I was recently diagnosed with Narcolepsy January 19th after doing a MSLT. The clinic called me today (24 Jan) to say they were pulling me off my upcoming deployment due to the medication I was prescribed and they would be doing a IRILO to determine a MEB. My concern and question is how long this whole process could take because I am 6 months from hitting 20 years of service (August 1st). I'm worried the Air Force could try to medically separate me before I get to my 20 year mark. Should I be worried?
AF AD Diagnosed with Narcolepsy
- Thread starter usaf_2002
- Start date
No need to worry! You will easily be able to stretch it out to 20 years. You still have the IRILO determination and then if they push to full MEB you have C&P exams, MEB, PEB and all along the process you can appeal and delay. That doesn't even account for any saved leave you have and 20 days of PTDY that you will most likely get. I would however, educate yourself on the process and let your commander and others know you are close to 20 years. They can help you out by taking a bit longer for you. For example the Commander's impact statement will be needed during the process. The commander could lose it for a week or 2
Thank you for the reassurance and quick response. How exactly do I appeal each step if it comes to that? Do I appeal through the med clinic?No need to worry! You will easily be able to stretch it out to 20 years. You still have the IRILO determination and then if they push to full MEB you have C&P exams, MEB, PEB and all along the process you can appeal and delay. That doesn't even account for any saved leave you have and 20 days of PTDY that you will most likely get. I would however, educate yourself on the process and let your commander and others know you are close to 20 years. They can help you out by taking a bit longer for you. For example the Commander's impact statement will be needed during the process. The commander could lose it for a week or 2
You will know because at each step you have to sign that you concur or not. If you don't concur you have options to delay. For example when you get your NARSUM you can agree or request an Independent Medical Review (IMR) by a different doctor. If you still disagree you can submit a rebuttal. Each part you have 7 days to respond So that's just one step where you can delay a ton. At the beginning you will be assigned someone from legal as part of the process. They can help you with each part since you will let them know you are just trying to stall. If you hit 20 years it will be huge for you as the results won't matter. If they kick you out you will get your pension regardless of the ratings from your medical condition.
So that's just one step where you can delay a ton. At the beginning you will be assigned someone from legal as part of the process. They can help you with each part since you will let them know you are just trying to stall. If you hit 20 years it will be huge for you as the results won't matter. If they kick you out you will get your pension regardless of the ratings from your medical condition.
Yep! I would try to go regular retirement if they let you. Otherwise you may be in longer with a MEB than a planned retirement date.
Looking for advice. So it has been a year now going through this MEB for Narcolepsy.
I have completed all of my VA C&P exams which was a long process, and I thought things were finally coming to a close.
The main Air Force doctor notified my PEBLO that I now need to do another sleep study through a military medical facility, and that the civilian sleep study I had done does not matter, which is very frustrating to find this out a year into an MEB. Additionally, the military facility is 4 hours away.
I had an over the phone consult with the military sleep center and the PA told me that civilian's misdiagnose people all the time. He said I could have idiopathic hypersomnia, and that if they diagnose me with that instead of narcolepsy, they will decide to retain me/cancel the MEB?
I am almost at 21 years of service and just want to be medically retired at this stage. All that I was waiting for were the VA ratings, and I would have been on terminal leave in 2 months.
My PEBLO however did just submit a request to the IPEB asking to waive this additional sleep study given my situation, determine me unfit, and that no matter the outcome I will be retiring either way.
The quickest outcome at this point is to be determined unfit for duty and retired, I am concerned this Army sleep center will change my diagnosis, and I am unsure what would happen in my current situation.
I have completed all of my VA C&P exams which was a long process, and I thought things were finally coming to a close.
The main Air Force doctor notified my PEBLO that I now need to do another sleep study through a military medical facility, and that the civilian sleep study I had done does not matter, which is very frustrating to find this out a year into an MEB. Additionally, the military facility is 4 hours away.
I had an over the phone consult with the military sleep center and the PA told me that civilian's misdiagnose people all the time. He said I could have idiopathic hypersomnia, and that if they diagnose me with that instead of narcolepsy, they will decide to retain me/cancel the MEB?
