shortygal205

Navy 8005,

Welcome to Hadit. Nice to hear from you.

Let me ask you if you take Antivert or the Generic name of Meclizine for your dizziness?

Do you have a perfect gait. Do you fall down? or Almost anyway?

You should be on the Valium every day. Habit forming and addictive , Yes.

Being that you are already at 60 %, an increase should not be too difficult to achieve.

Has your doctor written a letter to the VA. you have not worked for over two years and his prognosis "you will never be able to work again."

Believe me, You won't!!!

Has your doctor written that you have had to give up driving due to this illness.

Also, has he written down for you on paper, there is no known cure for this illness and it is permanent.

No, I am not service connected for the illness, but there are a couple on the Board that are 100% for same.

You may have a C&P.

Most general practioners have the general knowledge of the illness and I don't believe that this would be a problem.

Remember, this is only my opinion.

Do I have the illness, most definitely. Mine is at the extreme, I can't walk a straight line and have no balance.

I can't walk, drive and Goodness knows this is one illness that brings a lot of depression with it.

Do you take any kind of meds for the depression.

The illness zaps your life away from you.

You will always be dependent upon someone to do most everything that you used to do for yourself.

I guess that you already know this.

If your doctor has not written a letter to the above, have him write it down for you.

By the way, Have you filed for Social Security Disability?

Let me know, if I can assist you in any other way.

Always,

Josephine

This really is what you need to know ...what Big Dog is what the VA goes by.

I have lived with MD for a little over 20 years and have just recently been made aware of my rights to SC compensation and am filing on Tuesday. I don't think I will have any problem with a SC qualification since I was diagnosed while on a tour of duty overseas in 1988 and I took no chances and kept copies of this from my medical files just in case they were "lost".

Anyway, there are a couple of things that really need to be clarified, and really do make a difference in both being diagnosed and how you go about filing your claim, etc. NEVER, and please understand I am trying to help here, but NEVER confuse the terms "dizziness" and "vertigo".

With Meniere's you have both, you may have both with other illnesses, but if you have vertigo, please do not refer to it as "dizzy". Vertigo is a "must have" symptom to be diagnosed with MD.

The difference? Dizzy can be simply light headed and cause you to stumble or fall.

Vertigo? Imagine your self on a merry go round spinning about 100mph and no one will stop it for several hours. Imagine an invisible force all of a sudden picking you up and SLAMMING you to the floor .....all of this all of a sudden and without warning most times.

The vertigo (true vertigo) is one of the main reasons MD will get you 100% (30% min) rating.

There are a lot of definitions and doctors own self described theories of MD out there, but the truth is the cause of MD is unknown, so if you know what causes it, then it can not be MD. While they have a good idea of what causes the "symptoms" of MD, (fluid retention in the vest sac, swelling of it, etc), They do not know what causes the MD...the disease that causes the fluid retention in the middle ear, etc.

Maybe a better ex: A person has ringing that is caused by high blood pressure...then the tinnitus is not MD...a person has vertigo due to a previous head injury, then they can not diagnose the person as having MD because they have MD.

so in basic terms, Meniere's can not be secondary to tinnitus. Meniere's can not be secondary to ANYTHING until they find out what causes Meniere's. (I hope that makes sense).

Jim, I feel bad for you. You were obviously in the service back when there was so little known about Menieres, which is probably why so many people who were in the service 20 years or so ago, have a difficult time make the SC. I was fortunate in that my first attack was while I was stationed in Europe and a Dutch Neurosurgeon that had been researching it diagnosed me, our base GD commander did his own evaluation and testing after I was released and concurred. I have copies of this signed by him. Within a year after I was discharched, I was diagnosed by an Otolaryngologist who found that I actually have it in both ears. When one would start to let up, the other would become active, then there are times they both were bad. Now, the ringing is constant, no longer fluctuating, still have vertigo and and 2 or 3 times a day on average I fall or stumble having to catch myself. Forget talking to anyone on the phone.

I just found this also form the VA ratings schedule:



6260 Tinnitus, recurrent.......................................................................
.................................... 10



Note (1): A separate evaluation for tinnitus may be combined with an evaluation under diagnostic codes 6100, 6200, 6204, or other diagnostic code, except when tinnitus supports an evaluation under one of those diagnostic codes.





It sounds like to me you could be rated separately or combined depending on the situation.

I am no expert, but I do have a family member that has Meniere's Disease.

Unless someone knows otherwise, Meniere's can not be secondary to Tinnitus, actually Tinnitus would be secondary to Meniere's.

I posted the VA rating section for Meniere's here for you.


6205 Meniere’s syndrome (endolymphatic hydrops):



Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait

occurring more than once weekly, with or without tinnitus............................... 100

Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait

occurring from one to four times a month, with or without tinnitus.................... 60

Hearing impairment with vertigo less than once a month, with or

without tinnitus........................................................................
............................ 30



Note: Evaluate Meniere’s syndrome either under these criteria or by separately evaluating vertigo (as a peripheral vestibular disorder), hearing impairment, and tinnitus, whichever method results in a higher overall evaluation. But do not combine an evaluation for hearing impairment, tinnitus, or vertigo with an evaluation under diagnostic code 6205.





It is my understanding that Maniere's Disease in and of itself actually means "A disease of balance (vertigo) with possible hearing loss, and other ear related issues, with no other identifyable cause". It is usually diagnosed by ruling out other balance diseases that have specific symptoms and causes. I can't help you with a possible service connected cause.

I hope this helps some.