Galen Rogers

I am 40% SC for right knee, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (right and left arms), Reflux, and Allergic Rhinitis. I was original denied for chronic Sinusitis but I am filing a CUE for that because it was definitively diagnosed and listed several times in my MMRs. OSA was never diagnosed in service and I only went to sick call a couple times complaining about fatigue, morning headaches, or sleep disturbances. We were all tired everyday. I had the symptoms back then. My shipmates always complained about my snoring and I ended up working nights most of the time so I would disturb the least amount of people. I dozed of constantly any time I sat down for a few minutes. Going to sick call about it would have labeled me a malingerer so I just dealt with it. At sea periods don't provide a lot of sleep time. During in-port times we sailors tend to maximize our time to do as much as possible to make up for the sea time. So there is some tell tale evidence I had sleep issues in my MMRs although minimal. My first diagnosis was 7 years after my retirement. That is when treatment began also. I did not have a big neck but I was 20 lbs over my active duty weight. My NEXUS ties the facts that I had Reflux, Rhinitis, and Sinusitis in service. OSA is directly associated with those problems. Medical studies and literature at that time stated those connections and the VA Rater should have known that. Anyway that is the approach we are taking for the CUE. VA 2008 Denial of OSA Redacted.PDF

Thanks for the responses. I do have a NEXUS letter for OSA in regards to already being diagnosed with Reflux, Rhinitis, and Chronic Sinusitis in my MMRs. I was just seeing if I could add the no C&P to it. Guess not. Of course the VA does not have to agree with my NEXUS letter so I know it will be an uphill battle. I also now have supporting lay letters but the NEXUS letter will be what gets it approved retro-actively to my original claim. If not then I have to file a new claim and start over. Again thanks for the comments. Definitely appreciated!

Howdy All, I originally file a claim for Sleep Apnea (OSA) in 2008 after I was diagnosed in late 2007. That was after I retired from the Navy so the diagnosis was never in my military health record. I filed it on my own because my AMvets rep said it would not get approved and he would not mess with it. The VA sent me a request to allow them to contact my doctor directly that I signed and sent back. I knew nothing about a NEXUS letter or lay letters or even the connection with Reflux, Rhinitis, and Sinusitis. A short while later after they contacted my doctor I received the denial letter stating "Not service connected". Because of my ignorance I accepted that until a few fellow retirees with OSA said they did the same thing but then provided lay letters from shipmates and their wives and their claims were approved. Since then I have read all I could find and have reached out to others for assistance. So my real question is " Would the fact that I was not provided a C&P exam be a basis for a CUE?" The denial came from the Regional VA office.

Hello All, I am in the process of submitting a new claim and requesting old ones to be reopened. I have read a lot about the Buddy Letters and own own supporting lay letters. One site strongly recommended that you use a Sworn Declaration form instead of the VBA-21-4138-ARE form. The reasoning is that the VA supposedly sees those forms for so many different things that they really don't even read them. Has anyone found this to be true and is the Sworn Declaration form better?