Sleep Apnea Treatment

Question by Constance: Is my VA claim for sleep apnea solid?
I was in the Air Force for six years. Approximately two years after I joined the service, about when I started flying, I started to wake up very frequently throughout the nights. I was waking up anywhere from four to ten times at night and feeling unrested during the day. This continued basically throughout my service while I grew used to it for the most part. I had mentioned it to flight doctors at various points asking if there was any way to fix it. My guess is that they didn’t want me to be kicked out so they basically told me to deal with it.

I figured from the numerous times I mentioned it, it would’ve been dotted through my medical records when I got out but alas it was mentioned only once when I asked for an open septo-rhinoplasty in hopes that it would help me sleep better. (It did not.) So it IS in my medical records thought it only appears once as “complaints of sleep disturbances”.

In my C&P appointment, the doctor said it sounds like I had classic signs of obstructive sleep apnea and he ordered a sleep study. It took some convincing to get me to spend the night in some medical office strapped at every few inches with wires but I did the test. The result came back last week as positive for sleep apnea.

My question is, do I have a solid va claim for sleep apnea or is it possible that they’ll come back and deny it for some reason? It is in my medical records, I made the claim for sleep disturbance before I got out of the service, and it was positively diagnosed as sleep apnea.
Dr. Earl,

While your statement is generally true that conditions must be service-related, it doesn’t necessarily need to be proven that it was caused by any specific thing in service. If a condition begins or worsens during military service, we are entitled to service-connection.

Best answer:

Answer by Larry Earl, MD
Constance:

I may be mistaken, but my understanding of having a VA claim is that the condition must be service related. If you have sleep apnea, that is not a service related condition, rather it has many intrinsic possible causes. The most common are obesity, large neck size, and various forms of upper airway obstruction such as weak throat muscles, an overly relaxed tongue falling into the back of the throat while sleeping, or nasal obstructions such as polyps or septal deviations.

If you have a claim for regular medical coverage because you complained of those symptoms, yet no one picked up on it, then yes, it was a missed diagnosis.

More information on Sleep Apnea can be found here:

http://thesleepapnearx.com

L.Earl, MD
Disclaimer:  None of the information presented on this site, in articles written by Dr. Earl, email communications or comments is meant to take the place of direct advice and consultation with your physician or medical provider.  All material is presented for informational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose or treat any individuals’ particular condition, and in no way confers a physician-patient relationship.

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In short is there anyone out there with Sleep Apnea receiving SSI?

I am suffering from a sleeping disorder after leaving the military. If there is no record of this in my medical record, can I still make a Disability claim with the VA? I am currently having severe sleeping problems after leaving the military with 9 years of service!