How to file a va claim for tinnitus
How to File a VA Claim for Tinnitus
Timecodes:
a veterans Brian Reese here the va
claims insider coming at you live from
Austin Texas welcome to this video where
I'm gonna explain how to file a VA
disability claim for tinnitus okay now
you're gonna see here as I step through
this tinnitus is the number one most
commonly claimed VA disability and in my
opinion it's also the easiest disability
to win okay it's the easiest one to get
service-connected and to win I'll give
my opinion as to why I think that is
but regardless we're gonna step through
this thing here and I'm gonna share with
you some tips tricks and strategies to
get your tinnitus service-connected and
rated at the appropriate level which is
10% okay again Brian Reese here air
force service disabled veteran founder
and CEO of va claims insider we got one
mission gang we're veterans helping
veterans get the VA disability rating
and compensation you deserve
okay so as we step through this now be
thinking about if we can help you feel
free to reach out okay and as always you
can see there Brian Reese and if you
want you can click our website as well
check us out at va claims insider comm
we got lots of free resources for you
feel free to shoot me a note through our
website I try to answer as many of you
as I possibly can okay I don't want you
to feel struck and frustrated at all and
sometimes filing a disability claim can
feel that way okay so let's step through
this here gang alright so the bottom
line number one is are you even eligible
under the law okay you've got to prove
these three things alright so number one
is you must have a medical diagnosis of
tinnitus alright and tinnitus all that
is gang is it's a ringing in the ear a
buzzing in the ear you could call it
ringing in the ear syndrome and call it
whatever you want but you've got to have
a diagnosis of that in your medical
record
okay now that can be your service
treatment records so your active duty
medical records that can be VA medical
records and that may also be private
medical wreck
okay now at a minimum if you don't have
something that actually says ICD code
blah blah blah
tinnitus there at least needs to be some
subjective complaints inside of a
medical record that talk about buzzing
or ringing or you're struggling with
sleeping you've got headaches you're
hearing things in your ears okay
something like that okay so that's the
first one the second thing is your
tinnitus must have been caused or made
worse by your active duty military
service okay that's what is referred to
legally as the Nexus which is that link
back to your military service now I want
you to be thinking again as we go
through this what are potential
in-service incidents or series of
incidents that caused or made your
tinnitus worse okay the ringing in the
ear now military members veterans have a
high preponderance of tinnitus cases
tinnitus is very very common among folks
in the United States but it's especially
common in military personnel okay we
were exposed to loud noises you were
perhaps around flight lines you
participated in loud training events you
may be deployed perhaps you're in a car
accident yeah there's lots of different
things I think that make veterans more
predisposed to tinnitus than normal
civilians in our population okay but
bottom line is there's got to be a nexus
and there has to be that clear link back
to your service and the third part you
must have persistent and reoccurring
symptoms into the present day okay
that's what we call severity of symptoms
at va claims insider gang and you'll see
I put in there do you have evidence
question mark so in there are cases and
instances where lay evidence all that
means is after the fact evidence that
may satisfy so if you're lacking medical
evidence or you've received a VA denial
that says something like not
service-connected there's no you know
there's no clear link to the Veterans
Service never complained about loud
noises or hearing loss or ringing in the
ears
it doesn't mean you
you quit all that means is you need to
provide more proof okay so one of the
things you can do is get something
called a buddy letter all that is is
it's a credible statement from a
first-hand witness such as a spouse
somebody you served with or a child
anyone over 18 years of age or older
who can shed some light and some
firsthand witness testimony on what they
experienced or what they've heard you
complaining about
okay so again buddy letters are key va
Raiders are a Taro's rating officials
they take those very seriously
um and they can help you to win and or
service connect your tinnitus claim okay
so what the heck is tinnitus let's go
back to the basics
tinnitus aka ringing in the ear syndrome
that's what we call it a be a claims
insider it's the perception of noise or
ringing buzzing in the ears when in
reality there's nothing there okay you
just think it exists now there's lots of
potential causes reasons subjective like
symptoms but these are the ones
according to Mayo Clinic that are most
commonly reported veterans report
ringing buzzing roaring clicking hissing
I have tinnitus so for me it's it's
mainly a ringing and a buzzing a lot of
times I'll just be sitting there and it
you know kind of kind of you'll kind of
have that sensation in your ear so but
these are common symptoms associated
with it there's actually two types of
tinnitus by the way that one is called
subjective tinnitus one is called
objective tinnitus subjective tinnitus
is the only one I'm talking about here
because that's the by far the most
common especially in veterans okay you
know it's usually caused by some type of
a hear an ear problem in the outer
middle or inner ear but it also could be
due to the auditory nerves or part of
the brain that interprets signals okay
and again that's right from the Mayo
Clinic that's not my own that's right
right from the Mayo Clinic okay so what
the heck so here are some people who are
most at risk for tinnitus okay
seniors military personnel
musicians people who work in loud
environments well guess what okay we may
qualify under all four of those I do
sing and play guitar so I'm a musician
