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Sleep Apnea Claim Process (my experience, could use advice)

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Diotima

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- So I got out of the military in June 2014 and I had a sleep study later on that year in Sept 2014 as part of my Original Claim. Part of that claim was to see if I could claim Sleep Apnea so I bundled it into the original claim despite having no "evidence" besides as lay statement.

- My home sleep study was "abnormal" not enough data so I was sent to a sleep lab  and told I did not have sleep apnea but that I did have Hypersomnia (according to doctors notes)

- At no time did my doctor relay this note from the sleep lab about Hypersomnia but I did notice they said it was "likely" not connected to my service, so denied essentially... the end right?

- Well I continued feeling very tired and displaying all the classic signs of sleep apnea in my view for several more years. My mother told me as I was sleeping over at her place that it sounded like I had trouble breathing and stopped breathing... so she was notably concerned.

- This jumpstarted the process to get a 2nd sleep study in 2019. This time I received a positive diagnosis for Mild Sleep Apnea and I now have a CPAP

- I am thinking about to my time in the military, working shifts, long hours, and generally having very poor sleep for years due to this. My military records show several entries where I told doctors I was taking Unisom... this was basically added due to having a adverse reaction to Unisom after my other sleep aide ran out and I didn't know any better. This should be indicative of sleeping difficulties as this went on for some time... leading towards a 2nd hospitalization in Al'Udeid after having a 2nd reaction to Unisom (at the time I did not know what caused the initial adverse reaction from the 1st time).

I think someone, such as myself, could tell a compelling story that my health due to a sleep disorder deteriorated starting during the military and aggravated by the military due to various factors. 

Does anyone think I have a possible case or is my evidence to thin? 

 

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Just my opinion here not to be raining on your parade, but if you never had any mention to OSA /Sleep Apnea or any kind of sleep disorder while in the military   without a report as evidence its a 99%denial for S.A.

VA is very strick on S.A. Claims...very strick

 As doc25 mention Your best bet is to file a secondary claim for S.A. IF you have another service connected condition that you can pin it to. 

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I would reopen your first claim, especially if your doctor is willing to state that is at least likely as not that your sleep apnea is service connected.  Your first test may have been inconclusive but your second was positive.  You should be able to reopen the first denial with new and material evidence.  No, I do not believe your evidence is thin. 

Edited by vetquest
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IMO, if you have your medical records from active duty that have complaints of sleep issues and it is documented from your time on active duty and you currently have sleep issues (regardless of what they are now) you should apply again and submit all available evidence. It would probably benefit you to talk to your sleep Dr. and show them your military records and have him correlated the beginning of your sleep issues to the problems you have now and put it in a letter for you as to relate the beginning of symptoms to your current conditions and submit that letter along with your evidence.   If you have medical problem that started in service, was aggravated in service or complaints of the issues while in service and you have post service complaints and diagnosis that are related they are supposed to give the benefit of the doubt as relates to service connection to the veteran. The VA will most likley fight it but IMO I would file.

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17 minutes ago, RyanE said:

IMO, if you have your medical records from active duty that have complaints of sleep issues and it is documented from your time on active duty and you currently have sleep issues (regardless of what they are now) you should apply again and submit all available evidence. It would probably benefit you to talk to your sleep Dr. and show them your military records and have him correlated the beginning of your sleep issues to the problems you have now and put it in a letter for you as to relate the beginning of symptoms to your current conditions and submit that letter along with your evidence.   If you have medical problem that started in service, was aggravated in service or complaints of the issues while in service and you have post service complaints and diagnosis that are related they are supposed to give the benefit of the doubt as relates to service connection to the veteran. The VA will most likley fight it but IMO I would file.

I wouldn't say they were complaints about sleep issues but I was hospitalized twice for Unisom (as I said the 1st time it happened I wasn't sure of cause and thought I was food poisoned). This would indicate I was taking sleep aides frequently and would imo be defacto evidence of "sleep complaints". I've been taking them for years finally settling on Melotonin.

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40 minutes ago, vetquest said:

I would reopen your first claim, especially if your doctor is willing to state that is at least likely as not that your sleep apnea is service connected.  Your first test may have been inconclusive but your second was positive.  You should be able to reopen the first denial with new and material evidence.  No, I do not believe your evidence is thin. 

1st test was a home study: "abnormal" or inconclusive.. i.e. not enough data
I was then given a 2nd test in a actual sleep lab where they determined "no sleep apnea" but found hypersomnia... from the Blue Button text is states 

"The veteran does not have sleep apnea but he does have hypersomnia as noted on the sleep study report. This condition is at least as likely as not a result of his active duty service time since he just got out of the active duty military in June 2014." /es/ <nurses signature> Signed 10/XX/2014 

The latest test, let's call this Test #3 was in 2019 and had a positive result for Sleep Apnea... all of this seems connected in someway.

 

 

Edited by Diotima
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  • HadIt.com Elder

Good advise given by Vetquest and RyanE. I think you have some good evidence also. But, I think I would raise the pot a little. POSA with a CPAP can net you a 50&% rating; no small disability. I think I not only would go back to my doc and get a stronger worded letter connecting it back to your service time, but I would consider spending a few bucks and see if I couldn't get another IMO/dbq from another sleep doc. It is risk reward; it could cement your disability decision and would be relatively cheap compared to your lifetime compensation. JMO.

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