Obesity and Sleep Apnea Concurrently

[tk3000]

 

Over the years, I gained weight which I attribute at large to my physical disabilities (left leg with hardware) and ongoing pain which makes exercising more difficult, currently my BMI is of 32.6 which is classified as obese. There has been cases within the VA whereby mental healhty issues have been grounds for a successful obesity claim, and one also have mental healty issues so this is another ground for the same claim of obesity (the rational being that depressive disorder would increase ones food intake). But it seems to me that the physical disability issues are a stronger case. Anyhow, both disabilities make for an even strong claim of obesity. I am not sure how a claim of obesity is adjudicated at the VA, but I am not morbid obesity by any means.

 

Nonethless, my claim for obesity is a door for another claim; claim for sleep apnea. Recently I was diagnosed with sleep apnea through a sleep study, I have had the same study done in 2011 whence I was more fit and the result was negative but this time around the result indicated a diagnosed of sleep apnea with need of a respirator in order to sleep.

So both the obesity claim and that of sleep apnea would have to be concurrent, and the later dependent on the second.

 

The following are some of the arguments I plan on adding to my claim:

 

Establishing service connection generally requires competent evidence of three things: (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship, i.e., a nexus, between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the current disability. Holton v. Shinseki, 557 F.3d 1362, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2009); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). In this particular case the third criteria applies since there is a nexus between the veterans physical disabilities (physical limitations and pain plus depressive disorder) and his obesity and henceforth the development of sleep apnea.

Therefore sleep apnea is proximately due to the veterans obesity disorder ( greatest risk factor for sleep apnea) which in different degrees of causality is a consequence to the following veterans established service connected disabilities: mainly left leg physical condition with pain which hinders physical exercise more difficult and depressive and anxiety disorder which increases one food intake (Obstructive sleep apnea and other symptoms of OSA are associated with probable major depression, regardless of factors like weight, age, sex or race, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.).

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Does that sounds like a sound and quick claim to through even the notoriously dynfunctional VA claiming process? 

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by tk3000

[tk3000]

6 hours ago, john999 said:

The reason I got IU was for 70% for mental health issues.  Then as years went by I was DX'ed with DMII and then with PN and CAD and then I got "S" because the CAD was 60% by itself.  As long as I keep getting the 100% payment plus the SMC I really don't care because I have been P&T since 2001.  I just read the scare tactics every once in a while about some new administration wanting to do away with TDIU for old guys like me.  However, just because I am an old timer now does not mean I would not keep working if I was able.  I missed the most productive working years of my life due to SC conditions which have only gotten worse over the years.  I would need a new disability of at least 50% to bump up to scheduler 100%. Unless I could get it for sleep apnea or a combination of OSA and all the other crap as well.

I got your point. And also there is a need to file and send that notorious form every year to showcase that we got no gainful and meaningful employment. Sometimes it occurs to me: what would happen if this correspondence gets misdirected by the USPS during transport? I would imagine that there would be some failsafe mechanism and that they would not instantly kick one out of IU; after all, correspondences are know to get misdelivered  during transport sometimes. 

[Guest L]

@tk3000

I am also IU but not obese at 24% body fat... my OCD tendencies work in my favor at the age of 60 LOL 

It is easy to send in the form for IU - I fax and mail certified - or upload to ebenefits in your pajamas.... heee....  

A small price to pay. 

In answer to the question I found this link - not as a confirmed reliable source but information.

                                     Obesity is not a disease according to VA regs/ criteria. There were numerous court decisions you can seek out by googling. I would search this forum first 

https://www.veteransbenefitslawfirm.net/blog/obesity-and-how-its-related-to-va-benefits/

Edited July 25, 2018 by L

[tk3000]

15 hours ago, L said:

@tk3000

I am also IU but not obese at 24% body fat... my OCD tendencies work in my favor at the age of 60 LOL 

It is easy to send in the form for IU - I fax and mail certified - or upload to ebenefits in your pajamas.... heee....  

A small price to pay. 

In answer to the question I found this link - not as a confirmed reliable source but information.

                                     Obesity is not a disease according to VA regs/ criteria. There were numerous court decisions you can seek out by googling. I would search this forum first 

https://www.veteransbenefitslawfirm.net/blog/obesity-and-how-its-related-to-va-benefits/

L, an interesting article that somehow confirmed something I conveyed and knew from my readings of analogous BVA claims. 

Sure enough, but even certified mail can somewhat fail with the hectic way the VA handle paperwork. I did not know about sending it through ebenefits was an option, that is convenient!