How To Get Service Connected For Sleep Apnea

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How Can Y'all Receive VA Disability for Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a mutual status that affects almost 22 1000000 people nationwide. If yous are among the former military service members living with sleep apnea, you may be eligible for veterans' disability compensation through the Department of Veterans Affairs. We're seeing veterans coming dorsum from Republic of iraq, Afghanistan, and the western asia theater of war with severe sleep issues, which can ofttimes be linked to PTSD. This guide will outline the basics of sleep apnea, how the VA inability rating works for this condition, and how qualifying veterans can evidence straight service connection as well every bit sleep apnea every bit a secondary service connected condition to PTSD.

What Is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep Apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which a person's breathing is repeatedly interrupted, or ceases, during the course of a night'south sleep. These sleep disturbances tin occur from tens to hundreds of times per night. Typically, sleep apnea symptoms are at their worst during REM Sleep due to the trunk'south naturally-occurring reduced muscle tone in the body's airway. REM (Rapid Middle Move) sleep is likewise sometimes known as deep sleep. The causes of these disturbances may vary depending on which form of the condition you have: obstructive, cardinal, or a mixed form of both. This sleep-disordered breathing leads to poor slumber quality and is a risk gene for the poor quality of life.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is 1 of the more mutual types of slumber apnea, which occurs when the upper airway repeatedly becomes blocked throughout the night. This blockage is acquired when the dorsum throat muscles relax, impairing the airflow. Central slumber apnea occurs when the encephalon either does not send signals to the muscles that control animate or those signals are interrupted. The VA refers to mixed sleep apnea as a combination of the obstructive and central forms of the condition.

Mutual Sleep Apnea and Sleep Problems Symptoms in Veterans

Some of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea include:

Episodes in which you lot stop animate during sleep — which another person would observe and report
Gasping for air while sleeping
Loud snoring
Waking up with a dry mouth
Morn headaches
Difficulty staying comatose (insomnia)
Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)
Difficulty paying attention while awake
Irritability

Veterans who are experiencing the in a higher place symptoms should consider seeking a diagnosis and pursuing sleep apnea disability benefits. This more often than not requires a sleep study. If left untreated, slumber apnea can pb to conditions like:

High claret force per unit area (hypertension)
Stroke
Heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and heart attacks
Diabetes
Low
Worsening of ADHD
Headaches

Positive Airway Pressure Therapy for Sleep Apnea Handling

Since sleep apnea can correlate with conditions like heart disease and obesity, it's important to seek handling options. Physicians will treat slumber apnea depending on the blazon and severity of the condition. This can range from CPAP therapy, lifestyle changes such equally diet, practise, and others. While some individuals with breathing disorders may prove improvement from lifestyle changes, breathing assist devices such as CPAP machines (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure level), BiPap machines, etc. are still amidst the most common treatments. These machines create airway pressure level to help the individual breathe throughout the night.

How VA Rates Sleep Apnea

TheVA disability ratings for slumber apnea are based on the severity of the veteran's Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Sleep apnea is rated under 38 CFR § 4.97, Diagnostic Code 6847. This diagnostic code falls nether the Sleep Apnea Syndromes. The VA assigns the following ratings for veterans based on the severity of their sleep apnea:

100 pct: chronic respiratory failure with carbon dioxide memory, the need for a tracheostomy or the enlargement or failure of the right side of the heart due to lung disease. This is the near severe and the highest rating available.
l percent: the veteran requires the use of a breathing device, such as a CPAP machine.
30 percent: the veteran is experiencing hypersomnolence, or excessive daytime sleepiness, that does non improve with sufficient sleep or even with naps during the day.
0 percent: the veteran's condition does non produce whatsoever symptoms just has a documented sleep disorder. This rating is a not-compensable rating, nevertheless, a veteran may be entitled to other benefits, such as VA health care.
Mutual issues associated with Sleep Apnea include increased gamble of stroke, high claret force per unit area, memory problems, and more than.

Establishing Service Connectedness For Sleep Apnea

Eligibility for veterans benefits depends on proving service connection. In club to establish direct service connection for sleep apnea, a claimant must show that they have a current, diagnosis of sleep apnea, an in-service event or affliction/injury, and a medical nexus or link that shows the veteran'south sleep apnea is related to their in-service event, injury/illness.

A veteran can likewise establish service connection for slumber apnea on a secondary basis. This means that a veteran has an already service-connected disability that caused the veteran to have sleep apnea. In this example, there must be a medical nexus to link the sleep apnea to their already service-connected disability. Some conditions that can exist secondary to sleep apnea may include but are non express to heart weather, mental health weather, and diabetes. If you accept a service-connected status that you believe is causing your slumber apnea, it may be a good idea to commencement to talk to your doctors about it.

C&P Exam for Sleep Apnea and How Does the VA Diagnose Sleep Apnea?

The VA volition normally lodge a sleep written report to exist performed in society to confirm a current diagnosis of sleep apnea. As a part of the VA's duty to assist veterans in obtaining evidence to help bear witness their claim, the VA has a duty to assist veterans in scheduling the examination for a sleep report and helping them realize the VA disability claim that they are entitled to. This study will serve as medical evidence for the veteran'southward instance and tin help to prove the medical condition or medical weather condition that go into a full rating.

Medical bear witness and documented medical records from a VA C&P exam will be necessary for the process of filing your claim and could fifty-fifty reveal other secondary conditions. A C&P test and a sleep apnea diagnosis are crucial to qualifying for the upper tiers of bounty. Believe it or not, buddy statements can be helpful in proving sleep apnea claims if y'all can discover vets who you served with and heard yous snoring, or can talk about the problems that led to the sleep apnea. Loved ones like family unit or shut friends could also exist a good assistance in sharing how your sleep has changed.

For veterans who take already been diagnosed with sleep apnea without a sleep study by the VA, the veteran may have to undergo a sleep study done by the VA in lodge to confirm the diagnosis for benefit purposes. The medical exam may seem like actress work but could qualify that veteran for additional monthly compensation.

Linked Sleep Apnea and PTSD Symptoms

Research has shown that combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, besides known as PTSD, may be at higher take chances for slumber apnea than the general population. There are risk factors that overlap in both disorders affecting slumber apnea and symptoms of PTSD, oft aggravating the conditions. Some of these factors are issues that military personnel may have oft experienced while deployed overseas in agile duty or other combat-related duties, such as disturbed slumber in gainsay, excessive slumber deprivation, sleep fragmentation, hyperarousal, and chronic stress.

Although all of these symptoms contribute to the interaction between sleep apnea and PTSD, the main culprits seem to be sleep deprivation and chronic stress. Studies have shown that war veterans exhibiting these symptoms tend to have increased frequency and length of apneic events that tin can be proven by a medical professional person.

PTSD Adventure Factors

Research has besides shown at that place is a high risk of sleep apnea when a patient's PTSD symptom severity follows a worsening tendency. Considering of the interplay between the shared factors of the 2 disorders, the development of PTSD later a traumatic event may be a decent predictor of sleep impairment and potentially apneic events. Sleep apnea and other mental disorders are as well associated with each other. Clickhither to larn more about that topic.

The important takeaway bulletin is that if you are a veteran suffering from PTSD, it is of import to get a screening for sleep apnea. You may be eligible for boosted VA disability benefits based on that diagnosis

Denied Sleep Apnea Benefits?

If your obstructive sleep apnea VA claim, or other slumber apnea claim, was originally denied, y'all may exist able to appeal the rating and receive VA disability compensation. Contact our team for a consultation and VA-related legal advice by pressing the push button beneath!