What Is Service Connected Sleep Apnea

If you have a service-connected condition that caused or aggravated your sleep apnea your sleep apnea may be considered a secondary service-connected condition.

What is service connected sleep apnea. Since many things can cause sleep apnea like diabetes insulin resistance sinus problems deviated septum acid reflux PTSD heart problems stroke prior injuries to the head and spine anything that deviates the diaphragm like degenerative changes of the spine and ascites from liver disease cirrhosis or hepatitis c if the veteran has service connection for any of those conditions then you can add the sleep apnea as being caused by those conditions. Unfortunately it is not simple to prove that sleep apnea is related to your military service and the VA denies many sleep apnea claims for service-connected disability compensation. A condition is service-connected secondarily when an already service-connected condition or its medication causes or aggravates another condition. To receive service connection for sleep apnea you will need to show an injury or event in service.

Sleep Apnea is a very complex medical issue that impacts many military veterans. Common signs of sleep apnea include. An example of this would be a veteran with a service-connected lung condition that has trouble breathing. Establishing a Service Connection for Asthma or Sleep Apnea If you believe your asthma is service-related youll need to be able to provide the VA with a current medical diagnosis for the condition.

A veteran can also establish service connection for sleep apnea on a secondary basis. If so you may be eligible for VA disability for sleep apnea if you can show a nexus to your military service. The rate was a staggering 22. 2 Secondary Service Connection for Sleep Apnea.

At one point sleep apnea was the most prevalent service-connected respiratory disability for which claims were submitted to the VA. Concerningly it is also one of the conditions most rejected by the VA as the vast majority are regularly turned down. Service-connected medical issues including sleep apnea may be deemed to be directly caused by military service there may be a presumptive condition that includes sleep apnea or you may experience sleep apnea as a secondary condition associated with some other VA rated issue. This is because sleep apnea is abnormally difficult to prove as a disability that is service-connected.

Here nexus is the connection between your service and the current diagnosis of sleep apnea. A showing of causation requires that the secondary disability be shown to be proximately caused by or proximately aggravated by another service-connected disability. Nexus is simply a connection or series of connections linking two or more things. Sleep Apnea as a Secondary Claim Service connection on a secondary basis requires a showing of causation.

Youre going to show that a service-connected condition that you have such as asthma PTSD or facial injury has caused your sleep apnea. If you began having fatigue daytime sleepiness hypersomnolence dry mouth morning headaches or other symptoms while in service that can help establish that sleep apnea began while in service. One of the most common service-connected sleep disorders is sleep apnea which is a sleep-related breathing disorder. In this case there must be a medical nexus to link the sleep apnea to their already service-connected disability.

This means that a veteran has an already service-connected disability that caused the veteran to have sleep apnea. This situation is when you did not have sleep apnea during service but you began to experience the disorder after your discharge from service. If you have sleep apnea and any of the following conditions there may be a link between your service-connected condition and the other condition.