Sleep Apnea Secondary to PTSD in VA Disability Claims (General) Forum

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Sleep Apnea Secondary to PTSD

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GRIFF914	Sleep Apnea Secondary to PTSD		Lead	[-]
Posts: 22 Jun 1 11 10:07 PM	Tags : profile, photo Has anyone ever filed a secondary claim for sleep apnea to PTSD? A friend of mine filed a claim for sleep apnea but was denied because there was no evidence that he had ever filed a claim for PTSD. Can anyone provide me with some information about Sleep Apnea and PTSD. I have both but do not have a rating for sleep apnea.
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theprimitivemind		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 172 Jun 1 11 11:05 PM	Here is a sample letter for sleep apnea..... To Whom It May Concern: Mr. XXXX has been a patient of mine since February of 2007. The diagnosis that I treat him for is obstructive sleep apnea. I personally reviewed Mr. XXXX medical history including his service medical records dated 11/97 12/99, 11/04, 11/11, 9/09 for service connection for sinusitis and posttraumatic stress disorder, and the progress notes listing his current medications. It is my opinion that it is at least as likely as not that Mr. XXXX sleep apnea is aggravated by his service connected posttraumatic stress disorder/sinusitis. I also feel that it is at least as likely as not that Mr. XXXX posttraumatic stress disorder/sinusitis is aggravated by his obstructive sleep apnea. "The strangest secret is, you become what you think about."
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Ol Sarge		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 95 Jun 2 11 7:56 AM	Mine was denied because their is no medical evidence to support PTSD being secondary to PTSD. So I just resubmitted for the Sleep apnea. Mind you that I have had 4 sleep studies, corrective surgery and use a CPAP and this was all done on active duty. Just got to keep fighting the man.
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usarmyretired1999		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 535 Jun 2 11 8:06 AM	GRIFF914 wrote: Has anyone ever filed a secondary claim for sleep apnea to PTSD? A friend of mine filed a claim for sleep apnea but was denied because there was no evidence that he had ever filed a claim for PTSD. Can anyone provide me with some information about Sleep Apnea and PTSD. I have both but do not have a rating for sleep apnea. If you have other current diagnoses such as chronic sinusitis / deviated septum to also support your sleep apnea claim it may boost your chances. These conditions would also have to be service connected and you would need a nexus statement from your doctor linking them to the sleep apnea. I am not sure about PTSD by itself????
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abella134		#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 155 Jun 2 11 8:49 AM	Do you have hypertension? Or knee/ankle/back problem as SC? You can use SA as secondary to this the justification will be weight gain and unable to perform PFT thus started to snore. Oftentimes overweight tend to have SA. Also have the doc write as nexus. Or even certain PTSD meds that causes weight gain can also be used as long as it is justified by the doc. http://www.aafp.org/afp/991115ap/2279.html
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BDMP858		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 901 Jun 2 11 9:14 AM	Simply having OSA does not mean that you will get compensation for it. If you do not have anything in your medical records that shows you started suffering from OSA in the military then it is going to be difficult to get it service connected. Remember to get service connection you need an incident, exposure, illness that was treated, diagnosed, etc. while you were on AD, A current condition that has been diagnosed by a doctor, and a nexus letter linking the first two together with medical reasoning for the opinion. It sounds like they denied your contention that OSA was secondary to your PTSD. The way I understand a secondary condition to a primary service connected condition is that the secondary must be caused by the primary. I have not heard of OSA being caused by PTSD, so that may be why you were denied. I think what you may have been trying to do was claim that your OSA is aggravated by your PTSD. This would make more sense. In the past month there were a few topics like this if you go back through May's topics...I do recall in one that Cruiser gave a very detailed accounting of why using an aggravating problem to OSA is in most cases is a lose/lose for the vet unless your OSA is deemed to be at 100% disabling. That would mean that you have been diagnosed as having heart failure due to the OSA with retention of Co2 in the heart. I will go back and see if I can find that post by cruiser and put a link back here for you. Edited 1 time by BDMP858 Jun 2 11 9:28 AM.
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BDMP858		#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 901 Jun 2 11 9:25 AM	Ok found the one I was talking about...it was related to rhinitis causing sleep apnea versus PTSD, but the same things cruiser brought up related to that type of claim would apply to PTSD or sinusitis if you are claiming they aggravate versus caused it. It is a good read to understand how aggravating differs greatly from a situation where another disability is caused by a primary disability. here is the link: http://vets.yuku.com/topi...-ADVICE-NEE#.TeecJV2Qoa8
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GRIFF914	Sleep Apnea Secondary to PTSD	#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 22 Jun 2 11 9:44 PM	Hey, I want to say Thanks to all for your input and information. I have had sleep studys and currently use a CPAP machine to. Of course the frigin CPAP machine nearly chokes me to death especially during those nights when the nightmares seem to take over. Again Thanks to all, if anyone gets new information please let us know. God Bless!
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BDMP858		#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 901 Jun 2 11 10:08 PM	Griff, Talk to your Case Manager and have them check to see if you have claustrophobia, I never knew I had it until they forced me to put on a cpap at a sleep study and I freaked out like I could not breath under water or something...that might be what is happening with you as well. I have also heard from other OSA suffers on here they have a new machine called a bipap that might work better for you. Should talk to your PCP and let them know what is going on. In the end it turns out I do not have SA and they were never supposed to put the thing on me, was just supposed to be a one night base line reading...gotta love all the extra stuff some of these fee basis idiots try to get money for...they sure got a hell of a surprise when I went native on em...lol Good luck and hope it works out for you.
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wgold20107	PTSD and Obstructive Sleep Apnea	#9	[url]	[-]
Posts: 10 Feb 20 13 2:31 PM	I am confused about secondary claims. First consider I have already been awarded: 20% for Diabetes 20% for Peripheral Neuropathy Right Leg 20% for Peripheral Neuropathy Left Leg. bilateral consideration granted 70% for PTSD I have been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea and treated with a CPAP at the VA Hospital in Washington DC The VA separated the OSA from my PTSD is "Evaluating" the OSA. I am currently rated at 90%. My question is why was this separated ? It sounds to me that the OSA is going to be denied.
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wgold20107	PTSD and Obstructive Sleep Apnea	#10	[url]	[-]
Posts: 10 Feb 20 13 2:32 PM	I am confused about secondary claims. First consider I have already been awarded: 20% for Diabetes 20% for Peripheral Neuropathy Right Leg 20% for Peripheral Neuropathy Left Leg. bilateral consideration granted 70% for PTSD I have been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea and treated with a CPAP at the VA Hospital in Washington DC The VA separated the OSA from my PTSD is "Evaluating" the OSA. I am currently rated at 90%. My question is why was this separated ? It sounds to me that the OSA is going to be denied.
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