Depression secondary to Tinnitus

[1454th Solider]

I am new to this forum and would like to know if anyone has claimed issues secondary to their tinnitus service connection? I have a 10% static rating. How hard is it to win secondary issues like Depression and insomnia tiggered by tinnitus?

[awgv001]

14 minutes ago, 1454th Solider said:

I am new to this forum and would like to know if anyone has claimed issues secondary to their tinnitus service connection? I have a 10% static rating. How hard is it to win secondary issues like Depression and insomnia tiggered by tinnitus?

Difficulty on successful claims all depends on the claimant, and if the VA decides to follow laws and protocols.

I've not had a secondary claim connected to tinnitus, but if a doctor can provide a medical rationale, and their medical opinion that such and such is linked to your inner ear squeals, more power to you.

Insert Meme.

[GBArmy]

1454th Soldier Welcome to Hadit. As you know, you need 3 things for success: a current diagnosis of a disability now; an event or illness that happened in-service, and something called a nexus to link the two. Did you have documented in your records sleep issues and/or depression or mental health issues? If not, since you can't prove s-c directly, the only way is as a secondary condition. I am not a doctor, and my guess is you aren't in the medical field either. So you will need a strong independent medical opinion (IMO) that your depression is the result of your tinnitus. Just making the claim isn't going to fly. They need a medical opinion based on evidence from a medical professional. But before you do that, you have to have a diagnosis for depression, or some other mental health condition. It is possible you can get them both from the same doc. I don't know of anyone personally who did this successfully, but I have heard of it being done. Sleep disorder second to tinnitus? Don't know. You have to get another specialist for that. The doc has to come up with medical evidence to prove the point, from medical articles and journals, etc. and say that " based on ... it is at least as likely as not your depression is secondary to tinnitus,"  or words similar. It would greatly help your case if you do the research for yor doc and present him with some options.

[Miken2c74]

What @GBArmy says is true but I would go at it a different way. For lack of a better way of putting it, I would force VA to play a hand. Make them choose and make them give you a C&P. The way you do that is with a lay statement of the symptoms you are having and the possibility that it is related to your Tinnitis. You can also indicate in your statement when the problems started happening (during your military service) and how they effect you now. Use the internet and the rating schedule to "define depression" and spell it out in your letter.

[1454th Solider]

12 hours ago, GBArmy said:

1454th Soldier Welcome to Hadit. As you know, you need 3 things for success: a current diagnosis of a disability now; an event or illness that happened in-service, and something called a nexus to link the two. Did you have documented in your records sleep issues and/or depression or mental health issues? If not, since you can't prove s-c directly, the only way is as a secondary condition. I am not a doctor, and my guess is you aren't in the medical field either. So you will need a strong independent medical opinion (IMO) that your depression is the result of your tinnitus. Just making the claim isn't going to fly. They need a medical opinion based on evidence from a medical professional. But before you do that, you have to have a diagnosis for depression, or some other mental health condition. It is possible you can get them both from the same doc. I don't know of anyone personally who did this successfully, but I have heard of it being done. Sleep disorder second to tinnitus? Don't know. You have to get another specialist for that. The doc has to come up with medical evidence to prove the point, from medical articles and journals, etc. and say that " based on ... it is at least as likely as not your depression is secondary to tinnitus,"  or words similar. It would greatly help your case if you do the research for yor doc and present him with some options.

Thanks Miken2c74 for the feedback. I do have both the diagnosis and the nexus letter connecting my depression to the constant ringing in my ears (tinnitus) from a psychiatrist. Thanks again, I'm hoping for good news.

[Vync]

@1454th Solider Welcome to Hadit!

Here's a link to the VA rating criteria for everything: https://ecfr.io/Title-38/pt38.1.4

Here's a link to the disability benefit questionnaires they use for C&P exams: https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/dbq_listbydbqformname.asp

Keep in mind the VA might still want you to go to a C&P exam. They check nexus letters against a list of requirements. It can happen even if the nexus letter is perfect. Sometimes they just need a better picture of how to rate it properly.

As far as tinnitus goes, I know exactly how tough it is to go to sleep with all that ringing going on in the ears. Talk to your audiology doctor and ask if they can send you a sounds conditioner. I went through the VA audiology clinic and they had this exact model mailed out to me a few years back. It really helps to mask it out. It doesn't work 100% of the time, but it does work (for me at least).

https://www.amazon.com/Marsona-1288A-Programmable-Sound-Conditioner/dp/B000N244Y8

 

 

[1454th Solider]

4 minutes ago, Vync said:

@1454th Solider Welcome to Hadit!

Here's a link to the VA rating criteria for everything: https://ecfr.io/Title-38/pt38.1.4

Here's a link to the disability benefit questionnaires they use for C&P exams: https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/dbq_listbydbqformname.asp

Keep in mind the VA might still want you to go to a C&P exam. They check nexus letters against a list of requirements. It can happen even if the nexus letter is perfect. Sometimes they just need a better picture of how to rate it properly.

As far as tinnitus goes, I know exactly how tough it is to go to sleep with all that ringing going on in the ears. Talk to your audiology doctor and ask if they can send you a sounds conditioner. I went through the VA audiology clinic and they had this exact model mailed out to me a few years back. It really helps to mask it out. It doesn't work 100% of the time, but it does work (for me at least).

https://www.amazon.com/Marsona-1288A-Programmable-Sound-Conditioner/dp/B000N244Y8

 

 

Thank you very much Vync for your feedback, I will defiantly look into getting this device, any relief is better than being woke all night. I'm glade I join the forum!