diabetes Metabolic Syndrome & Diabetes.

[syne7]

Has anyone had luck establishing diabetes with metabolic syndrome?

I found a blood test / exam in my SMR that had 4 of the 5 criteria for metabolic syndrome:

Waist greater than 40"
Low HDL
High Triglycerides
High BP

Would that be a good wedge to service connect diabetes?
 

[Chuck75]

It's been a few years since I got into this! DMII is/was considered by many to be a metabolic disorder. But, the VA does not want to exactly say this, since it opens up another big can of worms! When I was first diagnosed with DMII, it was obvious that I had some symptoms of it for years, and that they were below the levels recognized as confirming a DMII diagnosis. I ended up seeing an endocrinologist several times, and having some less common diagnostic tests done. At the time, typical medical insurance would not cover the test costs. The VA would not even consider doing them. Unless there is a "head stuck in sand" position, it's reasonable that there is at least an association between several service connectable conditions, metabolic disorders, and the endocrine system.  In a way, due to the compensation side, the VA sort of concentrates on the effects rather than the root causes.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Chuck75

[Berta]

I used evidence of that syndrome in my AO DMII death claim.

My husband had never been diagnosed or treated for DMII.

But I also had considerable more evidence then just the syndrome values that appeared on his Blood chem records.

Glucose readings from your records are the first main marker of diabetes.

And the best glucose readings come from HB1AC tests.

Somewhere here at hadit is how I helped a vet who had been denied for years (CAVC twice) prove he had inservice diabetes.

However in both cases above, mine and his, it was our IMOs that garnered the award.

Diabetes has many symptoms. I used the VA's own diabetes training letter ( searchable here at hadit) as a template for my claim and for the local vet's claim.

Also the fact that the DMII criteria had been lowered years ago is something the VA tried to use against the claim.

It was a considerable amount of work I did in both above cases, to even have enough evidence to make sure any IMOs would be solid.

Research is everything on claims like this, and a full understanding of every medical entry, blood chem report, med acronyms,  etc etc etc in the SMRs as well as the current VA /private medical records.

My DMII claim took 6 years to award and I gathered evidence their entire 6 years, even after obtaining 3 IMOs.

Because I overlooked one of the many autopsy slides, thinking I understood the description of a heart slide, I missed a very probative piece of evidence that could have saved me lots of research and time. My IM0s didn't consider that slide either.

Unfortunately the claim was to prove that my husband's death was contributed to by untreated, undiagnosed diabetes, due to his AO exposure in Vietnam.

It was not a Sec 1151 claim. But it was the most important award I ever received.

I studied Endocrinology for 6 years.  You will need far more evidence than the metabolic syndrome entries, which might or might not be diabetes, although they can be considered as a pre diabetic condition leading to full blown diabetes.

They are important blood values, but only a part of the puzzle.

The VA Training letter here might help you go over your SMRs in a new way. I used my husband's driver's license and even his VA  dental records, and also his VA employee records, among considerable other evidence to prove my case.

I think my research kept the IMO price down. I sent a cover letter referencing the tabbed medical records and entries that revealed much of the medical evidence..but as I said no diagnosis or treatment for DMII

It only took a few days for my IMO doc to prepare the IMO.