JKWilliamsSr

The key here is how they are rated.  They are both rated as a mental disability and pyramiding laws prevent them from being rated separately since symptoms will overlap.   I do not believe it is possible to rate them separately.  I have seen where people get service connection for insomnia secondary to PTSD.   I have not seen where they get a separate for it.
I am not rated for either and do not want to speak out of turn.  Hopefully someone with experience with these can chime in.   I have seen this particular issue discussed often wondering if it is possible to get mental disabilities rated separately and the answer seems to be mostly no unless it is specificially allowed such as eating disorders.   I get that info from CCK law firm website ( https://cck-law.com/blog/va-disability-rating-for-depression-and-anxiety/  )

Yes I do encourage vets to get a doctors nexus opinion if they can but sometimes as I stated this is not possible as in my case many times so they and me are forced to go with what other medical and other evidence we have.  I have never discouraged anyone from not getting a nexus opinion statement or letter if they can.  Anyone who says otherwise is a liar and I am not referring to you.  8 our of 10 times I have been successful without a doctor's nexus statement on both initial claims and BVA, CAVC court appeals.
I despise other so called internet "experts" at other locations whose first and only advice out of their mean mouths  to a vet is simply the abrupt arrogant comment to "Get a doctor's nexus opinion" without also explaining that they may win the claim or appeal with other favorable/positive evidence if they cannot get the much sought after coveted doctor's statement. The liars are telling the vet he/she has no chance of winning a claim or appeal without the doctor's nexus opinion (not always true) and they do use the word doctor.  By saying the above quote is also a lazy and quick wrong reply to vets question.
As I patiently explained in another post the BVA often sides with the vet against a negative C&P examiner's opinion if the BVA and/or vet finds the examiners opinion to be defective or inadequate and this occurs sometimes even when the vet does not have a favorable doctor's opinion available to support his claim/appeal.  The vet can point out in his appeal be believes the examiner failed to discuss any of the positive evidence in vets favor or to adequately and fully explain the reason why the examiner arrived at his/her negative opinion and this sometimes results in a grant or remand of the appeal by BVA.
The BVA and courts have a long list of different types of deficiencies that occur in VA C&P examiner's negative opinions that I discovered in reading hundreds of appeals.   I am not about to list all these deficiencies due to my own many years of hard work and research.  Others will have to do their own work.  I am tired. Anyone who wants to argue with me over this clear comment will be on my ignore list super quick to join 3 others as I have no time for repeating this comment over and over.
My comment is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer, paralegal or VSO.

awesome news....congrats

Do you still have the denial letter?  If you can put what they list in the reasons and bases for the denial we may be able to give information that could help there as well.  Are these conditions service connected but rated at 0%?

Any service connected disability only has to shown to have been caused or aggravated while on active duty.   If I am understanding it correctly some of the PTSD and Insomnia symptoms overlap and one could easy tie the symptoms to both of them.  Most people will not be seen for PTSD issues while on active duty because that would be a fast track out the door.   When filing for PTSD the stressor would need to be shown to have occurred while on active duty.  For example a friend of mine did not file for PTSD for 10 years after he got out.   When he finally filed his service records showed him being in combat areas and I believe he had a combat service medal. 

The key here is how they are rated.  They are both rated as a mental disability and pyramiding laws prevent them from being rated separately since symptoms will overlap.   I do not believe it is possible to rate them separately.  I have seen where people get service connection for insomnia secondary to PTSD.   I have not seen where they get a separate for it.
I am not rated for either and do not want to speak out of turn.  Hopefully someone with experience with these can chime in.   I have seen this particular issue discussed often wondering if it is possible to get mental disabilities rated separately and the answer seems to be mostly no unless it is specificially allowed such as eating disorders.   I get that info from CCK law firm website ( https://cck-law.com/blog/va-disability-rating-for-depression-and-anxiety/  )

I understand.  My actual intent was to provide the minimum necessary.   That is why we are all here.  To point out mistakes to make it easier to understand.  Fighting the VA is hard enough.

