How To Open A Closed Claim

[mountain tyme]

Good Morning,

I have a question...what is needed to open up a claim once the time has run out to send in evidence. As some of you guys know the town I live in we have had a heck of a time with keeping a VSO at our local office...so I Have been handing out Hadit.com cards to the vets I run into in the hallway of the building...well last tuesday I went down there to drop off some paperwork and forgot the NEW Vso is not at our office that day...and while I was there I met this vet that needed help...he is not computer savvy...

So here is the question...Danny is a retired Vet did his 20+ years active duty...during his time in service he has extensive medical history of Headaches going back to the 70's, in two of the records it is stated that he normally woke up with headaches with pains in the back of his neck head regin also he had a weight problem and was on the weight reduction program think they called tha the fat boy program back then...but anyways in regards the the H/a .the doctor wrote possible tension stress H/A. To make a long story short over a year ago he filed a claim with the VA for sleep apnea because he felt the H/A were caused from the sleep apnea because his doctor told him that. He showed me his denial letter from the VA which stated that noting in his MSR indicated that he had sleep apena so his claim is denied. Since then He had went ahead and obtained buddy statements that all indicated that he snored very loudly...in one of the buddy statement the guy who wrote it indicated his snoring was so intense that he could hear him in his room which was next door and had to move his bed across the room. Also in this guys medical records he had broke his nose while playing football for his squadon and had to have surgery. He told me that he told the military doctor about the sorning and he was told by the doctor it was due to having the surgery on his nose. So he never thought anything else about it. So can he re-open that claim with the buddy statements or will he need to go to a doctor to have them say the snoring and the Headaches were most likely an indicator he had sleep apena during his military service.

Thank You and Danny thanks you as well...

MT

[LarryJ]

Oh yah, I meant to say.

These particular headaches can be so severe that a person CANNOT function, simply because their brain CANNOT function and the residual effects of this type of headache can be as debilitating or more so, than the most severe form of migraine.

Neurologist time.

Get a good IMO. Reopen with "new and material and substantive".

[Philip Rogers]

Philip

Have you ever done anything with a discharge review? You talk about riding a sawhorse. The Board for Correction of Military records is a mess. They lose all evidence and their is no number to call to find out what is going on. They are far worse than the VA. They lost the brief I sent them and that is pissing me off the more I think about it. I would have lost anyway because I don't think you can win after a few years regardless of your evidence.

No I haven't, John, but for years I've been considering going after military retirement for myself. In my mind, knowing what I know now, I/we should have been retired out w/a S/C disability for PTSD or combat fatigue or whatever it was called during Nam. I just don't know if I want the aggravation. I think it's just better to forgive and move on and try to salvage our remaining years. I've found this to be true w/so many other things in my life. Now, on Oprah, they're calling it "The Secret." Who knew I could have made millions if I'd written the book first!!! lol jmo

pr

[Hoppy]

The type of headaches you described are called "occipital/temporal headaches". This refers to the back and sides of the head. These headaches are commonly found to be secondary to disk herniation in any of the cervical disks. Cervical disks can be herniated by frontal blows to the head and whiplash injuries. The same blow that broke his nose could have injuried his neck.

You need to get the SMR. Do not make the mistake of going by his recollection of what the military doctors told him. The doctors sometimes put more in the records than they tell you. Have his primary doctor review any questionable diagnosis or symptoms that might indicate a head or neck injury and look for any x-ray reports that could estaqblish a diagnosis of a neck or head injury. If you find something this will not necessiarly win a claim. However it will open the door and it could later be a valid claim depending on how things are intrepretated. You would probably have to get a nexus letter for any medical conditions that he has post service.

I do not mean to play doctor. I have had these types of heads for 30 years. I also wake up at night and in the morning with severe head pain. I do not have sleep apnea. All of my head pain symptoms have been attributed to cervical disk herniation by the treating doctors.

Edited February 13, 2007 by Hoppy