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Sleep Apnea Filing secondary to a SC Disability!

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Buck52

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  • HadIt.com Elder

This maybe helpful to some of you  wanting to File a secondary claim from a SC DISABILITY THAT YOU MAY HAVE  FOR A SLEEP APNEA CLAIM.

Even though this case is an old one   some of you may want to read up on this case that are thinking about filing a Claim of Sleep Apnea secondary to a SC disability that you may have.

you can get pull up these CFR'S That you need to read up on and do what you need to do for your claim..and submit your evidence accordingly.

 

Please read this   it sure could help you with your claim.

 

Citation Nr: 0102100
Decision Date: 01/25/01 Archive Date: 01/31/01

DOCKET NO. 99-22 315 ) DATE

On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Louis,
Missouri


THE ISSUE

Entitlement to service connection for sleep apnea as
secondary to service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD).


REPRESENTATION

Appellant represented by: Disabled American Veterans


ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD

Richard A. Cohn, Associate Counsel


INTRODUCTION

The veteran served on active duty from April 1970 to December
1971.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals
(Board) on appeal from an August 1999 rating decision of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office in St.
Louis, Missouri (RO) which denied service connection for
sleep apnea as secondary to service-connected PTSD.


FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The record includes all evidence necessary for the
equitable disposition of this appeal.

2. There is competent medical evidence linking current sleep
apnea to the veteran's service-connected PTSD.


CONCLUSION OF LAW

The veteran's sleep apnea was aggravated by his service-
connected PTSD. Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000, Pub.
L. No. 106-475, 114 Stat. 2096 (2000); 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107,
38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a) (2000).


REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The veteran attributes sleep apnea to his service-connected
PTSD. The veteran does not contend that he incurred or
aggravated sleep apnea during service and there is no
evidence of sleep apnea or other sleep disorder in the
veteran's service medical records SMRs.

Procedurally, this appeal is developed fully and ready for
Board adjudication. The RO has verified the veteran's period
of service; there is no issue as to the substantial
completeness of the veteran's application for VA benefits;
the veteran has undergone VA examination pursuant to the
application; the RO has requested and associated with the
claims file all available service and postservice medical
records pertinent to this appeal; VA is unaware of other
unrequested records pertinent to this appeal, and; the
evidence is sufficient to permit the Board to proceed with
appellate review. See Veterans Claims Assistance Act of
2000, Pub. L. No. 106-475, 114 Stat. 2096, (2000).

A veteran may be entitled to service connection for a
disability under either a direct or secondary analysis.
Direct service connection is warranted for disability
resulting from disease or injury incurred or aggravated in
service. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 1131 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. §
3.303 (2000). Secondary service connection is warranted both
for a disability caused by a service-connected disorder and
for a disability aggravated by a service-connected disorder.
38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a) (2000). In the latter case,
compensation is limited to the extent to which the service-
connected disorder increased the severity of the secondary
disorder. Allen v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 439, 448 (1995); Jones
(Wayne) v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 134, 136-37 (1994). A service-
connected secondary disorder becomes part of the original
disorder. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a).

The veteran is a decorated former Army combat soldier whose
PTSD has been service-connected since July 1995. SMRs
include no evidence of a sleep disorder in service and the
veteran claims none.

VA medical records confirm that the veteran underwent sleep
studies in February and October 1998 from which he was
diagnosed with sleep apnea. A VA psychiatric progress note
from February 1999 briefly reviewed the studies' findings and
applicable research and concluded that PTSD and its treatment
"in all probability has aggravated the obstructive sleep
apnea." The note further states that "it is certainly as
likely as not that this veteran's sleep apnea is directly
related to his PTSD." The VA physician who examined the
veteran in July 1999 identified two likely causes of his
sleep apnea: enlarged tonsillar tissue and obesity. The
physician found no etiological connection between PTSD and
enlarged tonsillar tissue. However, he acknowledged that
"an argument could be made" linking the veteran's obesity
with PTSD although the veteran's medical records did not
include another medical opinion to that effect.