That should be enough.  With that evidence you should not need another nexus letter providing the correct wording is in there.  The decision letter should explain it.  Since you had a positive nexus letter the VA is required to state the reasons they gave their examiner more weight than yours.   Which is probably a laughable reason.  My guess is the VA examiner is a NP or a PA.  I have never had an actual VA examiner that was an MD.

They are both separately rated conditions.  If you have them in your service medical records I would go ahead and file a claim.

OK we should all agree that  if the VAMC Dr's DENY a veteran a nexus  and his/her claim has been denied for that reason then yes IMO is in order   plan and simple  or/and   if a veteran has the medical records to prove other wise  sure he/she can use them ,  my 1 st grade grandson could figure that out.
enough on this subject ;move on forward= this post is CLOSED.

If I may ask.  What evidence did you submit for your claim for sleep apnea.  Did you submit any medical evidence other than your diagnosis?

If you choose HLR you close the option to provide favorable new and material evidence that may come your way at the last minute such as new medical treatment records or another doctors opinion in your favor.
If you appeal to the Board (BVA) very often they will find the VA C&P Examiner's (or VES, LHI) opinion to be inadequate or defective and accept your doctor's opinion as more creditable compared to the C&P examiner. Often they also find the VARO rater's reason for denying your claim to be inadequate, etc.
This has just happened to me in two recent BVA appeals where the BVA found my doctor's medical opinion to be more creditable on my OSA Sleep Apnea due to PTSD and granted me the disability benefits.  The other issue on appeal for increase of heart disease the BVA found the C&P examiner's opinion to be defective (biased) and issued a remand to the VARO.  So you may still be in good shape if you have to appeal.
My comment is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer, paralegal or VSO.

Here are a few professional Veterans advocates who advocate for an IMO, when there is conflicting evidence, or when there evidence supporting the claim is absent:
Jim Stickland:
https://cck-law.com/blog/va-tests-automated-va-claim-decision-system/
CCK Chisolm and Chisolm law firm:
https://cck-law.com/video/independent-medical-opinion-va-nexus-letter/
Attig Steele law firm (Veterans law blog):
https://www.veteranslawblog.org/independent-medical-opinion/
   Does an IMO "ALWAYS" work in getting benefits?  NO.  
My cell phone "doesn't ALWAYS" work either.  But it works often enough I carry it around most places I go.  
    NOTE:  There is zero evidence that ANY of the above have ever received a "cut" from referring Veterans to a doctor performing an IMO.  Mostly, Vets ask, "Where can I get (this needed IMO)?  
     And, attorneys sometimes refer Veterans to doctors experienced in writing winning IMO's.  
    In short, the professionals, who depend on winning claims for Vets, often recommend an IMO.  Mine did, and it worked marvelously, and cost very little.  
     Indeed my attorney who recommend the IMO "HAD" reviewed my file and knew that missing key evidence would likely win.   He recommended the IMO AFTER we had won a remand at CAVC, so that the board would have new and relevant evidence to over rule the previous board who had denied me.  
     On an individual basis, you would need to review the file to know whether or not spending the money for an IMO would likely be productive.  
     As always, you dont have to take my advice.  However, please dont blame me when you ignore my advice, and then wonder why you did not get a good result.  

Here are several things I think people should do before filing a claim if at all possible.
1.  Start an intent to file.  This will set your start date because the next step could take a while.
2. Get a copy of your C-File.  This will allow you to see what the VA has and can save you years of bullshit.
3. Submit any relevant SMR's with your claim. Even if they are in your C-File, do not rely on the VA to look at them all.  In my 2002 foot claim the rated stated that my claimed condition was not in my SMR's.  They said the same thing when I reapplied in 2009.  In 2018 I got my C-File and found SMR's that showed the condition.  I submitted those SMR's with my claim and they had no choice but to reopen.

