diabetes Sleep Apnea Secondary To Ptsd Or Diabetes ?

[justjr59vet]

New to the forum, here goes.. I have 20% for Diabetes type ll, and now diagnosed

with Sleep Apnea.

I have an appeal pending at the VA for PTSD. What is the best way to proceed,

claim sleep apnea as secondary to diabetes or with the PTSD?

All comments welcome, will be thankful for all, Mike.

[Hoppy]

Check the medical literature to see if you can find any link. GOOGLE is good for these types of searches. If you find a link in the literature, then have your doctor write up a letter indicating the secondary cause. Citing a letter from a doctor is stronger evidence then sending the VA medical literature. Although you could start a claim and include the literature and a request for a C&P exam. My theory is do not wait for a C&P exam. You can always request a letter from a doctor any time you want.

[RockyA1911]

Go here the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress.

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/

[RockyA1911]

These are two winning BVA (Board of Veteran Appeals) cases for central sleep apnea secondary to PTSD. Use these as supporting documentation for adding Sleep Apnea to the claims.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp01/files01/0102100.txt

http://www.va.gov/vetapp04/files4/0431117.txt

More info on Sleep Apnea caused by PTSD from hadit.com vet. The above links were the reply to win your case for secondary to PTSD.

Need to NOD, COSA, but more importantly, CENTRAL sleep apnea, due to Secondary PTSD.

PTSD causes Brain stem changes.

ANYone know how anyone got this Service Connected if not found before he retired?

His COSA led to sleep study, and that is how it was picked up. BUT NOT THE Sleep study done by the VA, but the outside sleep study!!! Interesting.

[StarVista888]

Hi -

I have sleep apnea and PTSD, myself. Sometimes medications can cause it but most oftern if you may have a "thick neck" or need to lose a few pounds , you are at greater risk of sleep apnea.

Sometimes you can wake up gasping for air after a nightmare. (I do. )

If you snore pretty loudly - your throat may be obstructed. The soft palate (on roof of mouth) sags when you sleep and interferes with breathing as can mouth breathing due to allergies.

With DM - your meds may cause your blood sugar to drop too low at night. That is dangerous. All your doc has to do is give you a longer acting dose to help your glucose stay stable throught the night.

Sleep apnea puts you at risk of left heart disease. It strains your heart - so apnea needs to be taken care of. Surgery on the soft palate, or sometimes those masks (C-pap) which are noisy as all get out but you'll feel great in the morning from getting lots of oxygen!

If I had to wager a guess based on the limited info I know about you - I'd bet on DM causing the sleep apnea because the same factors that cause sleep apnea - thick neck or weight too high...

Either way - take care of it - don't ignore it!