In the Board's judgment the record presents adequate evidence
upon which to base a finding that the veteran's PTSD
aggravated his sleep apnea. The opinion expressed in the
February 1999 progress note is neither ambiguous nor
equivocal on that point. The July 1999 examination report is
more tentative -- finding only a medical possibility of
attenuated causality under a different rationale.
Nevertheless, the July 1999 opinion does not refute the
February 1999 opinion, and it is well established that VA
itself may not refute expert medical conclusions in the
record with its own unsubstantiated medical conclusions.
Colvin v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 171, 175. (1991).
Therefore, absent medical evidence actually denying a causal
linkage between PTSD and sleep apnea in this case, the Board
reads the two opinions together as providing, at minimum,
evidentiary equipoise which must be resolved in the veteran's
favor. See 38 U.S.C.A. § 5107(b). Accordingly, the Board is
constrained to find that service connection for sleep apnea
is warranted here under a secondary analysis. See 38 C.F.R.
§ 3.310.


ORDER

Service connection for sleep apnea is granted secondary to
service-connected PTSD.

 


WARREN W. RICE, JR.

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1 minute ago, Jerry Harris said:


I recently found out sleep apnea was compensable. When I retired in Sep 94 and applied later to VA for benefits it was in my records from a VA Hospital in Cal  that I had sleep apnea. Diagnosed at VA Hospital in March 94 that I had sleep apnea. Have all paperwork from that time at VA. Later got my cpap and also had the UPPP surgery (which I don't recommend) in 2007. I have copies of 2 sleep studies showing my apnea. I never mentioned the apnea to VA in Houston and they never said anything about it in my records. Question is Iam about to apply. This is May 2016. Would I be eligible for retroactive back pay? I think I can qualify for the monthly compensation regardless of back pay. Thanks.

 

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  • HadIt.com Elder

you need medical records to prove it  that you had S,A, or snored  you can get lay statements from buddys &your spouse that you snore  but that is not enough  actually you need to check all your STR's if anything was mention about your sleep disturbance while in the military?

Now if you have a S.C. Disability that would aggravate you to have or be the cause of your S.A. and you have a VA Diagosed for S.A. AND on c-pap machine   that you need  for Continuous Positive Air Pressure then that would be helpful  but a lot of this needs to come from a sleep specialist  WITH CREDENTIALS. 

 

If you don't have any records for S.A while in military  its hard to get it S.C.   and the other route would be file  a claim secondary from a S.C.disability that would aggravate or cause your S.A.

JMO

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

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Jerry

I don't think they will ack pay it  unless you get an attorney to fight it for you  but if you have the records and evidence to prove it you had it in the military  they should have caught this when you got out....since no record of it when you ETS or was discharged...then if you file a S.A. Claim  they will proably go y the date you filed a claim....if no claim was filed back in 1994  or appeal then no retro.

but you could file a ITF and start gathering up your records/evidence.  you have a YEAR TO FILE THE CLAIM AFTER YOU FILE THE ITF.  SO if it takes a year for them to approve your S.A.CLAIM  THEN YOU GET  12 MONTHS OF RETRO  OR EVER HOW LONG IT TAKES THE VA TO ADJUDICATE YOUR S.A. CLAIM. PROBABLY AT 50%

jmo

......Buck

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Remember  those VA Doc's don't like to  write anything for us that would be favorable to our claim...

so if you copy some of the regs and things above about sleep apnea   be sure and not copy a lot of stuff for them to read  they hate to read  so just copy the parts that would help them write you up something that would help your claim. ( just the parts that would be favorable for them to help you in your S.A. CLAIM.)

keep it as short and to the point as you can.

JMO

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

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Thanks Buck. It was a VA med hospital in 1994 you months prior to my retirement that performed sleep study. Had no idea sleep apnea was even covered until a friend told me she had applied for the benefit. Just bothers me that this was in my packet when I first went to VA to be evaluated and nothing said to me. But understand about retro payment.

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I also got out around that time frame (1995) and sleep apnea WHAT??? Never heard of sleep apnea. Ya you snored and people made fun of you and threatened to throw you out of the tent but no one said (AH you have sleep apnea and should see a doctor and get that documented). if you know what i mean. I really don't think the VA will care about that, but a caring doctor might reason on that point with you and agree. Just gather enough evidence and or a good rational and try your best to convince the doc that your claim is real.  All we can do is hope for the best!!!  I'm going to try to secondary it to my MDD because my shrink was the one to mention that i should get a sleep study done because of my fatigue.  I claimed fatigue when i got out as part of a gulf war claim along with memory loss and they tied the memory loss into my MDD so maybe i can tie the fatigue into my Sleep apnea!!! What do you think???

Edited by silverdollar22
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