IMHO and based upon my many years of self represented in successful claims and appeals you stand a better than 50% chance of winning your appeal for a few of the following reason.  1.  Your Carpenter law firm has been successfully wining many hundreds of appeals at both the BVA and CAVC Court for many many years as I have read many of the court decisions granting vets their disability claims due to Carpenter representing them. 2. I have read many numerous BVA decisions over the years granting obese and overweight vets such as me and you OSA Sleep Apnea due to PTSD.  I just recently won A BVA Sleep Apnea appeal due to PTSD  and due in part to nexus opinion statement from Dr. David Anaise (22 pages with many treatise references). 
Very often the BVA will note the inadequate quality reasoning for both the VARO rating and the VA C&P examiner and will compare this to a very good nexus opinion from your doctor and/or other favorable medical evidence introduced into the claims and appeal by you or your VSO or lawyer.  Just being overweight or Obese is not a bar to winning the appeal.
For example I introduced as evidence many numerous medical studies from reputable institutions like May Clinic, Harvard Medical School and others showing the both PTSD stress and PTSD medications cause and aggravates veterans to gain weight by both physical side effects and also over eating due to depression that is a symptom of PTSD.
Some vets on some locations constantly on first reply tell the vet he cannot meet the criteria for service connection for OSA due to overweight/obese  and this is absolute BS.  The yahoos know better and deliberately fail to tell the vet about those others who won their claims or appeals with the above methods in part.
This type of misleading BS discourages a vet from even filing or pursuing a claim or appeal and adds to their depression with loss of hope. 
 
Even though you may meet the criterial and qualifications for a VA service connection disability you may not be able to receive an important formal doctors nexus opinion or DBQ stating your disability is due to your service or another service connected condition because some doctors and their staffs are lazy, indifferent or hostile to vets receiving VA money.
Here is what has worked for me since 1987 to present day.  I have submitted copies of VA, Army, private medical records and other evidence with my numerous claims and appeals with almost 100 percent success and won those claims/appeals without a doctors nexus statement with only one recent exception where the paid for opinion was also successful.  I have been 100% P&T since 98 and now also with SMC-S.  
IF you contact me I can send you a detailed list of the medical and other evidence that has won my claims and appeals.  What has worked for me is no guarantee it will work for you.
It is a disservice IMHO for anyone to discourage a vet from filing a disability claim just because they cannot get some chicken*** doctor to fill out a DBQ or sign a nexus statement as the vet may still have the other medical and non medical evidence in their files or possession to win. 
I encourage vets to seek opinions of others and do their own research as I have done.
Some vets like to brag about their receiving a VA or private doctors nexus opinion free of charge or it was paid for by their insurance or others and I congratulate them on their good fortune.  I have learned and worked the hard way for my benefits and proud of it.
I learned many years ago to in my case to correctly assume the VARO will deny my claim with a BS statement like "NO EVIDENCE" and then I have to appeal to the BVA or higher U.S. CAVC court which I have done on my own successfully.  This has created jealously on part of some other vets.  Too Bad they can still get happy.
My comment is not legal advice as I am not a lawyer, paralegal or VSO representative.

I actually commend you on being able to win this.   I do think this situation is different than what most of the people here are going through.  First your issue is not service connection.  You are already service connected for your disabilities.   On top of that it appears that you have a positive opinion from a VA examiner.  That carries a lot of weight. I also understand that there was VA opinions against but the equipoise rule came into effect.  You had VA opinion for and VA opinions agains.  Please do not take this as a knock against your accomplishments.  One thing I have read a lot over the years.  TDIU is one of the hardest things to get.  The horror stories I hear about the fight for it makes me cringe.  To do this on your own is commendable but let's be fair.  It is not easy either. In fact I hear it is extremely hard to just get TDIU and to get an earlier effective date on top of that.  I can only say whew! that is a lot.  Many may not be able to make the arguments you made. 
I am going to try to clarify my point. 
The biggest issue I had to overcome is the negative opinions I received from VA examiners and that is "S" for plural.  More than one VA examiner gave negative nexus opinions for most of my disabilities.  The direct service connection claims I did not have any issues.  Any disabilities that were in my service medical records I was able to receive service connection. That was the easy part.  However, when it came time to service connect secondary conditions the VA fought me every step of the way.  I had everything necessary for service connection with one exception.  I needed a nexus and the VA would not provide it.   I needed an outside doctor to get one.  Lay statements are not enough when you have a medical professional against you.  These are not conditions that are in your service medical records. 

