diabetes Sleep Apnea And Diabetes Ii

[prvet]

Hi:

I went to a private MD for SA. I'm SC with diabetes II and NP in both hand and legs, 50% SC. He gave me this diagnose: "This patient has severe OSA with hypoxemia (!) and this explains the degree of hypersomnia and dysmtos. Also the onset of diabetes and OSA appear to be concomitant. In any case, he warrants therapy with CPAP. Will begin therapy with close follow up to ensure optimal CPAP compliance". Will this could help me to summit a claim? I need advice. Thx.

Edited July 17, 2013 by prvet

[Snake Eyes]

good luck on that. there are medical reports out there that state sleep apnea has nothing to do with diabetes. If they were diagnosed at the same time or not is immaterial.

There are also reports that say diabetes causes sleep apnea and studies that show sleep apnea causes diabetes. I've found appeals favorable to the veteran for the latter both as a secondary condition and as an aggrivating condition.

It seems like it's a matter of the doctor saying the magic words. I've only seen vets get service connection of diabetes secondary to sleep apnea on appeal -- I'm wondering if anyone has ever got SC on first go around.

Appeal -- Diabetes secondary to sleep apnea (Citation Nr: 1307050)

Appeal -- Diabetes secondary to sleep apnea (Citation Nr: 0930255)

NIH: Obstructive Sleep Apnea as a Risk Factor for Type II Diabetes -- Aggrigated studies

Edited May 30, 2014 by Snake Eyes

[VetlawUS]

In talking to doctors and reading medical journal articles while I prepared to publish my Sleep Apnea book, "Put it to Rest!", I learned that the connection between Diabetes and Sleep Apnea is still being developed. However, there is a lot of evidence that is showing 2 things:

1) there may in fact be a causative relationship between Diabetes and Sleep Apnea. From what 2 docs and a couple studies taught me, the body's sleep function helps to regulate the levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Decreased sleep can increase blood glucose.

2) In some Veterans with certain types of sleep apnea, the sleep apnea itself can render the insulin largely useless. This is a bad situation to be in, for obvious reasons.

If you have diabetes AND sleep apnea, ask your treating physician if they can test to see if they are related in any way. Of course, ask a C&P doc - tell them in writing before your exam - but don't expect them to be up to speed on the more nuanced medical research. These docs mostly still believe that leeching is the way to cure medical ailments.

Here are a couple posts from the Veterans Law Blog about Sleep Apnea claims:

3 Powerful Ways to Improve your Sleep Apnea Claim and Maximize Your Rating

A Tale of Two Cases: Why 1 Veteran Won a Sleep Apnea Claim and the Other did Not.

Chris

[Pete53]

File your claim and work on it many good suggestions. Are you able to work? If not working should file for VA and Social Security.

Good Luck

[georgiapapa]

Great advice for those suffering with diabetes and sleep apnea. Hopefully more medical evidence will be developed connecting the two conditions. I would file and even it is denied the VA may eventually acknowledge the connection between the two conditions.

[USMC_HVEQ]

regardless you may find that you need a medical nexus to connect the dots for the VA. Medical nexus most likely by a non VA doctor will cost ya money and whichever doctor does the nexus will have to review your entire C-FILE ,medical file.

[Snake Eyes]

UPDATE... I had an exam with Dr. Bash on the overal TDIU and diabetes claims. He is familiar with the research showing a link between sleep apnea and diabetes, albeit by virtue of apnea's impact on glucose levels causing weight gain and then diabetes. I gave him a handful of analytical studies with a lot of references so he may find a different nexus after a lit review. For those who have not used his services, he is very pro-veteran and he is open minded about research (at least in this particular issue).

I should have his final IME/IMO letters and DBQs in a few weeks, after which I'll be filing both a TDIU/CUE and a fully developed diabetes claim. Which brings me to this: Dr. Bash doesn't just follow your lead (in my case, it would have been to document whether there is a link between apnea and my other diabetes related issues.... he looked over my records and found an error in my latest determination (apparently, the VA DID NOT look at my SMR on a hypertension claim) and other potential errors. Sounds like he may be a good CUE doc -- at least, he can see them more readily than average (GI) Joe can ;-)