Jump to content

Ask Your VA Claims Questions | Read Current Posts 
Read VA Disability Claims Articles
Search | View All Forums | Donate | Blogs | New Users | Rules 

  • tbirds-va-claims-struggle (1).png

  • 01-2024-stay-online-donate-banner.png

     

  • 0

Sleep Apnea

Rate this question


thinkverybig

Question

I have been out of the Army since 1989 and over the years my mates have told me I use to stop breathing in my sleep and of course, I blew it off. When I heard that Reggie White died of sleep apnea, I got more serious about it and had a sleep study done and has since been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea in 2007. Can I get VA disability for this?

At what point if I do receive disability for sleep apnea, would they say the effective date is?

Another question is I am service connected for my left ankle and his sense gotten a bone spur in my right ankle and gets pain their occasionally. I have no insurance and can not get a doctor to document it as possibly the reasons of over-compensating for the left. Can I get an increase for the right ankle? What advice can you give me?

Thanks for your help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Answers 5
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters For This Question

Top Posters For This Question

5 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • HadIt.com Elder

Big:

Welcome to Hadit. You need a current diagnosis which you have, you need to show in your Medical Records or by an Opinion that the sleep disorder started in service and you need to show that it caused you some problems since you left the Service. If it is severe it can get a pretty high rating.

I have sleep apnea and I use a CPAP machine that the VA gave me. Its a life saver.

Veterans deserve real choice for their health care.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also have obstructive sleep apnea and the VA denied my claim for a service connection. I was prescribed the C-Pap and tried it several times with no success. I still wake up about every hour or so thru out the night. I am tired and have very little energy during the day which causes big problems in my life. I went back to the VA and told them the C-pap didn't work for me hoping they would do surgery... they esentially said that is all they could offer me. So I am stuck with this and will probably end up like Reggie White some day.

I'm told it is difficult to get this condition related to your service so you will probably have a long fight on your hands getting compensation... That doesn't mean you shouldn't try though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sleep Apnea is hard to get SC for I was lucky I was arguing with my wife ( we were marriead about 1 year at the time) she said that I snored so loud and stoped breathing. I was on active duty then so I went and saw a DR who sent me out for a sleep study. This Dr (Air Force) was the first Dr who did more then give me mortrin and send me back to work. O had my sleep study dodne while I was on termnal leave. I was grantes 50 percent for sleep apena with use of a CPAP it does take awhile to get used 2. Sometimes I go to bed without wearing it and my wife will wake me up to put it on. Its going to take some work to get yours SC but I would try it get lots of buddy statements. Did you get in trouble in the military for oversleeping? Falling asleep on duty.

Jim

Delay, Delay, Delay another thousand Vets will die today. This has been almost a 9 year trip thru the VA maze.

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thinkverybig,

Welcome to Hadit.

"Another question is I am service connected for my left ankle and his sense gotten a bone spur in my right ankle and gets pain their occasionally. I have no insurance and can not get a doctor to document it as possibly the reasons of over-compensating for the left. Can I get an increase for the right ankle? What advice can you give me? "

Since you are SC'd for your left ankle you can go to VA and see the doc for it.

You can ask the VA doc if a new disability on your right ankle is secondary

to your SC'd left ankle. If the doc writes up that yes it is , then I would file

a request for an increase.

How do you know that your right ankle has a bone spur ?

The right ankle compensating for the left ankle would not produce bone spurs.

carlie

Carlie passed away in November 2015 she is missed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sleep Apnea is hard to get SC for I was lucky I was arguing with my wife ( we were marriead about 1 year at the time) she said that I snored so loud and stoped breathing. I was on active duty then so I went and saw a DR who sent me out for a sleep study. This Dr (Air Force) was the first Dr who did more then give me mortrin and send me back to work. O had my sleep study dodne while I was on termnal leave. I was grantes 50 percent for sleep apena with use of a CPAP it does take awhile to get used 2. Sometimes I go to bed without wearing it and my wife will wake me up to put it on. Its going to take some work to get yours SC but I would try it get lots of buddy statements. Did you get in trouble in the military for oversleeping? Falling asleep on duty.