I'm not a senior yet but I will be
someday but I am former military so
active duty military personnel and I
used to work in loud noise environments
although I don't anymore
okay so again why are military people
most exposed I'll talk about that here
in a minute but I wanted to show this
pretty shocking stat here so let's say
what run so according to the VA is FY
2017 2018 report to Congress regarding
VA benefits and compensation tinnitus
was the number one most commonly claimed
disability for all veterans all
demographics it doesn't matter whether
you were in combat non-combat it's the
number one most commonly claimed
disability period end of story
a hearing loss was number two yeah you
heard me talk about this at the very
beginning I believe tinnitus is the
easiest disability to win and get
service-connected the main reason for
that is it is very subjective you either
say it and you have it or you don't
okay so be thinking now remember I
talked about in what do you need to have
legally in order to win your tinnitus
claim and get it serviced connected and
rated there has to be that link back to
your active duty military service which
is referred to as the Nexus so here are
just four possible examples again these
are my own these are very common these
are things that we hear a lot at va
claims insider but example one all right
maybe you were in the Air Force and you
worked on the flight line as an aircraft
engine mechanic and of course you didn't
always wear hearing protection okay so
that's an example of a veteran who is
more likely than not to have tinnitus a
second example here perhaps you're in
the army you deployed in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom and you were
exposed to explosions gunfire ie attacks
rocket attacks whatever some type of
loud noise
helos maybe you choppered around the
country things like that
okay example number three sorry for my
type of there perhaps you're in the Navy
and your experienced head trauma from a
car accident okay again that you're what
you're looking for is a link back to
your service example for you were in the
Marine Corps you were exposed to loud
noises during various training
environments screaming yelling maybe you
worked as an instructor in the Marine
Corps okay and of course you're not
gonna wear hearing protection in those
types of environments okay so again
these are possible links to service
connect your tinnitus claim okay yeah
now this is write out a lot okay you can
google right now ecfr title 38 part for
the schedule for rating disabilities
it's under code sixty to sixty and it's
classified legally under the law as
tinnitus recurrent now I added in their
subjective or objective those are the
two types of tinnitus but for veterans
you're really looking at subjective
tinnitus okay no there's some notes
there as well I'm not going to go
through all of those but the bottom line
is tinnitus is rated at 10 percent or
nothing all right there is no zero
percent rating and there's nothing more
than 10 percent the highest and only
rating you can have for tinnitus which
is the ringing in the ear is 10 percent
okay
so evidence requirements you might be
sitting there going alright Brian got it
I have tinnitus or I've been denied
tinnitus how the heck do I go about
getting improved I think you need to
make sure that you have a medical
diagnosis of tinnitus or at least that
you've reported subjective symptoms to
your doctor
all right things like ringing in the
ears hear buzzing when I lay down I have
this disturbance in my head hey my
tinnitus causes me to have headaches
whatever you need to at least have
something documented in a medical record
okay it does not have to be your active
duty records but it needs to be on some
kind of a medical record okay you also
want need to be thinking about what are
the in-service stressors that cause
service-connection you heard me talk
about that you worked on a flight line I
was deployed to a combat zone
I'm a Vietnam veteran I was around
gunfire I was in loud training
environments without proper hearing
protection I used to work on a gun range
okay something like that where I see a
lot of vets go wrong here
is a member the longer you've been out
of service the harder it is to prove
service connection right so if you've
been out of the service for thirty years
and you never complained about hearing
loss or ringing in the ears or tinnitus
while on active duty
you got out it's now 30 years later and
maybe you were a musician or are a
musician or perhaps you were a police
officer or a fireman okay in those types
of situations the VA compensation and
pen examiners are very likely to pin
your tinnitus on something else hey you
know this guy's been out of the service
for thirty years he worked as a police
officer you know it's it's less likely
than not all right or maybe his tinnitus
was due to something that occurred in
his civilian career after he left the
military okay don't let that happen
all right so make sure you write a
testimony about how and when your
hearing loss and your ringing in the
ears began okay medical evidence of
symptoms so you might want to get
something called a disability benefit
questionnaire completed for tinnitus so
you can google that right now DBQ for
tinnitus you can have any medical
provider fill it out who meets the the
criteria okay medical Nexus letter if
you need one again if you've been out of
the service more than a year I highly
recommend you consider obtaining what's
called a medical Nexus letter all that
is gang is it's a memorandum for record
that's a term right out of the military
they're written and signed by a medical
professional who can shed some light on
how they know you the diagnosis your
symptoms how your tinnitus is affecting
or limiting your life and then in their
medical opinion the likelihood that your
tinnitus was caused or made worse by
your active duty service so they may say
something like in my medical opinion
it's more likely than not
or it's at least as likely as not that
the veterans tinnitus was due to their
military service okay and again as
always I highly recommend you write a
statement in support of a claim for
tinnitus okay