I am almost at 21 years of service and just want to be medically retired at this stage. All that I was waiting for were the VA ratings, and I would have been on terminal leave in 2 months.
My PEBLO however did just submit a request to the IPEB asking to waive this additional sleep study given my situation, determine me unfit, and that no matter the outcome I will be retiring either way.
The quickest outcome at this point is to be determined unfit for duty and retired, I am concerned this Army sleep center will change my diagnosis, and I am unsure what would happen in my current situation.
I am in the same situation with the narcolepsy they had me go to walter reed multiple times to do a sleep study but i only did the overnight to confirm sleep apnea. The doctor at walter reed wrote me a note stating i couldnt do anymore tests due to mantel health and that they should continue the process of MEB. They also said i had to be off every medication for 2 weeks to take the MSLT which they deemed not safe. I would try adding in the fact of mental health and having to be off the meds and that might help you bypass that extra testing.
They told me I have to be off medication for 4 weeks prior. I'll talk to my PEBLO again. The PA at the sleep clinic said I would either have to do it now or later after I got out, on way or the other I'd have to re-do it
Hello,
I wanted to post a closure to my original post, because so many posts get started without knowing the end result.
January 2022 - I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy and pulled from an upcoming deployment.
June 21st- IRILO Initiated
August 19th - Full MEB initiated. (There was a problem here, AF returned requesting an actigraphy, PEBLO turned in the results from civilian sleep lab study and triggered full MEB
October 19th - First C&P Exam started
December 13th - Completed final C&P Exam
January 28th 2023- AF requested that I complete another sleep study at a Military sleep clinic. This request would add 3-6 months onto timeline **There is a reference that for a MEB for sleeping conditions, a sleep study must me completed by a military sleep clinic (civilian sleep clinic in a hospital is not good enough)
*I strongly believe this needs to be updated, this is not practical due to amount of patients and logistics/lack of military sleep clinics/actigraphy availability to send every military member TDY to a military sleep clinic. It was requested by military clinic to wear actigraphy for 2 weeks in a hotel room and then roll into a nigh time test and then into daytime latency test all while TDY*
January 30th - PEBLO submitted request to waive the additional military sleep study due to already being over 20 years of service, added mental stress, and already delayed timeline of case
February 2nd - Waiver approved Found unfit for Duty. Medical records and exams sent to VA for ratings
March 6th - Found unfit for duty. VA proposed ratings received, 10% DoD/100% VA. The DoD rating for referred condition in my case doesn't matter because I am over 21 years service active duty
March 13th - Signed IPEB findings
March 14th - Retirement orders received
March 22nd - Final out/On terminal leave
I wanted to post a closure to my original post, because so many posts get started without knowing the end result.
January 2022 - I was diagnosed with Narcolepsy and pulled from an upcoming deployment.
June 21st- IRILO Initiated
August 19th - Full MEB initiated. (There was a problem here, AF returned requesting an actigraphy, PEBLO turned in the results from civilian sleep lab study and triggered full MEB
October 19th - First C&P Exam started
December 13th - Completed final C&P Exam
January 28th 2023- AF requested that I complete another sleep study at a Military sleep clinic. This request would add 3-6 months onto timeline **There is a reference that for a MEB for sleeping conditions, a sleep study must me completed by a military sleep clinic (civilian sleep clinic in a hospital is not good enough)
*I strongly believe this needs to be updated, this is not practical due to amount of patients and logistics/lack of military sleep clinics/actigraphy availability to send every military member TDY to a military sleep clinic. It was requested by military clinic to wear actigraphy for 2 weeks in a hotel room and then roll into a nigh time test and then into daytime latency test all while TDY*
January 30th - PEBLO submitted request to waive the additional military sleep study due to already being over 20 years of service, added mental stress, and already delayed timeline of case
February 2nd - Waiver approved Found unfit for Duty. Medical records and exams sent to VA for ratings
March 6th - Found unfit for duty. VA proposed ratings received, 10% DoD/100% VA. The DoD rating for referred condition in my case doesn't matter because I am over 21 years service active duty
March 13th - Signed IPEB findings
March 14th - Retirement orders received
March 22nd - Final out/On terminal leave
Congratulations! Thank you for coming back and letting us know the results!