ptsd Questions About Recent C&p And Possible Additional Claim(S)

[bleggett29]

Hello, fellow vets! This is my first post on this site but I have been lurking on and off for the past year or so.

Today I finally had one of two C&P exams since putting in my claim Sep. 2013. It was a mental health C&P for Anxiety, Agoraphobia, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety, Bi-Polar, MDD. The second C&P is for an increase to my hearing loss. Reading some of the mental health C&P experiences on here, I wasn't too confident I would have a favorable outcome. But today's C&P seems to be very favorable to me. When filing the claim I was concerned that a nexus didn't exist to S/C as primary so I indicated they were all secondary to my S/C tinnitus (10%) and hearing loss (0%). However, the examiner found a nexus for a primary S/C from my separation exam. It happened to be that I indicated I had anxiety and shortness of breath on that exam, which it what she used at the nexus. I don't yet have a copy of the C&P but at the end of the exam I asked her what she had wrote. From what she read back to me, and what I looked up on the rating schedule after getting back home, I should be easily 70% with the possibility of 100%.

Now with the questions. lol.

How much faith should I put into this C&P that the rater would agree with the examiner and approve the claim?

My next C&P isn't until the end of July. Is it possible that my mental health claim be processed and approved before the July C&P?

I was recently diagnosed with OSA (Sleep Apnea) and will be getting a CPAP. Although I don't have PTSD, can OSA be secondary to other mental health issues (since many of my symptoms overlap with PTSD)? I also mentioned the recent diagnosis of OSA and the CPAP. Does the VA have an obligation to include this with my current claim, or will I have to file a new claim?

Thanks!

[Navy04]

Welcome aboard and glad to see you made it thru the exam. In the next week or so you should see the Exam notes on MyHealthEVet. Once you get those and post on here then we should be able to help you more accurately. Once you get the SC granted for a condition, you can always submit a new claim for a condition you feel is Secondary. Good luck and God Bless

[bleggett29]

Thank you, Navy04! Quick question: Do I access the exam notes by downloading my BlueButton records?

Thanks, again!

[TALON II FE]

In theory, that is where they should be. If it was done under contract it will not be there, none of mine are from April and it was thru an outside contractor. Others have said that even their VA administered C&Ps from recently (last couple months) are not there either.

[Gastone]

SA is a very difficult Secondary SC issue but you never know. If you have the SA DX, file the claim as Secondary to your MH issues, can't hurt, right.

Meanwhile, get busy doing your due diligence as far as researching Denials & Awards of similar claims that were appealed to the BVA.

Semper Fi

Gastone

[broncovet]

If you will post your hearing loss numbers, I will put them in the charts for you.

As you may know I need to know only the Speech discrimination (both ears)

Puretone Average (This is the 1000, 2000,3000,4000 hearing loss rating divided by 4 to get the average. My C and P gives the Average Puretone Loss)

The reason I ask is that many VARO's do the chart backwards and arrive at a low rating. (They invert Puretone Average and Speech discrimination). 438 CFR 4.85 (b) states that the Speech discrimination is horizontal Rows, while Puretone Average is Vertical.

[bleggett29]

Broncover, below are from my Aug 2013 C&P:

+=======================+

| RIGHT EAR | 96% |

|=============+=========|

| LEFT EAR | 96% |

+=======================+

RIGHT EAR

+==============================================================+

| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |

|========+========+========+========+========+========+========+========+

| 500 | 1000 | 2000 | 3000 | 4000 | 6000 | 8000 | Avg Hz |

| Hz* | Hz | Hz | Hz | Hz | Hz | Hz | (B-E)**|

|========+========+========+========+========+========+========+========|

| 20 | 30 | 50 | 65 | 60 | 60 | 55 | 51 |

+=======================================================================+

LEFT EAR

+==============================================================+

| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |

|========+========+========+========+========+========+========+========+

| 500 | 1000 | 2000 | 3000 | 4000 | 6000 | 8000 | Avg Hz |

| Hz* | Hz | Hz | Hz | Hz | Hz | Hz | (B-E)**|

|========+========+========+========+========+========+========+========|

| 15 | 30 | 45 | 70 | 80 | 75 | 75 | 56 |

+=======================================================================+