Obstructive Sleep Apnea Without Diag In Service

[63SIERRA]

Im wondering if anyone has recieved comp for sleep apnea that was NOT diagnosed on active duty.

I was denied but plan to appeal the denial. I initially claimed it as a presumptive condition from the GWI list as " sleep disturbance." va denied me. I have the CPAP machine and it helps but I cant wear it every night due to sinus issues/.

[free_spirit_etc]

What is the exact wording they used on the denial?

Im wondering if anyone has recieved comp for sleep apnea that was NOT diagnosed on active duty.

I was denied but plan to appeal the denial. I initially claimed it as a presumptive condition from the GWI list as " sleep disturbance." va denied me. I have the CPAP machine and it helps but I cant wear it every night due to sinus issues/.

[free_spirit_etc]

I actually read a couple BVA cases where the veteran wasn't diagnosed until some time after service, but the BVA noted their neck size was X in service, and they granted the claim.

Anyone with a size 16 1/2 neck will have some type of sleep disturbances/apnea, which is one of the reasons why VA is eliminating sleep apnea from the 38 CFR, sometime in 2014-2015, or at least it's what we are being told.

[free_spirit_etc]

S63,

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/medically-unexplained-illness.asp

VA presumes certain chronic, unexplained symptoms existing for 6 months or more are related to Gulf War service without regard to cause.

• Undiagnosed illnesseswith symptoms that may include but are not limited to: abnormal weight loss, fatigue, cardiovascular disease, muscle and joint pain, headache, menstrual disorders, neurological and psychological problems, skin conditions, respiratory disorders, and sleep disturbances.
  

If the doctor diagnosed you with sleep apnea, that is a diagnosed illness. So it wouldn't meet the criteria for being an undiagnosed illness. It explains the symptoms, so they are not unexplained symptoms.

That doesn't mean you wouldn't be able to get sleep apnea SCed under some other theory of entitlement. But if it is a diagnosed illness, it wouldn't fall under the presumptive undiagnosed, unexplained illnesses

38 CFR lists Sleep Apnea under Respiratory conditions though. Did the VA doctor say your sleep apnea is a disagnosed sleep disturbance? Or did he say your sleep disturbance is related to your diagnosed sleep apnea? Did he say it is more likely than not that your sleep apnea started in, or was the result of, your service in Desert Storm?

I think you would need a nexus statement because being diagnosed takes it out of the presumptive (undiagnosed) illnesses.

Sleep disturbances are presumptive for GWI.;

A medical doctor employed by the va, diagnosed me with a SLEEP DISTURBANCE called SLEEP APNEA.

ITS all there in black and white.

YET the va denied me compensation and says under thier " criteria " it isnt presumptive.

Edited December 31, 2013 by free_spirit_etc

[RichL]

meghp0405,

If you can get a buddy letter stating that your buddy observed you displaying OSA symptoms while on AD that may help your claim for OSA secondary to PTSD.

[meghp0405]

if the buddy statement states what symptoms were observed. many times people will write a buddy statement and put the diagnosis in the statement. I observed my husband with a migraine, My husband has sleep apnea because I hear him stop breathing, etc. VA will not pay any attention to those type of statements unless the author has a medical background.

When writing buddy statements, have the authors address the observation, what he/she is doing, the frequency and the duration of the episodes. Those type statements are golden...

[71M10]

I was connected 21 years after service and roughly 10 years after diagnosis with no inservice diagnosis. The key to my claim was neck size, onset of hypertension and kyphoscoliosis in service, EKG reports and a very meticulous pulmonologist who actually read my entire medical history and wrote a well thought out letter putting forth all the facts. Now it took 5 years of fighting with my Local RO to actually get them to read the letter and one attempted BS C&P (by an allergist) who later in a suplemental C&P had to concede my doctors opinon was most likely correct. Originally, this doctor stated there was no letter in the C File. When I pointed out that it was reffered to in two different transcribed hearings as present in the file by VA personnel and gave them copies of the three return receipts (for the three different times it was mailed to them) they decided the C&P examiner had to actually read the medical opinion. She couldn't argue with it.

As to 63Sierra's assertion that all Apnea's are caused by the brain is factually incorrect. Structural changes to my spine due to my SC injury are the primary cause of my apnea it has nothing to do with the signal generated in the brain. It has everything to do with the damage to the phrenic nerve and that my lungs do not inflate or deflate right (think of a bellows with one side tied down). I agree that the VA is being unreasonable, Apnea is not a sleep disturbance, but it certainly causes a sleep disturbance!