Medical And Audiology C & P's Next Week

[Scotter04]

I am finally scheduled for a C & P for my Tinnitus and they scheduled me for a Medical C & P as well. What can I expect to happen during these exams? This is the third time trying to get rated for Tinnitus but first time for what I hope is an actual C & P for tinnitus. I have also applied for sleep apnea, is this what the medical C & P is for? A little background on me, I was a Fuels Specialist in the Air Force for nine years. I was constantly around jet engines, loud fuel trucks and loud fuel equipment.

The tinnitus became constant in my left ear towards the end of my time in. I would mention it to the person doing the hearing exams but they wouldn't do anything about it. When I separated I had a medical C & P at the VA. During the portion dealing with my tinnitus the examiner asked one question and only one. In a loud clear voice he asked "Can you hear what I'm saying". I replied back, Yes. He said I definitely don't have tinnitus. I know I have tinnitus but didn't want to argue.

Is this what I can expect again?

My private audiologist gave me hearing aids to try and help mask the tinnitus and I have them registered with the VA. Will this maybe help in my favor or not?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Navy04]

Sorry to hear of your troubles bud as we too all know them too well. Tinnitus should be granted to you, as long as you worked in an MOS that had a lot of HIgh DB noise, and you inform the Doc that your ear rings like a Constant Fax Machine. As far as Sleep apnea the Doc will look to see if you were diagnosed while active or right after your discharge. Just go in there and answer as truthfully as you can, and remember that if the Doc asks "How are you today" don't answer " I am fine or good" the Exam Docs love to use that against us. I too was just called yesterday, I have 5 exams at 2 VAs in the next 2 weeks. Good luck and keep us posted.

[NemosNavy]

As far as the exam, you'll probably meet with an audiologist and he/she may give you a hearing test, the air blow test, and a speech discrimination test. They will also ask questions about what you did in the military. Tell them about being around the jet engines and fuel trucks. Also if you can look up VA Fast Letter 10-35 and see if your MOS has a high probability for tinnitus. They are suppose to concede tinnitus if you are a high probability MOS I believe. Also if you havent already done so, bring your private docs records/notes, they may or may not look at those.If your already being treated for the tinnitus it should help as long as you can prove the service connection. I have no idea about the sleep apnea C&P though, and hope others will chime in. Don't be nervous and good luck!

[Scotter04]

Thanks for the info Navy04. Good luck to you as well. I'm in the same boat, C & P next week at one VA and the following week I go to another for a non related thyroid biopsy and to get a MRI on an ankle that I sprained during service. I haven't applied for disability yet for the ankle yet because I'm waiting to see what the results are.

[Scotter04]

Had my audiology and sleep apnea/gulf war C&P's today. Thought they went pretty good until the last 5mins of the SA/GW exam. The Dr was looking thru my claim on the computer and couldnt find the copy of the sleep study I provided my VSO claim submission. Im going to submit it myself thru ebene's. Hope this doesn't prolong it much longer.

[Navy04]

Glad to year you made it thru the exams bud. I just had my sleep study in Dec 14, and I will deal with the GW illnesses after this claim is complete. God Bless and good luck

[Scotter04]

Navy04

The GW portion was added to the SA exam to try and connect the dots. I never new about SA so never saw anyone about my snoring, stopped breathing and insomnia during service. So SC the SA will be tough.