I actually commend you on being able to win this.   I do think this situation is different than what most of the people here are going through.  First your issue is not service connection.  You are already service connected for your disabilities.   On top of that it appears that you have a positive opinion from a VA examiner.  That carries a lot of weight. I also understand that there was VA opinions against but the equipoise rule came into effect.  You had VA opinion for and VA opinions agains.  Please do not take this as a knock against your accomplishments.  One thing I have read a lot over the years.  TDIU is one of the hardest things to get.  The horror stories I hear about the fight for it makes me cringe.  To do this on your own is commendable but let's be fair.  It is not easy either. In fact I hear it is extremely hard to just get TDIU and to get an earlier effective date on top of that.  I can only say whew! that is a lot.  Many may not be able to make the arguments you made. 
I am going to try to clarify my point. 
The biggest issue I had to overcome is the negative opinions I received from VA examiners and that is "S" for plural.  More than one VA examiner gave negative nexus opinions for most of my disabilities.  The direct service connection claims I did not have any issues.  Any disabilities that were in my service medical records I was able to receive service connection. That was the easy part.  However, when it came time to service connect secondary conditions the VA fought me every step of the way.  I had everything necessary for service connection with one exception.  I needed a nexus and the VA would not provide it.   I needed an outside doctor to get one.  Lay statements are not enough when you have a medical professional against you.  These are not conditions that are in your service medical records. 

I am sorry dude but you are posting an opinion saying IMO's are not necessary and I think that is bad advice.  An issue I have here is that someone disagreed with your opinion and your response to him is " are you getting a cut".  It is clear you have a negative opinion of those that say get an IMO and your responses to them show it. 
I will say this from the personal experience of a 20 year battle with the VA.  I will tell anyone that is going to the BVA with an appeal to get an IMO if they do not have a positive medical opinion in their file.  It was the IMO that got me over the top.  I failed at every turn without one. 

I have paid lawyers to win appeals.
I have paid doctors for independent medical examinations necessary to refute the inadequate C&P exams the VA has provided.
It has been strictly a pay-to-play experience all the way acquiring my benefits.
I don't plan to spend the rest of my life going in circles with the VA so I had to ante up.
I'm all in to win.
The VA could have done this the easy way as I had all three Caluza elements at the start, but instead the VA chose to hamstring me hoping I'd lose and quit.
YMMV
 
 

I agree with you on this.  The truth is there comes a time where the best advice you can receive is to get an IMO.  The majority of people reaching out to forums such as Hadit have had to deal with multiple denials from the VA.  They believe they have all the necessary information and yet keep failing.  They are trying to figure out what the problem is.  For the most part you only get one shot at an appeal and you want to make sure you have it right. 
Getting IMO's was the best decision I could have made.  It took me 20 years to get to 100% P&T  and the disabilities I am rated for now are all the same (except 1) when I first filed in 2002.  The hurdle I kept having to jump was the VA examiners inept opinion stating my disabilities were not service connected.  Once a VA examiner gives a negative opinion the best way to refute that is by getting a positive opinion from another medical professional.  In my experience most VA examiners are Nurse Practitioners or Physician Assistants.   I don't think they are qualified to give the opinions they are making.   That is just one mans opinion.  
When people come here they are likely at the appeal level and this is where it can be daunting.  When you take an appeal before the BVA you are dealing with attorneys.  The VA is going to have an attorney argue against your claim.  We will need evidence to the contrary.  If you go before the BVA and they have a negative opinion you have to argue that opinion was wrong.  There is plenty of case law on how claims are supposed to be adjudicated how many of us point out errors and get the VA to acknowledge and accept it.  I know I can't because on 3 HLR's I cited regulations and case law and still had my claims denied. 
I will give an example on how that while we may have information our application could be incorrect.   This is directly from my own argument that I made during and HLR and it led me to hiring an attorney and getting an IMO.   For Diabetes I argued that because of my service connected disabilities I was unable to exercise.  This led to weight gain which caused my Type II diabetes.  The VA had 2 negative opinions.  One from an MD who stated that paraplegics can exercise and maintain a proper BMI.   Another from a NP that stated that she did not see where I was placed on waivers from exercising while on active duty and thus could not relate my weight gain to Diabetes.  Both of those opinion are flat stupid but they worked against me.  It was those opinions that led to my throwing my hands in the air and getting an attorney. Through my attorney I got an IMO and this was the difference maker. 
If I was to argue this on my own at the BVA I would have used the obesity as an intermediate step leading to Diabetes.   Would that have worked on my own I don't know.  However my IMO used that and other theories to service connect my diabetes.  It was one of the other theories that the BVA judge granted my service connection on. 
In my BVA decision the judges stats and I quote: "In his august 2020 report, Dr R.L. opined that the veterns DM was aggravated by OSA.  He reasoned that OSA can impair glucose control, citing a study showing a clear inverse relationship between OSA severity and glucose control in patients with DM. Dr. R.L also cited another physician who reported that OSA can also increase blood sugar levels because of the stress associated with Chronic Cleep deprivation and abrupt awakenings in the night."
Although there is a negative nexus opinion of record, that the opinion address the relationship between the veterans orthopedic disabilities and his DM; The veterans OSA was not considered"
Given Dr. R.L's positive opinion, the evidence is at least in equipoise that the veterans DMII was aggravated by his service connected OSA.  Accordingly service connection is warranted"
This is how an IMO can make a difference. Suggesting a veteran should get an IMO is reasonable. 

