oral bronchodilator therapy,
or; inhalational anti-inflammatory medication.................................................... 30
FEV-1 of 71- to 80-percent predicted, or; FEV-1/FVC of 71 to 80
percent, or; intermittent inhalational or oral bronchodilator therapy.................. 10
My FEV is roughly 60% which is equivalent to 30% disability. However, I take an oral/inhaled corticosteroid (beclomemethasone diproportionate) at the highest dose possible 2x a day every day and have been since I was diagnosed. They originally had me on a middle dose but it only showed marginal improvements in my condition. So the switch to the highest dose has gotten me to 90% ish although I still frequently have to take very deep breaths to relax/breath and I use albuterol still before I run.
Thoughts on that?