IBS / Other Issues

[MaryM]

Newby here.

I have a question and am hoping that someone can help explain some research I did.

I have a rating of 30% for IBS (7319) and as it has gotten worse I have frequent soiling issues.  This requires that I wear adult diapers.

When I looked at the rating criteria for digestive disorders I found the following language:

§ 4.114 Schedule of ratings—digestive system.

Ratings under diagnostic codes 7301 to 7329, inclusive, 7331, 7342, and 7345 to 7348 inclusive will not be combined with each other. A single evaluation will be assigned under the diagnostic code which reflects the predominant disability picture, with elevation to the next higher evaluation where the severity of the overall disability warrants such elevation.

 

I have been trying to determine if I can get a secondary rating due to my incontinence but it appears the only diagnostic code that really considers this condition is 7332 - Rectum and anus, impairment of sphincter control

 

Am I reading the bold language above correctly, I read this to state that since I have a rating under 7319 they will not consider a separate rating for 7332?

 

Thank you for your help.

Mary

 

[Vync]

I don't have much experience with the 7332 rating, but it sounds plausible. In my opinion, it looks like you can be rated separately for 7332, but it could depend on the underlying symptoms. I hope someone with more experience in this responds.

The bold text is VA's way of considering the digestive system to be worthy of a single rating. For example, I am rated for esophageal reflux (rated as hiatal hernia) and IBS, but one rating is higher than the other. Yeah, they are at opposite ends of my digestive tract and involve different organs. The VA considers them collectively as a single rating, the highest of the two in my case, when calculating my combined rating.

Here's the only BVA rating I could find that included both 7319 and 7332. It's a bit old, so the rating criteria back then could have changed since then:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/Files6/1130898.txt

One other thing to consider is the severity of 7332. If it involves complete loss of control, that's a 100% rating by itself.

[Navy04]

Sorry to hear of your issues bud, but without a bag it is very hard to get an increase. I was Medically Retired in 2013 for Severe Crohn's Disease, and soon to have bag, yet I am only rated at 30% for it, and that includes Barretts Disease, Chronic Rectal bleeding and vomiting. Try to go around the VA by Filing for secondary conditions, but remember that the VA can always review your IBS and continue, increase or even reduce. You have to decide what is best for your family and you.