Sleep Apnea?

czs21

5-Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
49
I'm just curious as a few friends of mine had a discussion regarding sleep apnea and the military. Is sleep apnea a disqualifying factor for DoDMERB examinations?
 
I've never heard of anyone under the age of "I'm about to separate/retire from the military" have sleep apnea :biggrin:

If you have sleep apnea at the age to be applying for an Academy you have bigger issues to fry.

Just to make sure we're on the same page snoring does not equal sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is the cessation of breathing during sleep. Usually peaks in men around the age of 55 or so, most patients are obese w/ big necks. For a formal diagnosis of this disease you need a sleep study were you actually go sleep in a lab overnight. Treatment is usually with a CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure) machine.

I would highly doubt one would be qualified with a history of OSA. I'm too lazy to actually look at the reg's right now; however, you can't deploy to CENTCOM with it without a waiver (this is if you are diagnosed after already being in) so why would the military accept someone who isn't world-wide deployable.
 
I've never heard of anyone under the age of "I'm about to separate/retire from the military" have sleep apnea :biggrin:

.

If you get a Dx of sleep apnea in service, and you need a CPAP, it's a 50% disability evaluation for VA purposes when you separate. Free money.

I know this doesn't help with anything the poster asked. :wink:
 
If you get a Dx of sleep apnea in service, and you need a CPAP, it's a 50% disability evaluation for VA purposes when you separate. Free money.

I know this doesn't help with anything the poster asked. :wink:

[start threadjack]
Oh believe me I know. I asked our referral management people in regards to this a few weeks back and basically was told that about 5yrs ago our hospital would have about 5-6 Sleep Study referrals per month, now it is up to more like 40 a month.

Now how many of these are legitimate and how many are not? In my experience the vast majority are not and simply come from being told in the class you take before you separate that you really, really, really need to get this referral. People who meet none of the criteria come in asking for it by name on about 50% of all physicals I do. To me that is fraud, waste, and abuse and I've actually now made a singular effort at least in my department (guess what, we do all the sep/retirement physicals for the entire base) to make sure we stamp this practice out. Each referral is several thousand dollars to the govt.
 
It does NOT meet medical standards:thumb: (b. Sleep-related breathing disorders (327). Current diagnosis or treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders, including but not limited to sleep apnea (327.2).)
 
It is a very difficult issue for a great number of conditions and the most important factor YET to be considered is the natural aging process. While compensation should certainly provided for service connected maladies, not everything is service connected
 
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