talk about the diagnosis tinnitus
recurrent talked about how you think it
was due to your service talk about your
symptoms and limitations how it's
affecting your life okay here we talk
about lay evidence again all it is is
after the fact evidence that's what I
mean when I talk about a buddy letter
okay so it's a credible first-hand
witness testimony of somebody who knows
you and/or served with you who's 18
years of age or older who can shed some
light on your condition now again if the
medical evidence is it all lacking here
I highly highly highly recommend at
least one buddy letter ok preferably two
or three now don't forget a gang as well
about tinnitus as secondary disabilities
okay so the following conditions have
been medically linked to potentially
caused or make tinnitus worse okay man
ears disease that's also a separate
category under the law Meniere's disease
is a much more serious form of tinnitus
it causes vertigo and it's again it's
much more serious so if you have many
years disease where you think you have
it they'll get a diagnosis but perhaps
if you've got many ears disease already
service-connected you could file tonight
is secondary okay depression and anxiety
PTSD TBI hearing loss TMD high blood
pressure and head and neck conditions
these are all linked to tinnitus so if
you have any one of these disabilities
already rated and service-connected as
0% or higher and you don't yet have a
rating or service connection for
tinnitus it's possible that you could
file tinnitus secondary to any one of
these conditions okay what the heck
should you be doing right now if you
hear my voice you're like alright I have
tinnitus what do I do
get your butt to the doctor and get a
diagnosis for
Titus okay I highly recommend to you get
a DBQ in a nexus letter for tinnitus if
you need some help with that by the way
we can do that we're medical consultants
this is what we do all day every day we
have a full staff of medical doctors
ready and waiting to help you okay and
then again be thinking about what is the
nexus for your tinnitus how was it
caused or made worse by your active duty
service is it a primary disability okay
meaning it was directly linked to a
specific in-service incident or series
of incidents or is it a secondary
disability was it caused or made worse
by another service-connected disability
okay you can't have both so pick one and
go that way okay CNP exam prep for
tinnitus okay this is important gang C&P
exam stands for compensation and pension
ok CMP exam this is going to be ordered
by the VA it'll either be done by a VA
examiner or by a private contracted VA
examiner why do want you be thinking
about though and this is important there
is no actual objective test for tinnitus
I don't care who tells you there is
they're wrong okay what the VA is gonna
do though is once you file a claim for
tinnitus they're gonna check it okay
what I mean by that is they're gonna
order what's called an audiogram okay
that's where you sit in that room by
yourself it's soundproof they put those
little buds in your ear and they're
gonna test your hearing loss at various
frequencies and ranges and decibels okay
again now that's a test for hearing loss
but when you file a claim for tinnitus
they're likely gonna run you through
that same thing they're gonna administer
the audiogram and that's going to be
performed by an audiologist
but again the audiogram cannot test for
tinnitus they're gonna do different
things to try to measure your hearing
loss but hearing loss is not the same as
tinnitus those are two completely
different things okay but they're still
going to administer it but again
remember I talked about the subjectivity
of tinnitus if you say you have it
it's somewhere in a medical record you
wrote a statement you tell the CNP
examiner you've got tinnitus it was due
to your service I worked on a flight
line you're gonna get service-connected
and you're gonna get rated for tinnitus
okay again now make sure you're telling
the truth and you're being honest but
there is no test to measure for tinnitus
all right the bottom line is once you
file the claim you're gonna get called
in for a CMP examination they're gonna
administer the audiogram by an
audiologist and number one bottom line
you've got to know what's in your
medical records active-duty records VA
records or private records okay review a
DBQ all right if you do get a disability
benefit questionnaire review the
evidence review what the doctor wrote
and what they checked I highly recommend
you review the e CFR do not have your
best day okay be uncomfortably
vulnerable what I mean by that is tell
the examiner everything going on with
you if your tinnitus causes you to have
sexual problems headaches vertigo
depression anxiety all right any of
those types of things make sure you're
telling them what's going on so that
that gets documented in your record and
again you got to know your true story
cold and potential in service stressors
that caused or made your tinnitus worse
okay again if you need some help gang
that's what we do all right veterans
helping veterans get the VA disability
rating and compensation you deserve
we have a full medical staff ready and
available to assist if you need more
medical evidence to get your service
your tinnitus service connected we can
get you a DBQ we can get you a nexus
opinion and we can document your
severity of symptoms okay again if you
need some help we got a free three-step
intake set up there go to VA claims
insider elite dot-com again you need
some help with your tinnitus claim or
any claim for that matter complete our
free three-step intake at VA claims
insider elite comm ok all right gang as
always thank you
very much for your service god bless you
and your family Brian Reese here founder
and CEO of iya claims insider coming at
you from Austin Texas I'm out and again
thanks for your service gang I can't say
that enough as a fellow vet I understand
you I understand your frustration our
whole team does and I really really do
appreciate you and your family and your
service and sacrifice to our country
okay gang we'll talk to you very soon
bye-bye
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