Treysnonna

[treysnonna]

Can you send in info on an appeal if it has Been at bva, but no decision yet?  I want my husbands nephrologist to write a little bit different letter, as to why he thinks diabetes has caused his cod etc.  I ve been reading a lot of decisions I don’t think the one he wrote will do the trick.  I’m thinking I can write it up and he can read it and if he likes it, put it on his letter head.  What do you think.i have read and looked up enough of these decisions and read enough publications from pub med, diabetic association, the kidney association to write one.  It has to be very explicit on explaining their opinion.  Otherwise va will just deny it.  For instance it was originally denied because when undated in a cup at c&p their was proteinuria in it.  Now they found proteinuria in a 24hr drop.  That is why he was sent to specialist.  In one of the publications from pub med it says you do not always the same amount of proteinuria,  you drop more in the later stages or your diabetes can cause you to drop more at times if it is not controlled.  And has anything else the diabetes aggravates the kidneys, and can make it progress even faster.

what do think? Can we still send in another letter to be added to the claim? 

If diabetes does not cause kidney problems, why are they always watching their kidney function?

i  would also like your opinion on this too.  My husbands blood sugar dropped to 36 nite before last.  I think he should have went to er.  He broke out in sweat all over.  And although I’m not diabetic I know how hw feels.  I accidentally took his med by mistake in 2001, and I worked at the post office.  On way to work candy bars and started shoving them down.  I was the first one at work,  carrier came in 15min later.  I was broke out in sweat too.  But I managed to get it under control.  Lol. That’s what happened when your in a hurry and he ask you to to bring him his meds.  But if nothing else to get that on record.  He did tell his nephrologist about it.  He ordered some kind of injection that I have to stab him with if his sugar gets so low he passes out.  Maybe I will put that in the letter for him.  He has had several episodes of low blood sugar as well as high.  His last a1c was 9.  Something.  But I don’t think it has ever been that low..

thanks ahead for any advise you can give me.

and if anyone else wants to chime in. That is ok I’ll take any advise I can get.

i did notice they are now!   Before the holidays they were on May 2014.  Maybe someone lit a fire under them!

[Gastone]

Trey, who's  your Advocate for the BVA Appeal? What year & month was your Docket Number assigned?

Are you familiar with the BVA (90 Day) New & Material Evidence submission cut off letter?

How about posting redacted copies of his original Denial and any subsequent RO Denials and the SOC?

[treysnonna]

His  1502319 .  Yes I’m aware of the ninety day thing.  We did send in all the labs from the time he was diagnosised with kidney disease etc.  but I’ve been looking at decisions on board of veterans affairs and if it is not worded just as t.he va wants, they deny it.  So I thought maybe I could have doctors write it up the way the va wants.  But maybe that is impossible now.    I will try to get the redacted copy on here for you.  

But I have another question concerning his clam for compensation for the Mitral and tricuspid regurgitation, claimed as heat condition.    Here is a pic of the p

[treysnonna]

What exactly are they saying.   I did not see all this, before.  And I think all hubby looked at ways that they denied it.  Were they saying we should have considered a nod?  Or can we reopen it now,  and  they approve or under any new additions to the 38cfr.  Such as the service connected diabetes caused/ aggravated/or made the heart condition progress much faster, than it would have if he had not had the diabetes?

[Gastone]

The above attachment was from a 2010 Denial Letter. Eye Comp Rating deferred for Medical opinion, did you ever receive the Eye C & P Exam or submit an Expert Medical Opinion?

The Heart Condition was Denied, however a mention of a possible Award If and When the 38 CFR 3.309 (e) additions were finalized. Were there ever any changes? Might be time to get hooked up with a VSO.

[Berta]

I think they mean the 2010 finalized changes to the AO presumptive list ,that added Ischemic heart disease,(which includes heart disease as defined in this link:

http://helpdesk.vetsfirst.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=2824

I dont see his heart condition as fitting into that regulation,

"A veteran who contracts a disease not presumed under the regulation to be caused by herbicide exposure" may still seek to establish service connection on a direct basis, pursuant to Combee v. Brown, 34 F.3d 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1994).  Ischemic heart disease is now on the list of diseases subject to presumptive service connection secondary to herbicide exposure.  38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e); 75 Fed. Reg. 53,202 (Aug. 31, 2010) (section 3.309(e) is amended "by adding 'Ischemic heart disease (including, but not limited to, acute, subacute, and old myocardial infarction; atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease including coronary artery disease (including coronary spasm) and coronary bypass surgery; and stable, unstable and Prinzmetal's angina)'"), Parkinson's disease, and all chronic B-cell leukemias.).  The list of presumptive conditions now includes:" etc ...in link

but it is possible that his service connected diabetes, caused the heart disease.( but is his diabetes service connected?????)

So much came up on my searchregarding diabetes and heart disease, it is best I just put the Google search here for you to read over.....many articles,etc.:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS695US695&ei=O118WtXmDYbEjwPA96GoBw&q=what+kind+of+heart+disease+can+diabetes+cause&oq=what+kind+of+heart+disease+can+diabetes+cause&gs_l=psy-ab.12..33i22i29i30k1.5784.19054.0.22313.61.33.0.0.0.0.2737.2737.9-1.1.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..60.1.2737....0.KRQWYHYNIAA

Also my husband had SC IHD (due to AO) and also DMII due to AO.

The DMII had never been properly diagnosed or treated by the VA.

Oddly enough ( I supplied considerable evidence and 3 IMOs on the DMII) in all of the research I did ,to include reading his medical records and MRis, autopsy many times, I  had overlooked on word in the autopsy regarding the heart slides- thinking I knew what it meant medically.But what it really meant was evidence in heart slides of diabetic cardiomegaly. I will Never overlook a medical word again! My point is that his untreated ,undiagnosed DMII had a profound affect on his heart, and VA had  already determined in my FTCA/1151 cases that it was ischemic heart disease.

I had won my DMII claim about 2 weeks before I looked up that medical heart slide word.But I was still in the evidence gathering mode- it is hard to stop, sometimes even when you succeed.

 

Diabetes can also cause kidney disease.

There is a wealth of medical info on that on the web....for example:

https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/diabetes

But I am not a doctor and these claims need a strong IMO/IME to make the medical linkage with a full medical rational.

I never had any IMO before I filed this claim.I won FTCA/1151 without one. I couldnt find an IMO doc in those days anywhere. But I presented a  strong lay medical opinion with very strong VA medical evidence of malpractice.

But this time, years later , I was not taking any chances with my DMII claim and obtained 3 IMOs for it.

2 from Dr Bash and one ( a freebee) from a former VA doctor.I also had orderd a paid for a cardio IMO as well but the BVA award came before the cardio doc had done the IMO and the forensic firm that contacted him refunded some of my IMO fee to me.

If your husband waqs denied and he did not appeal the denial with a timely NOD etc, he can re-open his claim with  new and material evidence.

I certainly feel that N & M evidence should come from a bonafide medical expert, who follows the IMO/IME criteria here at hadit to the letter.(like Dr Bash does) His IMos gave me the criteria I posted here years ago on that.

 

 

 

[Berta]

PS, it is always possible that an IMO doctor with cardio expertise would consider your husband's heart condition to somehow fall into the  AO IHD regulations..perhaps a ECHO result would confirm that , as well as all available medical records.

Has he ever read over the Presumptive AO Ships list?

https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/docs/shiplist.docx

This is the most recent one I have ( Nov 2017) and they list any Coast Guard vessels  that were exposed to AO during the Vietnam War.