Don't Know Where To Turn Next...

[drftit808]

Hey guys, i'm new so not sure i'm even posting in the right place. I'm stressed to the max and don't know what to do or who else to talk to. I'm getting absolutley no support here and feel like i'm just getting blown off.

Here's the short story:

The beginning of this year we deployed (navy) and I suddenly lost 22 pounds (using same workout and diet routine that gained me 17 pounds 4 months prior) I started waking up with numb hands and tingly arms and just being totally out of breath for hours. I started having dizzy spells and feeling nauseous like i was going to pass out. I kept ignoring until we came back from deployment where i finally went to the ships sick bay. They told me i needed to go to the hospital. At the hospital i was diagnosed with "possible hypoglycemia" and just told to "eat more". The next day i started having the sweatiness, dizziness and fainting feeling. Again... i was told to go to the ER. Here's where it get's interesting.

At the ER i was on the EKG and talking to a tech and remember saying "i think i might pass out", apparantly my heart stopped for 16 seconds and when i came back i went totally stiff and had a seizure. SO i got to stay there for 4 days and of course got no diagnosis... I was told to wear a heart monitor and come back. I came back, had an ultrasound of the heart done and had to wait for 2 MONTHS! to see him again. I just saw hime yesterday, did a tilt table test with no results and told to wait another month! to see the neurologist then he'll try and see me again. I've been being seen for other things in the past few months while they pulled me off the ship, put me LLD, and did a abbreviated medical evaluation board such as unknown testicle pain, sharp neck pain and stiffness, ear infection, etc...

My EAOS is in april leaving me only 5 months to figure this thing out and all i'm getting is "reffered" for moths at a time. A disbled marine buddy of mine is telling me i need to get a med discharge. I've been talking to DAV and the VA with no help at all. Everyone has the same thing to say "wait and see what the docs say", the docs that won't see me for months at a time.

My mom thinks it's all caused by the 3 anthrax vaccines they gave me and put me in contact with the VHC who i wasted $50 sending a copy of my medical record to and of course have seen no results "wait and see"...

I'm at a loss here and super stressed, i'm not allowed to work or drive and don't know where else to turn. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[drftit808]

I'm off the ship now and all my new command does is refer me to medical who gives me the run around...

[jbasser]

The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that from 1990 to 2000, more than 1,859,000 doses of anthrax vaccine were distributed in the United States.[11] During that decade, 1,544 adverse events (.08% of total doses) were reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 76 of these events (5%, 0.004% of total doses) were serious ("results in death, hospitalization, or permanent disability or is life-threatening"). Reports to VAERS are not necessarily events that have a cause and effect relationship, and the number of unreported adverse events caused by vaccines is unknown. These figures are intrinsically misleading in as much as the VAERS system is a passive system, meaning that there is no notification process within the military to inform either troops or outprocessing servicemembers of its existence, let alone instructions for completing the paperwork.

Although individuals have expressed health concerns after receiving anthrax vaccine, a congressionally directed study by the Institute of Medicine (part of the National Academy of Sciences) concluded that anthrax vaccine is as safe as other vaccines. The Academy considered more than a dozen studies using various scientific designs, and heard personally from many concerned US military service members.[12]

Concern has been raised that The Pentagon did not inform the United States Congress about more than 20,000 hospitalizations involving troops who had received the anthrax vaccine, because "hospitalizations merely followed vaccinations in time, without documented proof of a cause-and-effect relationship."[13] Independent researchers, David and Mark Geier, published "Anthrax vaccination and joint related adverse reactions in light of biological warfare scenarios" in Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology in 2002 vol. 20 page 119. They also published "Gastrointestinal adverse reactions following anthrax vaccination" in Hepatogastroenterology in 2004 vol. 51 page 762. The Geiers found a very large and statistically significant increase in joint symptoms and gastrointestinal problems following vaccination with anthrax vaccine. These authors concluded that due to the extreme reactogenicity of anthrax vaccine, its general use in the civilian population is undesirable. The safety of the U.S. anthrax vaccine continues to be an active area of study for both government and non-government personnel, but to date no data have been found that have caused the FDA to declare the vaccine anything other than safe and effective.[8]

[drftit808]

Yeah i really don't think that it's the anthrax vaccine but the VHC wanted me records to support their case. I don't know what it could be, i have such random symptoms, headaches, testicular pain, chest tightness, asystolic, trouble breathing, exhaustion, seizures, etc...

