VA health benefits and sleep apnea

josh · Post by **josh** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:15 am

Hi,

I was wondering...I was in the Navy for 3 years before being honorably discharged for my "personality disorder", which I think was really the result of my sleep apnea. Does anyone know about VA healthcare? If I might be eligible, and if so, what do they do, how does it work, how much does it cost, and so on.

Thanks!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:39 am

A dx of personality disorders by shrinks that are looking at a patient with SDB??

I can tell horror stories of what happens to a person with a sleep disorder who is sent to a shrink because the co workers report that "he acts like he is on drug"

These guys are powerful and there is nothing a person can do about it if hir professional license is at stake. For starters, they tagged me with antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and aonther one relating to my active social life while divorced.
This one was by a flaming homosexual activist shrink who was officer in the Harvey Millk group. Seems he had something against heterosexuals.

I spent a year with a real shrink to determine there was absolutely no basis for any of these DX.

Bottom line is that I lost my pharmacy license because they were ignorant of apnea.
The shrink testified at my hearing that he would not expect daytime drowsiness in a patient with sleep apnea.
I don't know about VA benefits, but I can tell you about shrinks.
My unfinished book about this is "A Nightmare in Shrinksville".

Yeah, I can talk about personality disorders and shrinks.

tomjax · Post by **tomjax** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:41 am

Sorry, above is moi.

MartiniLover · Post by **MartiniLover** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:46 am

Unless you have a service connected disability, you have to qualify for benefits. Being a veteran does not automatically give you "health insurance".

Your need is based on income.

If you need help, apply for benefits.

Handgunner45 · Post by **Handgunner45** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 6:39 am

You will have to apply with the VA to have any hope of receiving any benefits, and then it will depend on how busy the local VA medical facilities are. You will have a co-pay for prescriptions and medical care, based on a code that they will assign you when you register. The code will also determine the priority with which you can receive treatment. If the facilities are very busy, you could wait many months before they will be able to see you if you do not have a service connected dissability.

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:14 am

If you have an honorable discharge-you can receive VA benefits.

If you can trace any of your SDB symptoms to your period of service you can be considered service connected (your medical record has to show you complained of symptoms related to SDB even if undiagnosed). Then they determine your disability rating. If over 50% VA used to provide "free" care for all your health problems. Under 50% you receive "free" care for the SDB and other care with a co pay. Since PD is a diagnosis-I think you have a service connection-but you may not be considered disabled. It is certainly worth following up on the possibility.

germanchick · Post by **germanchick** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:24 am

My husband just went through his TAPS class (he is AD Navy) and we were told that as long as you can prove that your sleep apnea is service connected (which generally means you have had a sleep study done while in the service or you can prove it by having symptoms etc listed in your medical record) you WILL get VA disability for it. Go to your local VA office and ask them to check your medical records for possible disabilities. There might be more in it than you think. They will file a claim for you and from what we have been told it generally takes 6 to 9 months to get the results back. You will need your medical records and your DD214