What Is Secondary To Ptsd

If you think your sleep apnea is secondary to your PTSD see our previous post Sleep Apnea Secondary to PTSD.

What is secondary to ptsd. As such it may be helpful to have a doctor submit a letter stating that there is a causal relationship between your sleep apnea and your PTSD. Secondary PTSD is based on the concept that those who care for or interact with the primary individual who suffers from PTSD can also become traumatized. In most cases veterans will still need to get a medical opinion either from a VA doctor or a private specialist that links the physical injury directly to PTSD. Examples of these include secondary trauma compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma.

Secondary PTSD is nearly identical to PTSD except the exposure to the critical incident is indirect. They found an incredible statistical difference. A showing of causation requires that the secondary disability be shown to be proximately caused by or proximately aggravated by another service-connected disability. It is a set of observable reactions to working with people who have been traumatized and mirrors the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD Osofsky Putnam.

Veterans with schizophrenia often find their other mental and physical conditions are considered to be secondary service-connected disabilities. Known by various names compassion fatigue secondary or vicarious traumatization and burn out the symptoms here are usually less severe than PTSD-like symptoms experienced by direct victims in a disaster. How to Prove Your Sleep Apnea is Secondary to Your PTSD As mentioned above secondary service connection is dependent upon establishing a nexus between the two conditions. Compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress disorder is a natural but disruptive by-product of working with traumatized clients.

Normally PTSD or secondary PTSD diagnoses require the person to display serious psychological symptoms. Many veterans deal with mental health conditions such as PTSD generalized anxiety disorder major depressive disorder and other mental health disorders. Symptoms of secondary trauma are similar to those of PTSD eg. Today many law enforcement personnel and their families suffer from PTSD and the battle that rages within.

PTSD The most common condition that sleep apnea is connected to is PTSD. I saw conditions such as hypertension coronary heart disease chronic pain and asthma being linked to PTSD. Sleep Apnea as a Secondary Claim Service connection on a secondary basis requires a showing of causation. One study compared the records of 4 million Veterans suffering from PTSD and those not suffering from PTSD to find a connection between PTSD and sleep apnea.

Secondary PTSD results from having knowledge of a critical incident experienced by another individual and the stress from helping. Secondary PTSD however is not as well recognized as PTSD and the diagnosis may also go by other names. Secondary PTSD often occurs after a traumatic event. Some examples of conditions secondary to PTSD are sleep apnea gastroesophageal reflux disease GERD hypertension migraines and erectile dysfunction.

Nevertheless attempting to prove that a physical condition is related to PTSD or any psychological condition will not always be easy. What is Secondary Traumatic Stress. Common secondary service-connected disabilities linked to PTSD are sleep problems anxiety depression panic disorder obsessive-compulsive disorders and many more. Sleep Apnea Secondary to PTSD An increasing number of scientific studies show that sleep apnea and PTSD are co-morbid conditions.

Often these disorders can cause secondary problems such as migraines sleep apnea etc. You can receive additional VA disability compensation for each of these conditions if you show they are related to your service-connected PTSD.