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Tell a friend

    Love HadIt.com’s VA Disability Community Vets helping Vets since 1997? Tell a friend!
  • Recent Achievements

    • Dave119 earned a badge
      First Post
    • Dave119 earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Brew earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Rowdy01 earned a badge
      First Post
    • Laddib45 earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Our picks

    • Caluza Triangle defines what is necessary for service connection
      Caluza Triangle – Caluza vs Brown defined what is necessary for service connection. See COVA– CALUZA V. BROWN–TOTAL RECALL

      This has to be MEDICALLY Documented in your records:

      Current Diagnosis.   (No diagnosis, no Service Connection.)

      In-Service Event or Aggravation.
      Nexus (link- cause and effect- connection) or Doctor’s Statement close to: “The Veteran’s (current diagnosis) is at least as likely due to x Event in military service”
      • 0 replies
    • Do the sct codes help or hurt my disability rating 
    • VA has gotten away with (mis) interpreting their  ambigious, , vague regulations, then enforcing them willy nilly never in Veterans favor.  

      They justify all this to congress by calling themselves a "pro claimant Veteran friendly organization" who grants the benefit of the doubt to Veterans.  

      This is not true, 

      Proof:  

          About 80-90 percent of Veterans are initially denied by VA, pushing us into a massive backlog of appeals, or worse, sending impoverished Veterans "to the homeless streets" because  when they cant work, they can not keep their home.  I was one of those Veterans who they denied for a bogus reason:  "Its been too long since military service".  This is bogus because its not one of the criteria for service connection, but simply made up by VA.  And, I was a homeless Vet, albeit a short time,  mostly due to the kindness of strangers and friends. 

          Hadit would not be necessary if, indeed, VA gave Veterans the benefit of the doubt, and processed our claims efficiently and paid us promptly.  The VA is broken. 

          A huge percentage (nearly 100 percent) of Veterans who do get 100 percent, do so only after lengthy appeals.  I have answered questions for thousands of Veterans, and can only name ONE person who got their benefits correct on the first Regional Office decision.  All of the rest of us pretty much had lengthy frustrating appeals, mostly having to appeal multiple multiple times like I did. 

          I wish I know how VA gets away with lying to congress about how "VA is a claimant friendly system, where the Veteran is given the benefit of the doubt".   Then how come so many Veterans are homeless, and how come 22 Veterans take their life each day?  Va likes to blame the Veterans, not their system.   
    • Welcome to hadit!  

          There are certain rules about community care reimbursement, and I have no idea if you met them or not.  Try reading this:

      https://www.va.gov/resources/getting-emergency-care-at-non-va-facilities/

         However, (and I have no idea of knowing whether or not you would likely succeed) Im unsure of why you seem to be so adamant against getting an increase in disability compensation.  

         When I buy stuff, say at Kroger, or pay bills, I have never had anyone say, "Wait!  Is this money from disability compensation, or did you earn it working at a regular job?"  Not once.  Thus, if you did get an increase, likely you would have no trouble paying this with the increase compensation.  

          However, there are many false rumors out there that suggest if you apply for an increase, the VA will reduce your benefits instead.  

      That rumor is false but I do hear people tell Veterans that a lot.  There are strict rules VA has to reduce you and, NOT ONE of those rules have anything to do with applying for an increase.  

      Yes, the VA can reduce your benefits, but generally only when your condition has "actually improved" under ordinary conditions of life.  

          Unless you contacted the VA within 72 hours of your medical treatment, you may not be eligible for reimbursement, or at least that is how I read the link, I posted above. Here are SOME of the rules the VA must comply with in order to reduce your compensation benefits:

      https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/38/3.344

       
    • Good question.   

          Maybe I can clear it up.  

          The spouse is eligible for DIC if you die of a SC condition OR any condition if you are P and T for 10 years or more.  (my paraphrase).  

      More here:

      Source:

      https://www.va.gov/disability/dependency-indemnity-compensation/

      NOTE:   TO PROVE CAUSE OF DEATH WILL LIKELY REQUIRE AN AUTOPSY.  This means if you die of a SC condtion, your spouse would need to do an autopsy to prove cause of death to be from a SC condtiond.    If you were P and T for 10 full years, then the cause of death may not matter so much. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Guidelines and Terms of Use