Appealing a Rating From 2007

[marriedtothearmy]

My husband was medically retired from the Army for "asthma". None of the asthma medications he's been on (or was on at the time) have helped. He deployed four times from 2004-2007 to both Iraq and Afghanistan and was exposed to burn pits. At the time of his retirement, nothing was being admitted about side effects from burn pits but that has since changed (or seems like it has).

He was originally placed on TDRL (2007) and received permanent rating of 30% in April 2009. He applied for disability from the VA just after he left service in June of 2007. In November of 2007, he received a service connected rating for asthma of 30%.

He has a degree in criminal justice which he has not been able to utilize because he can't pass PT test - mainly the running portion. This was what prompted his med board in the Army.

Now that new information is available about burn pits, is it worth pursuing a higher rating from the VA? Can anything even be done? He hasn't been on meds for some time because they didn't make a difference at all. He also suffers from insomnia but don't know if that's connected or not.

Would love advice on how to proceed or if we should just leave it alone. We do have Tricare due to his rating from the Army and we can't afford to lose that coverage.

Thanks for your help!

 

[pittpan2005]

He is on PDRL. You are entitled to Tricare and don't have to worry about losing it. With a 30% rating from the VA it doesn't seem like he has much to lose by appealing or claiming new conditions. By appealing or filing a new claim he is subject to re-evaluation for his current ratings, but it seems likely he has more to gain with insomnia and burn pit exposure.

 

[usafaviator]

My illness is related to the burn pits as well. Have your husband contact the VA and request to be added to the burn pit/Gulf War illness registry. That will start the ball rolling on possibly connecting his illness to the burn pits. The disease that is being studied (as related to burn pits) is constrictive bronchiolitis. I have the same issues your husband has, and all of the meds I'm taking aren't controlling me either. The reason, is that there is no cure for constrictive bronchiolitis or the symptoms. The tricky part (and why it is so hard to diagnose) is that it can also be present with obstructive lung disease like asthma and COPD (both of which I have been diagnosed with) and chest x-rays/CRT scans and MRI's present normal, because the disease tends to create micro-dermabrasions in the lungs that don't show on scans....the real problem comes when the dermabrasions start to scar the lung tissue (often fairly rapidly after a period of "dormancy"), and (according to the New England Journal of Medicine study titled Constrictive Bronchiolitis in Soldiers Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan) has led to lung transplants and other serious issues. The VA says that the only 100% method of being sure that constrictive bronchiolitis exists is via an open lung biopsy, of which I will refuse (I don't want the risk of complications from this procedure just confirm I have a disease that has no cure). My pulmonologist diagnosed me because of lack of response to meds (including systemic steroids) and because my stress test showed both obstructive and restrictive elements.
Please address this possibility to your PCM/VA. Hopefully, your husband doesn't have it. If he does, we all need more visibility for the disease, and he deserves a proper diagnosis and care. Good luck, hang in there.