Sleep Study And Claims Questions

[mrmomac]

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I hope someone here can help me with this. I had a sleep study done in Aug of 07. Reason for referral for a formal sleep study was to assess for myoclonus and disturbed sleep. It says his epworth sleepiness scale was 2

First on the report was about sleep apnea and all of those were 0 except for--- Baseline Sa02 99% and Low Sa02 97% I have no idea what these are????

Then the report talks about the myoclonic----- here's what it says

Total myoclonic 21

myoclonus index 31.2 events/hr

arousal 2

arousal index 3.0 events/hr

Sleep scoring summary

Total time in bed 123.5 min

total sleep time 40.5

sleep latency 21.0 min

awake after sleep onset 57.5 min

awakening > minutes 8

sleep efficiency 32.7%

then it has about sleep position times back 11 min----side 15 min--------upright 14.5 min

the there is the sleep stage summary

Latency (min) totals(min) %time

stage 1 21.0 22.5 18.2

stage 2 24.5 18.0 14.6

stage 3 n/a n/a n/a

rem n/a n/a n/a

Then it says this

The above findings show a significantly reduced sleep efficiency of 32.8% with a reduced total sleep time of 40.5 minutes and a sleep latency of 21.0 minutes. No apnea or hypopneas were noted on this study. The baseline of Sa02 of 99% and a low Sa02 of 97% No snoring was noted. The patient clinically reported terrible pain in his legs/joints with back spasms. Much of his symptoms were contributing to his poor quality of sleep.

Any ideas on what all this means????

Ok, now about the messed up claim. I applied for an increase of disability in dec. of 07. I was denied in april of 07. Filed an appeal and in april of 08 was granted an increase to 70% from 50% for depression and 10% for a tender scar. But the ratings I previously had for nerve damage and another tender scar are gone from the decision. Can they take away ratings that I had for years??? The conditions haven't improved. In fact they are worse than ever.

Should I just start all over??? I didn't know about sites like these to help with claims and I have made so many mistakes. It's just a big mess. I have no idea what all they are looking at to decide my claim. Do they automatically get my medical records from the va whenever I go in for appointments or do I have to get the records and send them in? Thanks

[jbasser]

Sa02 is your pulse Oxygen level. Your numbers are great.

It shows your sleep problems are related to your pain.

The VA issues a denial it will not mention current service conencted issues unless you are denied an increase on these issues. Dont start over. If you do not agree with the VA decision you can send in a notice of disagreement.

Read this site about the NOD and collect as much information as you can. Learn as much about your disability as you can and learn as much about the VA schedule for rating disabilities.

You can search the site for that information and the schedule for rating disabilities has a link on the Hadit home page.

Best of luck. Welcome to Hadit.

John

[mrmomac]

Do we need to try to get the medical records from the va dr's that I've been seeing since Dec. of 06 and include those with my claim or do they automatically pull those from the computers?

And in my original claim I believe I asked for an increase in compensation for depression and left leg pain. The sleep study, I believe, shows that I have myclonic tremors. I also have sleep disorder, ed, and side effects from all the drugs I'm taking. Can I add these to my claim or do I have to start over for these problems?

[jbasser]

It would be wise to get all information from the VA including exam notes.

Always be prepared.

Go ahead and file any claim. Not filing can cause a delay in the recipt of comp.

Sooner is better. It does not matter is another claim is ongoing.

J