I am veteran with sleep apnea

I was first diagnosed with severe sleep apnea in 1992 by a Navy Doctor (I was 165lbs then) , but wasn't allowed to get surgery until 2007 because of the needs of the NAVY. Within four months of having my tonsils remove and a partial uvula removal, I started to have symptoms again. I had a sleep study done then, with the finding that I had mild sleep apnea only sleeping on back, but not on the sides. When the scores where tabulated and averaged the 4 (less than the 5 required to be considered mild sleep apnea). I was told to saw a tennis ball to my shirt and was diagnosed with Primary Snoring. When I went to the VA in 2008, my claim was denied because they said that the surgery had cured me and my problem was that I was fat at 210, 5' 11".

I continue to deal with the VA and they finally gave me a CPAP, but continue to deny that it is service connected. I have other risk factors related to my service like high blood pressure, chronic sinusitis, a 17.5 inch neck, chronic pain, depression and severe nightmares but nothing seems to get the VA to help.

I want to start a non-profit to help veterans like me, to be able to afford an Independent Medical Examiner (IME) that will write an independent opinion about the claims that our veterans are being denied on based on technicalities and made up diagnosis by VA Examiners.

What do you think?

Welcome User 22657. One of the goals of outcomes research is to look at the history of people with similar outcomes (like your struggles to get treatment) and those with better outcomes to see what can be changed to improve outcomes. The more people there are with a common problem to survey, the more vivid the picture of what did and didn't work well becomes. It's strong data like that the insurers need to guide them to better diagnosis and treatment guidelines. I think your non-profit might be right here!! Invite your friends with similar struggles to join the MyApnea outcomes research network and participate in current and future surveys as well as questions about research topics. Let's get 'er done!

Hi @chiefaics, hope you're doing well! Do you have any updates on the non-profit that you wanted to start? It sounds like it could be a super valuable resource, especially since there is some research linking sleep apnea to veterans (for instance: Last year's USA Today article)

Are there any other veterans in the community who have an opinion on this?