Connecting my asthma to my time in the service?

[AFRunner]

For starters, thanks for any and all help!

I went to USAFA and graduated in 2011 and then served about 3.5 years before voluntarily separating during the budget cuts. So my final day was the last day of September 2014. That following Spring (2015) I began to have issues breathing and by June it was unbearable. It took them a month or so to track it down but they diagnosed me with Asthma. I breathe at 60% and use the highest dosage steroid they're allowed to give me now 2x/day every day. Additionally they found a little bit of AV Block and some times at rest my heart beat stops for upwards of 4s. They put a loop recorder in my chest in July of 2015 to monitor my heart. 

My time in the service was divided between 4 years at USAFA (I also spent a semester on exchange at USNA), two 2 month TDYs to lackland, and then a little over 3 years at Wright Patterson AFB in Building 1 (a building from the 1930's). I worked in contracting and spent my final year and a half in construction contracting. So I was often on site for my contracts which included a lot of time on site for a big HVAC project at NASIC and I oversaw numerous demolitions around base (I even got to break into a building in Area B once because CE didn't have the key for it, fun times). 

So I don't know if I have any sort of connection to the service or not. It's been frustrating. I've been healthy my entire life and then just months after leaving the service I came down with Asthma. My new work place is amazing and definitely not the cause (everyone in my new job is just fine and our building is very new). 

So maybe i'm grasping at straws here, but I shelled out thousands of dollars this past year in appointments, medicine, and having a loop recorder installed. It would be fantastic to hear I have an opportunity to get help with this. If not though, so is life. 

In the meantime, I'm going to send the initial documents to my local VFW service officer and they will represent my claim. 

I'm all ears for any advice. 

Warm regards

[Vync]

1 hour ago, Dot09 said:

if you have specific dates make sure the examiner is aware of them. Mention the dates, dr that you were seen by, and for what. Don't expect that you are a special case where he will do a satisfactory job. Make him see the information by pointing it out. I wish you the best of luck

Good info, Dot09.

Better success is obtained when you spoon feed the VA and C&P docs exactly what they need. I had one C&P doc say my service treatment records were silent for the condition and the VARO denied my claim. I knew the doc never ever read my STRs. I submitted my NOD on the appropriate form, plus included an attachment containing a granular list of dozens of STR instances. When I showed up for the C&P re-exam, I gave a copy to the doc and they just looked at it and said, "Wow...This makes my job really easy."