ptsd Advice On Sleep Apnea!

[carolinian]

Should I apply for sleep apnea now in a separate claim or try to connect it as a secondary condition to TBI and PTSD. I have another study scheduled this week. I am currently rated at 90% by the VA and I am on SSDI. In May of this year I filed for TDUI and my claim is currently in the Pending Decision Approval phase as of today. I did a sleep study in October 2014 and it was confirmed that I have mild Sleep Apnea.

Sleep Architecture: The patient had a sleep efficiency of 90%. He was studied for 384 minutes of total sleep time. Sleep latency occurred at 4 minutes and REM latency at 234 minutes. He was awake for 39 minutes after sleep onset. he spent 33 minutes in REM sleep, of which 13 minutes were supine REM. He was studied for 175 minutes of supine sleep. Sleep distribution was 1% stage 1, 79% stage 2, 10% stage 3, and 9% REM.

Respiratory Parameters: The overall AHI/RDI was around 6.5. The REM AHI was 19. There were 5 central apneas, 31 obstructive apneas, and 4 hypopneas. There was definitely a positional component. His supine AHI was 12, and his left-side AHI was normal.

Leg Movements: The PLMS index was 19.4 which was borderline.

Snoring: The channel recorded 128 minutes of snoring, and the technician noted moderate snoring.

Arousal Parameters: There were 51 total arousal giving an arousal index of 8.

Diagnoses: Mild obstructive sleep apnea overall with a strong positional component. Moderate snoring

Recommendations: The patient will be scheduled to undergo an in-laboratory CPAP titration study to assess his clinical response.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Philip Rogers]

If you require a CPAP, then I would file a claim. You may have difficulty proving service-connection(SC), tho, depending on when you were discharged. jmo

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[justrluk]

I had the same issue. I tried filing as secondary to medications, but was denied. I use an AutoPAP, so I may wait a few months and re-submit. Either way, I have an external diagnosis and get equipment from the VA. The claim would just be a matter of bureaucratic admission on the part of the VA.

[Buck52]

corolinian

I would file a claim if I was you! if you can't work that just helps them to decide the iu your already 90%

[carolinian]

Thanks for all of the advice. I seperated from the military in January 2014 and i didnt have a diagnoses for it so I didn't claim it. I did a sleep diary in europe in 2012 for a week and it said I has severe snoring and that was it. I never did the sleep study until Oct. 2014 and.thats when I got diagnosed with sleep apnea. I have another study with the machine today.

[carolinian]

The sleep diary is a small electronic device similar to a watch and it measusures your heart rate and the brightness of lights in the room and it stores in in the watch for one week and they retreive the info and analyze it.

[WVSERVER]

If you were diagnosed with in a year of your discharge I do believe you will be service connected.