So Glad To Find This! Marine Sgt With Meniere's Disease

[Sgt_Mac81]

Greetings,

Very, very glad to find this!

As stated, I have Meniere's disease with bilateral hearing loss, vertigo & tinittus. I'm almost to the MEB phase, but my main anxiety is about whether the PEB will find me FIT or UNFIT. I'd like to think that anyone remotely educated about the experiece of intense, violent vertigo attacks would not think that I would be able to safely do my job as a Combat Engineer handling and detonating explosives, but it took over a year of multiple visits, a trail of referred out appointments and a phone call from my former Company Commander just to get my doctor to recommend me to the board and finally start the process.

I would be glad particularly to talk to others dealing with Meniere's, or similar conditions.

[carlie]

Welcome.

[Berta]

I'm not a vet and don't have Menieres but we have some vets here with this condition.

These are some good MEB PEB links and we have had vets here going through those processes:

http://www.pebforum.com/site/threads/meb-peb.14983/

http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/33119651

If you use the hadit search feature for MEB PEB those discussions here should pop up.

And searching under Menieres should bring up some stuff here too.

Do you have any access to a PEBLO there ( Physical Evaluation Board Liason Office?)

VA rates Meniere's this way:

I see you have two periods of service....Do you have copies of your prior USAR SMRS ?

6205 Meniere's syndrome (endolymphatic hydrops):

Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait occurring more than once weekly, with or without tinnitus

100

Hearing impairment with attacks of vertigo and cerebellar gait occurring from one to four times a month, with or without tinnitus

60

Hearing impairment with vertigo less than once a month, with or without tinnitus

30

Note: Evaluate Meniere's syndrome either under these criteria or by separately evaluating vertigo (as a peripheral vestibular disorder), hearing impairment, and tinnitus, whichever method results in a higher overall evaluation. But do not combine an evaluation for hearing impairment, tinnitus, or vertigo with an evaluation under diagnostic code 6205.

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=c130ec487ea61b8a40ad0836188b94bc&rgn=div5&view=text&node=38:1.0.1.1.5&idno=38#38:1.0.1.1.5.2.100.36

The hearing loss schedule of ratings is in that same link, under Audio ratings.

As the rating schedule states, HL and tinnitus are to be rated separately from the Meniere's and cannot be combined ratings.

This is the time to seek out a potential service office or vet rep to help you prepare your VA claim,

if the MEB/PEB finds you unable to stay in the Mil.

And make sure you have a complete copy of your SMRs (service Medical Records) and your 201 file (Personnel Records) if they do discharge you under MEB/PEB.

Welcome aboard!

[RussellDuncan]

I can relate to what you are going through. Menieres ended my career but I was med boarded out because I was already at 23 plus years. The Navy allowed me to sit idle for my remaining 8 months to finish my tour and retire at 24 years. I wouldnt wish Menieres on my worst enemy. It consumes my life. It took the VA about 23 months to complete my disability claim but when all was said and done I was rated at 100%. Good luck and thankyou for your service.