tinnitus Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (als)

[ZenArcher]

I am a Gulf War vet '92 - '00 with service in the Gulf for the Operation Southern Watch, Deliberate Force, Allied Force and Noble Anvil. I was diagnosed with ALS '07 at the ripe old age of 38. I do not have documented symptoms in my medical records but have supplied personal testimony, a corroborating buddy letter, letter from my wife and sister in law stating that I had cramping, twitching and fasciculations during the last two years of active duty service. I also provided a letter from the Director of Neurology and head of the ALS clinic in Hershey stating that the symptoms "most likely represent the initial stage of the illness."

I have also included multiple studies and exposures showing increased risk of developing ALS and studies showing that the time from disease onset to diagnosis can exceed 10 years. I then provided appeals cases showing connection with contradictory symptoms, no symptoms, exposure to unknown substance and diagnosis after 35 years.

I received my denail which states, "In the absence of evidence to show that this condition was incurred in service or aggravated by service or manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year of discharge from service, service connection is not established." The did not address I am working with the PVA but in all honesty they have done little more than act as a mail courier to date. I have open files with both my congressman and senator as well as letters of inquiry from the White House.

I have contacted Dr. Barson concerning an IMO but have not heard back yet. I would appreciate any suggestions. I would also like to know does the one year to submit additional evidence before the claim is closed change following another denial? What I mean by that is my initial claim was place in May 2007 and denied in June 2007 so I had until June 2008 to submit additional evidence. I did so and was the awarded for tinnitus and a thumb fracture but again denied ALS this May 2008. Does that mean that I have until May 2009 now to submit new evidence for ALS and the claim remain open?

[rdawg]

You do have until May of 09 to NOD or submit new evidence.

As far as the ALS, I'm sorry to hear that you have that. For service connection you need three things, a currently diagnosed medical condition (you have that),an inservice occurance of the claimed condition (you don't have that) and a medical opinion connecting the 2 (you don't have that either). What you do have are buddy statements saying you had symptofs of the claimed condition while on active duty. That could establish an inservice occurance. What you need is an opinion from a doctor saying that the symptoms you had during service were actually symptoms of ALS and that your current ALS is connected to your military service. This is no small feat but would be worth it if you prevail.

Good luck.

[Berta]

As you know the VA is still looking into the ALS situation:

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfMAY08/nf052008-2.htm

yet you appear to have a claim for direct service connection-regardless of whether VA will make ALS presumptive.

"In the absence of evidence to show that this condition was incurred in service or aggravated by service or manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year of discharge from service, service connection is not established."

In the denial did they list the evidence you mentioned and account for it in the narrative of the decision?

Do you have a copy of your SMRs and do they reveal anything at all to support your claim?

"I also provided a letter from the Director of Neurology and head of the ALS clinic in Hershey stating that the symptoms "most likely represent the initial stage of the illness"

was this a letter directly involving your medical evidence?

In other words a medical opinion specific to you?

I am a little confused-what was the date they denied the ALS -you have one year from that date to file a NOD on that specific decision and can supply more evidence as long as the claim is still open-and in the appeals process-

In my opinion Congress,Senators, and the White House can only hold up claims-

they cant get the medical evidence-but you can-

I suggest you also contact Dr. Craig C. Bash for am IMO at:

http://www.veteransmedadvisor.com/

Do you mean PVA is on your POA ?

As I see this you have until June 2008-dont know date of the denial- to file a NOD-

but I might have understood this wrong-

You will need a strong medical opinion to get this service connected-an opinion that could show you were symptomatic at least at 10% disabling within first year after service.

[ZenArcher]

In regards to the evidence I submitted they mention the evidence only and as such out of context but do not address it.

I assume SMR is my medical records and no there is nothing relevant to ALS.

The letter from the Director of Neurology was specific to my case and references me by name.

The claim for ALS was initially denied June 18, 2007. I then submitted additional evidence and was denied again May 9, 2008.

I can't afford Dr. Bash. I've spoken with him but the price he is asking for is thousands of dollars out of my price range.

PVA is the organization representing me. POA is a new acronym for me.

As far as needing a strong medical opinion I thought I had furnished that with the letter from my neurologist, I also had a letter from my primary care physician. As I said I have contacted Dr. Barson also spoken of here for an IMO.

Thank you for your reply.

[ZenArcher]

Thank you.

[Cheri0310]

I am a Gulf War vet '92 - '00 with service in the Gulf for the Operation Southern Watch, Deliberate Force, Allied Force and Noble Anvil. I was diagnosed with ALS '07 at the ripe old age of 38. I do not have documented symptoms in my medical records but have supplied personal testimony, a corroborating buddy letter, letter from my wife and sister in law stating that I had cramping, twitching and fasciculations during the last two years of active duty service. I also provided a letter from the Director of Neurology and head of the ALS clinic in Hershey stating that the symptoms "most likely represent the initial stage of the illness."