[jbasser]

You should look at the VA website. You are having these problems on Active Duty and you are getting out in 5 months. You can file a claim with the VA and state claim for an undiagnosed illness with the following issues, State your issues. They should connect it. Then when you do get diagnosed you can update the claim.

Now it is imparative you keep all medical information.

J

You should look at the VA website. You are having these problems on Active Duty and you are getting out in 5 months. You can file a claim with the VA and state claim for an undiagnosed illness with the following issues, State your issues. They should connect it. Then when you do get diagnosed you can update the claim.

Now it is imparative you keep all medical information.

J

[drftit808]

I've been going to the VA as well as the DAV here in person and they want me to wait and see if i can get a diagnosis becuase "i still have plenty of time" but when i ask for a diagnosis i'm just told to wait more...

[WeAre#1]

You will continue to hit road blocks till you get a diagnosis, or until you have all known testing conducted to rule out all known causes of your symptomatology....which would make it an undiagnosed illness. Read the regulation below for clarification.

§3.317 Compensation for certain disabilities due to undiagnosed illnesses.

(a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph © of this section, VA will pay compensation in accordance with chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code, to a Persian Gulf veteran who exhibits objective indications of a qualifying chronic disability, provided that such disability:

(i) Became manifest either during active military, naval, or air service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War, or to a degree of 10 percent or more not later than December 31, 2011; and

(ii) By history, physical examination, and laboratory tests cannot be attributed to any known clinical diagnosis.

(2) (i) For purposes of this section, a qualifying chronic disability means a chronic disability resulting from any of the following (or any combination of the following):

(A) An undiagnosed illness;

( The following medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses that are defined by a cluster of signs or symptoms:

(1) Chronic fatigue syndrome;

(2) Fibromyalgia;

(3) Irritable bowel syndrome; or

(4) Any other illness that the Secretary determines meets the criteria in paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section for a medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness; or

© Any diagnosed illness that the Secretary determines in regulations prescribed under 38 U.S.C. 1117(d) warrants a presumption of service-connection.

(ii) For purposes of this section, the term medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness means a diagnosed illness without conclusive pathophysiology or etiology, that is characterized by overlapping symptoms and signs and has features such as fatigue, pain, disability out of proportion to physical findings, and inconsistent demonstration of laboratory abnormalities. Chronic multisymptom illnesses of partially understood etiology and pathophysiology will not be considered medically unexplained.

(3) For purposes of this section, “objective indications of chronic disability” include both “signs,” in the medical sense of objective evidence perceptible to an examining physician, and other, non-medical indicators that are capable of independent verification.

(4) For purposes of this section, disabilities that have existed for 6 months or more and disabilities that exhibit intermittent episodes of improvement and worsening over a 6-month period will be considered chronic. The 6-month period of chronicity will be measured from the earliest date on which the pertinent evidence establishes that the signs or symptoms of the disability first became manifest.

(5) A chronic disability resulting from an undiagnosed illness referred to in this section shall be rated using evaluation criteria from part 4 of this chapter for a disease or injury in which the functions affected, anatomical localization, or symptomatology are similar.

(6) A disability referred to in this section shall be considered service connected for purposes of all laws of the United States.

(:P For the purposes of paragraph (a)(1) of this section, signs or symptoms which may be manifestations of undiagnosed illness or medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness include, but are not limited to:

(1) Fatigue

(2) Signs or symptoms involving skin

(3) Headache

(4) Muscle pain

(5) Joint pain

(6) Neurologic signs and symptoms

(7) Neuropsychological signs or symptoms

(8) Signs or symptoms involving the respiratory system (upper or lower)

(9) Sleep disturbances

(10) Gastrointestinal signs or symptoms

(11) Cardiovascular signs or symptoms

(12) Abnormal weight loss

(13) Menstrual disorders.

© Compensation shall not be paid under this section:

(1) If there is affirmative evidence that an undiagnosed illness was not incurred during active military, naval, or air service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War; or

(2) If there is affirmative evidence that an undiagnosed illness was caused by a supervening condition or event that occurred between the veteran’s most recent departure from active duty in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War and the onset of the illness; or

(3) If there is affirmative evidence that the illness is the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct or the abuse of alcohol or drugs.

(d) For purposes of this section:

(1) The term Persian Gulf veteran means a veteran who served on active military, naval, or air service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War.

(2) The Southwest Asia theater of operations includes Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the airspace above these locations. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1117)