Going after it

[Riplip]

OK, so other posts I talked about getting denied for OSA. Had my meeting with my DAV rep (which I'm still on the fence about) and he said the VA doctors I tried to get to write me the IMO got close but they kept there notes just enough away that it will get denied again if I send it in. I am now going to a civilian doctor to get help with this. I also decided to go for my Menieres claim. The only way this will benefit me is if I get 100% which I know I meet the criteria and its been diagnosed and comfirmed by the best hospital on the east coast. They granted me 30% for vestibular disorder which is max and with the 70% hearing loss and 50% mental I have been ok with 90% and wanted a break from the battle. Now I'm back in the battle. I hope it goes well but as you know there's always a chance of losing benefits if you get someone with a hair across their ass. The stress that will be added will suck. I got a text from LHI yesterday about setting up a C&P and I have also read some nightmare stories about them. Not looking forward to this next chapter. I know most of you can relate to these feelings. 

[brokensoldier244th]

You need to make sure that your doctor documents the NUMBER of incidents per months that you have dizzy spells. 

Vendors are vendors- they all have different contract doctors at each location and they are just as fickle as any VAMC exam or any other vendor. I see just as many LHI approved as I do vs not as with any of the other vendors- but I see more claims on a larger scale than you do. 

OSA can be supported by buddy letters, incidents or counseling's for falling asleep, late to duty, etc, spouse/kids/sig other. My wife recorded me a couple of nights on her phone while I slept and wrote a note that I included discussing over the years that she had known me and then married to me how her sleep patterns had changed due to having to poke me in my sleep to move me so I would breath again. 

OSA can also be supported via weight gain as a secondary to chronic pain, various medications, etc- IF you can show that you attempt to maintain your weight in other ways and are unsuccessful. Its a roundabout way to do it, and I had to appeal it once, but it can be done if you have a really well written IMO and documented challenges with weight loss due to secondary factors. My doc that wrote the IMO was our GP and had a background in sports medicine prior to a GP, and she had known me pre- and post army, so that helped, too. We had a LOOOOOONG history. 

[Riplip]

Thanks brokensoldier. I am trying for the weight gain as the intermediate step because the meniere's keeps me from gainful exercise program and I have a healthy diet. I'm also on a mental med. that is proven to gain weight but I need a doctor to connect it all together and the VA ones clearly told they will not. With the meneieres its right there in writing from VA PT and Mass Eye and Ear as due to noise trauma in service and happens more than once weekly. 

[broncovet]

According to posters on hadit, over the past 15 years or so, the key to winning OSA is, that you "not only" have to have a documented valid nexus

(as well as the other 2 Caluza elements of current diagnosis, and in service event), but you also need a letter from the doc that your cpap is "medically necessary".  

Maybe some tried to get cpaps, but maybe they were not medically necessary, IDK.  

As broken soldier suggested you may be able to document an "in service event" with a buddy letter.  

However, given how tough it is to get SC for OSA, you may consider applying for new disabiities also, such as depression or PTSD if that applies to you (and I have no idea if it does or not).  I hesitated to apply for MDD because of the bad stigma of mental health disorders.  

[broncovet]

Remember, its not enough to have a nexus to weight gain, but that weight gain has to be also related to service.  This means you could get SC for OSA for weight gain, "but only if" that weight gain was service connected.  

As far as I know obesity is not a disability per se, but rather a symptom of other disorders such as DM (diabetes).  So, my advice is not try to link it to weight gain "unless" your weight gain was a bona fide symptom of one or more of your SC disabilities.  

You are gonna need great evidence to win this, but a great IMO may well work.  

[ShrekTheTank]

If you are a Vet who are under the Presumtive conditions, you should (IMO) file it under burn pits if you were around them.  This is how the VA associated mine to them.  

I wrote Laystatements, and I have a very well written document to show the link of SA with burn pits.  

This is something that worked for me and might not for everyone, but I was able to do it without paying for an IMO.  It took me a lot of time and effort and one denial, but in the end they did service connect my SA.

Also I was NEVER diagnosed in service with SA.  

Again this worked for me and may not work for everyone.  If you would like the document I sent that won my case, I can share it.  just let me know

[Riplip]

Broncovet correct. It isn't an in service event. Its the in service disabilities I have now are the reason for weight gain with then leads to OSA. I do have a CPAP but its on national backorder but it is medically necessary.