Sleep Apnea connection?

[GoNavy1775]

Good morning and happy new year!  

I am currently at 60% broken down as follows: (they denied left and right radiculopathy, gonna try again)

I current have a CPAP machine issued by the VA...Can I connect the cervial strain/asthma to sleep apnea?  Wondering if they limited movement in the neck positions me in such a way that exacerbates the situation.  Not sure the allergic rhinitis would come into play either.  Any feedback would be helpful.  Obviously, like everybody here, trying to reach that magic number of 100%.  I also just put in for tinnitus this morning, which would be 10%.  I did that myself and plan to try to do the sleep apnea myself too. 

 

Thank you in advance, 

AG

 

 

30%chronic cervical strain

Service-connected disability? Yes

Effective date:29/05/2019

radiculopathy left upper extremity

Service-connected disability? No

radiculopathy right upper extremity

Service-connected disability? No

10%residuals of a hernia repair

Service-connected disability? Yes

Effective date:18/05/2002

30%asthma

Service-connected disability? Yes

Effective date:18/05/2002

0%allergic rhinitis

Service-connected disability? Yes

Effective date:

[brokensoldier244th]

I am also SC for apnea w/cpap. Rhinitis would be a more likely just due to the anatomy of the issue. Having back and neck issues doesn't exacerbate OSA, OSA is based on sinus, palate, throat, etc, or in the case of central apnea, nervous signals triggering breath events not being sent correctly. You'd need an eval of your rhinitus to be more than 0% to strongly suggest a connection, though, because a 0% indicates that they acknowledge it but its not debilitating in any way. Radiculopathy should be easy(er)- but you have to have complained about it in the context of your existing cervical issues to your PCP or private doctor - they have to make the connection. You can, as a layperson, discuss your conditions and their effects but you can't make a nexus without a doctor. 

[deedub75]

I got my OSA service connected secondary to chronic sinusitis. 

If you get could get your doctor to write a medical opinion, I could see you getting it secondly to maybe asthma. 

https://www.webmd.com/asthma/news/20150113/asthma-tied-to-higher-risk-of-sleep-apnea

 

[pacmanx1]

6 hours ago, GoNavy1775 said:

I am currently at 60% broken down as follows: (they denied left and right radiculopathy, gonna try again)

I current have a CPAP machine issued by the VA...Can I connect the cervial strain/asthma to sleep apnea?  Wondering if they limited movement in the neck positions me in such a way that exacerbates the situation.  Not sure the allergic rhinitis would come into play either.  Any feedback would be helpful.  Obviously, like everybody here, trying to reach that magic number of 100%.  I also just put in for tinnitus this morning, which would be 10%.  I did that myself and plan to try to do the sleep apnea myself too. 

I agree that getting sleep apnea service-connected would be a lot easy by getting an IMO from the doctor’s treating your asthma and or allergic rhinitis than your chronic cervical strain. One of the most important things I also tell veterans is that if you have any type of chronic service-connected disabilities. They/you should consider filing a claim for depression. A Lot of veterans suffer from a form of depression due to their service-connected disabilities. This is not saying that you are crazy, it just shows that you have more issues than the average person does, and you can be compensated for it. Having breathing problems could give anybody anxiety.  

Now with that said, it is very hard getting to a 100% rating being already service- connected at 60%. It is not impossible because I did it and you can do it, but it is going to take a lot of separated higher ratings. The reason I say this is because the closer and the more disabilities veterans get to get to the 100% rating the harder the VA math makes it. I was rated 90% for about a year before my final rating of 40% bumped me up to 95% for the VA to round up to 100% scheduler rating. Yes, veterans only need to reach 95% for the VA to round up to 100% but like I said it gets harder.

This is just an example of ratings: Sleep Apnea 50% + Asthma 30% = 65% + Cervical strain 30% = 76% + Hernia 10% = 78% + Tinnitus 10% = 80% that would give you a combine total of 80% and that is only if all are rated correctly.

[GoNavy1775]

I appreciate the feedback.  I guess I have to figure out how to get the rhinitis increased then?  And as far as the secondary radiculopathy, they only declined that because the people helping me put this together told me not to go to the medical exam and only use their independent doctor exam.  I will try again and get the cervical strain increased and get the secondary radiculopathy added.  I just moved cities, so I'm in the middle of scheduling a bunch of VA appointments to start getting these things recorded.  I can't go a day without loading up on Aleve, Ibuprofen etc to numb the pain in my neck/back and knees.  

[brokensoldier244th]

Even with the IMO/IME its in your best interest to go to the VA exams- they may run counter to what your IMO/IME sometimes says, but not going at all does a few things- 1. (prior to covid) it starts the clock after you miss it and can push your claim forward into being sent to a rater, and 2. it makes you look uncooperative which I/we see. If I see exam no shows I contact the veteran, vendor, and/or the VAMC to find out why- if its on them for not scheduling yet or on you for not going. If I see a vet that hasn't gone to exams a few times eventually I need to move that file to rating with the evidence at hand and those are the ones that go first, barring my being able to either contact them, or the vendor, or the VAMC, to provide a reason why. Not going to exams enough times triggers "waiving your right to an exam" and the claim must be moved forward.

[pwrslm]

On 1/1/2022 at 11:21 AM, GoNavy1775 said:

(they denied left and right radiculopathy, gonna try again)

Go for the source of radiculopathy. 

Radiculopathy describes a range of symptoms produced by the pinching of a nerve root in the spinal column. The pinched nerve can occur at different areas along the spine (cervical, thoracic or lumbar). 

 

Did you have a history or injury of back trouble in Active Duty? Document that for this type of claim.

Edited January 3, 2022 by pwrslm