I have also included multiple studies and exposures showing increased risk of developing ALS and studies showing that the time from disease onset to diagnosis can exceed 10 years. I then provided appeals cases showing connection with contradictory symptoms, no symptoms, exposure to unknown substance and diagnosis after 35 years.

I received my denail which states, "In the absence of evidence to show that this condition was incurred in service or aggravated by service or manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year of discharge from service, service connection is not established." The did not address I am working with the PVA but in all honesty they have done little more than act as a mail courier to date. I have open files with both my congressman and senator as well as letters of inquiry from the White House.

I have contacted Dr. Barson concerning an IMO but have not heard back yet. I would appreciate any suggestions. I would also like to know does the one year to submit additional evidence before the claim is closed change following another denial? What I mean by that is my initial claim was place in May 2007 and denied in June 2007 so I had until June 2008 to submit additional evidence. I did so and was the awarded for tinnitus and a thumb fracture but again denied ALS this May 2008. Does that mean that I have until May 2009 now to submit new evidence for ALS and the claim remain open?

GULF WAR COMPENSATION UPDATE

January 4, 2002

The method created by Congress in 1994 to compensate Gulf War illnesses has, in practice, resulted in several problems. Congress and the VA recently provided some solutions.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

The VA has found preliminary evidence that veterans who served in the Gulf are nearly twice as likely as their non-deployed counterparts to develop ALS. Because of this finding, the VA will now automatically grant claims from veterans who served in the Gulf August 1, 1990, to July 31, 1991, and have subsequently developed ALS. This rule affects eligible veterans, or their survivors, immediately, even though the study is just preliminary. The ratings will be permanent even if the studies’ results later change.

If a Gulf War veteran ever filed a VA claim for ALS and or an undiagnosed neurological condition, he or she or their survivor should refile their claim.

Participation in Disease Specific Studies

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is currently conducting medical research concerning the association, if any, between veterans who served in the Gulf and certain diseases. It is important that all veterans who may be affected participate in these studies. However, some veterans who are currently being compensated on the basis of an "undiagnosed illness" have declined to participate in the studies due to the fear of losing service-connected compensation and health benefits if they are "diagnosed" with a specific disease.

Public Law 107-103 gives the VA the authority to protect compensation for undiagnosed illnesses when VA determines that such protection is necessary to ensure adequate participation by veterans in VA-sponsored medical research. This is particularly important for research that requires a high level of participation to achieve its objective. The new law gives the VA authority to provide such protection whether the research was conducted before, or after the date of enactment of the new law and requires the VA to list the applicable research projects in the Federal Register.

Clearer Definition of Undiagnosed Diseases

The 1994 statutory scheme was intended to provide compensation to deployed Gulf War veterans who suffer from disabilities that cannot now be diagnosed or defined, and for which other causes cannot be identified. In interpreting this legislation, VA issued a General Counsel Opinion holding that only disabilities which cannot be attributed to "any known clinical diagnosis" could be compensated.

Many Gulf War veterans reported disabilities related to poorly understood multi-symptom disabilities which may be classified as "undiagnosed" by one physician or referred to as "chronic fatigue syndrome" or "chronic multi-symptom" illnesses by another physician. This resulted in disparate treatment of veterans with similar signs and symptoms. In order to address this problem and to insure that the law is interpreted to provide benefits for similarly disabled veterans, Public Law 107-103 expands the definition of undiagnosed illnesses to include, “medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses,” such as, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and irritable bowel syndrome. Any other chronic multi-symptom illness or any other ill-defined illness or combinations of illnesses may be added if the VA deems it appropriate. The law lists 13 specific signs and symptoms of undiagnosed illness the VA is to consider in deciding whether to add other diseases.

The VA will issue a directive shortly directing payment to veterans with the three specific diseases listed above.

Expansion of Period of Time Symptoms to Manifest

The January 1, 2002 date regarding initial onset of undiagnosed illnesses was extended to December 31, 2006 by VA regulation and Public Law 107-103 gives the VA the authority to extend this “delimiting” date for another five years.

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Reports

The NAS now has until September 30, 2011 to report on underdiagnosed illnesses.

Problem with Definition of Deployment to a War Zone

The compensation scheme still does not include veterans stationed in Turkey, Israel and the surrounding areas. These veterans took similar medications and were exposed to depleted uranium as were those veterans covered by the 1994 law.

*****This may not apply to you because of the date you began serving in the gulf

[Cheri0310]

Thank you.

You're welcome. I would be able to help you more if you were claiming undiagnosed illness instead of als, since that is the fight that my husband and I are preparing for. Best of luck to you and I really would continue your fight. ALS is definitely linked to gulf service.