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Obstructive Sleep Apnea Secondary To Sinusitis

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calgon

Question

Hello Vets and Vet supporters, I have the subjected claim currently in the final stages of completion.

I received an increase for my sinusitis and allergic rhinitis service connections recently and the C and P examiner opinned:

"Veteran also suffers from Obstructive Sleep Apnea. His Service Connected Allergic Rhinitis /Chronic Sinusitis probably contributes or aggravates this.

My question to the group is whether you feel that statement can be considered a Nexus for a connection between the two? I had an ACE C and P for the subjected claim but the examiner did not provide an opinion. I am confused as to why an opinion was not provided. With that being said, do you think that opinion from a previous C and P exam will hold enough weight to justify granting secondary service connection for OSA?

Everyone have a safe 4th of July holiday weekend!

Chuck

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Make sure the Doc from your pervious exam is qualified to render his opinion , he needs to be a specialist in that field of medicine,

be aware the VA don't use the same evidence if its already been decided for your first claim of sinusitis & allergic rhinitis but it helps that its already in your records.

I think it would be better to get an IMO from a specialist for S.A & not From a Nurse Practitioner or PA they don't have much clout with raters.

you need new & material evidence.

I could be wrong but that's my opinion.

........................Buck

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Thanks Buck. The doctor was a qualified M.D. specializing in internal medicine. I am so hoping his opinion holds some value because the ACE C and P examiner never even mentioned the word sinusitis or rhinitis in his review. I hate those ACE reviews with a passion.

CHUCK

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Calgon,

Good advice provided by Buck. I think you will need much more for your OSA claim to be successful. Even if he did provide an opinion, it would have to be supported by reasonable medicale rationale. Just curious, was this one of those C & P exams where the doctor conducted the exam by telephone? In my opinion, absent evidence in your SMRs supporting your OSA claim, you would need a strong IME and IMO from an ENT specialist who specializes in sleep disorders in order to have a chance of winning your OSA claim.

GP

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GP, the ACE exam was a C and P where the doc reviewed my records and filled out a DBQ. I did not receive a phone call. The C and P for my sinuses increase was an in-person review.

Chuck

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I am looking for any help for filing my appeal for my OSA. In 1997 while on AD, the military conducted a sleep study on me and said that I did not have OSA ..... BS!!, they referred me to get a uvelectomy to stop the snoring, had that done but guess what ..... I STILL SNORE (18 years later). I got out of AD and went into the reserves in 2004. In 2008 my wife kept bugging me to go back and see the doctor again reference to it. In 2008 I had another sleep study done and guess what ... YES, OSA!! The VA denied my claim for the Sleep Apnea (amongst other things which I am appealing) for not occurring during military service.

I really do not have the $$ to pay someone $1500 to get an IME done. Unless someone knows someone cheaper.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!!

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  • Content Curator/HadIt.com Elder

Hello Vets and Vet supporters, I have the subjected claim currently in the final stages of completion.

I received an increase for my sinusitis and allergic rhinitis service connections recently and the C and P examiner opinned:

"Veteran also suffers from Obstructive Sleep Apnea. His Service Connected Allergic Rhinitis /Chronic Sinusitis probably contributes or aggravates this.

My question to the group is whether you feel that statement can be considered a Nexus for a connection between the two? I had an ACE C and P for the subjected claim but the examiner did not provide an opinion. I am confused as to why an opinion was not provided. With that being said, do you think that opinion from a previous C and P exam will hold enough weight to justify granting secondary service connection for OSA?

Everyone have a safe 4th of July holiday weekend!

Chuck

The word "probably" is not strong enough. Despite the dictionary definition, the VA does not equate it to the 50%/50% or "least as likely as not" threshold. Good advice from other responders here.

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