I am sorry dude but you are posting an opinion saying IMO's are not necessary and I think that is bad advice.  An issue I have here is that someone disagreed with your opinion and your response to him is " are you getting a cut".  It is clear you have a negative opinion of those that say get an IMO and your responses to them show it. 
I will say this from the personal experience of a 20 year battle with the VA.  I will tell anyone that is going to the BVA with an appeal to get an IMO if they do not have a positive medical opinion in their file.  It was the IMO that got me over the top.  I failed at every turn without one. 

I believe so because there is a monthly premium for it.

Two things could possibly come into play here.  There is the Survivor Benefit Plan for retirement and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for disability.
 Both have specific eligibility requirements that must be met.  Here is a link that could provide some information.
Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP):  https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/survivors/Understanding-SBP-DIC-SSIA/
At the bottom of that page there is a link where you can initiate the process by clicking on the Reporting a death link.  That will take to a page with step by step instructions.
Indemnity Compensation (DIC): https://www.va.gov/disability/dependency-indemnity-compensation/#am-i-eligible-for-va-dic-as-a-
 

Two things could possibly come into play here.  There is the Survivor Benefit Plan for retirement and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for disability.
 Both have specific eligibility requirements that must be met.  Here is a link that could provide some information.
Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP):  https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/survivors/Understanding-SBP-DIC-SSIA/
At the bottom of that page there is a link where you can initiate the process by clicking on the Reporting a death link.  That will take to a page with step by step instructions.
Indemnity Compensation (DIC): https://www.va.gov/disability/dependency-indemnity-compensation/#am-i-eligible-for-va-dic-as-a-
 

I think it depends on the situation on if someone should or should not pay for an outside IMO/IME.   I think for the most part if you are appealing to the BVA it is not needed because they (unlike a lot of raters) know how to apply the law.  That is why more than 75% are either remanded because of a VA error or outright overturned.
If you are going to spend the money I suggest doing your homework.  I don't think people should just get one because they saw an advertisement for a doctor that would do one.  I do however, think an IMO/IME from outside doctors are a necessary evil.  To counteract the clear bias VA examiners have against service connection. I have a lot of secondary conditions that are caused or aggravated by my service connected disabilities.   For lack of a better way to explain it any idiot should be able to see the correlation but it seems VA raters (at least in my case) cannot.  For example my sleep apnea.   I was tying it to weight gain because of my inability to excercise.  However through my attorney I had an IMO done and the doctor mentioned my weight gain but also mentioned how Asthma (I am service connected for that too) could cause or aggravate issues like sleep apnea.  In the end the BVA judge granted my sleep apnea claim based on the IMO's asthma argument.
There are pros and cons for either side.  I will say this.  For me the pros were for the IMO because the doctor that did mine was cited in just about every one of my BVA grants.