Sleep apnea, service connection?

[Tdiguy]

There seems to be a wealth of information on this forum with a lot of knowledgeable people that have been through the comp and pen exams a lot more than i have. I hate the exams a lot myself and prefer to subject myself to them as little as possible. 

I have had un-treated sleep apnea for many years. I finally urged my VA dr to have me checked out by a sleep specialist after dealing with this for at least 8 years. After the in facility sleep study I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and given an automatically adjusting cpap machine ( starts at 4 and will go up to 16 ). So the VA has me as diagnosed with sleep apnea.

I recently was re-evaluated by the VA for my depression my rating was re-adjusted to be 30%. One thing that really stood out to me on the decision notice was a little block that says basically they came to this evaluation based on chronic sleep impairment. 

To me this seems obvious that i should ask to have sleep apnea as a secondary condition for depression, the way its worded it seems like the VA all but said it to me. 

What are your thoughts?

Also has anyone been recently service connected for sleep apnea? I saw some older information from 2016 saying that people service connected for sleep apnea with a breathing device like a cpap or similar are 50% rated.

[USMCVet13]

I'm in a similar situation, except I don't have anything SC yet. Symptoms while in service, but no complaints. Diagnosed a few years after I separated. I'm working on getting buddy letters from everyone I can and I'm trying to cut my weight back down to where it was when I was in so they can't use that cop-out. It'll be an uphill battle for sure.

CPAP is 50%, yes.

[Tdiguy]

Well I spoke with my psychologist, ( a va psychologist ) I am not sure honestly how straightforward she was with her answer. She said there is a connection of sleep apnea causing depression but not of depression causing sleep apnea. I am not sure if i should proceed with this simply because i feel they are likely to say its not service related and i hear appealing is more difficult. 

On that note the VA psychologist had also asked me why my VSO was trying to get sleep apnea as service connected when i have a few other problems ( but they are truly not service related  which i told her ) and said it seemed like they were fishing. That along with what i have read online ( which yes i know not the best source of information ) makes me wonder. I am wondering if i should hire a private psychologist to evaluate and form an opinion or if the va would not care much for their opinion.

[j92mike]

On 8/18/2017 at 5:17 PM, Tdiguy said:

Well I spoke with my psychologist, ( a va psychologist ) I am not sure honestly how straightforward she was with her answer. She said there is a connection of sleep apnea causing depression but not of depression causing sleep apnea. I am not sure if i should proceed with this simply because i feel they are likely to say its not service related and i hear appealing is more difficult. 

On that note the VA psychologist had also asked me why my VSO was trying to get sleep apnea as service connected when i have a few other problems ( but they are truly not service related  which i told her ) and said it seemed like they were fishing. That along with what i have read online ( which yes i know not the best source of information ) makes me wonder. I am wondering if i should hire a private psychologist to evaluate and form an opinion or if the va would not care much for their opinion.

 

Just ask if she would consider writing a statement for you. My DRO actually insisted on getting something I sent my psychologist an email thru ebenefits I was a nervous wreck with asking and her statement helped get me from 0 to 70% with service connection

[Tdiguy]

This next visit will only be my 3rd visit to this psychologist. I am already considering asking for a different psychologist. Somehow despite putting on the intake form that i absolutely have no desire to talk about religion last meeting she insisted on talking about god and how i need him in my life. I was extremely upset, and when she saw this she decided to push a bit more on religion. I have been so annoyed by it that its something i have thought about multiple times since my visit with her almost a week ago. You should have seen though how fast she was to dismiss depression causing sleep apnea. If she brings up religion in next weeks session i am going to request a different therapist for certain.

[Gastone]

How about your other SA symptoms, the Usual Suspects?  Is, or has your BMI been recorded as North of 29%  since prior to your Depression SC DX? Is your neck 17.5+, do you have a Large tongue?

Semper Fi

[Tdiguy]

I guess I am in luck there. I was diagnosed with depression while i was in the military. I would be over on bmi but well under for fat% never had a neck that big and nobody has measured my tongue so i might just be in luck.