Reactive Airway Disease: In-service diagnosis vs. VA diagnosis

[Wally3430]

Can't seem to find an answer to this. I was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease while in-service by a civilian doc. He gave me the methacoline challenge and I had a reaction at .5mg. 34% decrease in FEV1 I believe it was. That was at the end of 2014.

Had a PFT done today for my VA C&P exam and it was a different test. No methacoline challenge. From what I gathered from the tech, I had a pretty normal test. There was a 5-10% improvement after I was administered Albuterol though.

So, my question is this. Once the VA doc looks at the PFT results, will he only go by what the PFT results were or will he use the prior RAD diagnosis I received about a year ago by a civilian doctor? The RAD diagnosing doctor prescribed me Albuterol, Patenase, Singular, and Advair and I've used them for the last year...from what I gather, the medication usage along qualifies for a 30% rating. But the VA doctor didn't prescribe those so how does that work? I'm concerned the VA will say "well our tests show you're fine" and no rating will be given. Thoughts?

 

[scoutCC]

The VA doesn't need to prescribe in order for the prescription to be valid. It would be very irregular for a prescription to result from a C&P exam, as it is for evaluation, not treatment. At most they would tell you that maybe you would want to see your primary care about different treatment options.

The VA needs to assign the highest possible rating. So they need to evaluate all the possible presentations of your breathing problems.
http://www.militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/therespiratorysystem.html
The challenge test shows how to rate by analogy to asthma, but it might be possible to get a higher rating by just rating it as a general breathing problem, which is what they tested for. You doing ok on the non-challenge test would seem to confirm, not rebut, that asthma would be the appropriate analogy. By both the medication and the breathing tests, 30% sounds appropriate.

 

[Wally3430]

Thanks Scout, yeah that link was exactly what I was looking at. Thanks for the comment. Was concerned the VA doc would have to re-diagnose for my MEBing condition to be valid or not. Sounds like that's not the case.

 

[Wally3430]

Update: Was found unfit at 30% for asthma. VA justification mentioned the two conflicting exams and they went with the most severe basically. Reason for 30% decision from VA was because of "daily inhalational therapy and inhalational anti-inflammatory medication". They also mentioned "When there is a disparity between the results of different PFTs, so that the level of evaluation would differ depending on which test result is used, the test result that the examiner states most accurately reflects the level of disability shall be used. In your case, the examiner has indicated that your FEV-1/FVC ratio most accurately reflects your level of disability."

Hope this helps someone with the same questions.