Army Aviator Hereditary Angioedema help

[Civil-attorney-47]

Good evening,

I have been dealing with random parts of my body swelling, typically my lips, eyes, wrists and portions of my head as well as migraines effecting vision in my left eye since the beginning of the year. I finally bit the bullet and spoke with my PCMa few months back, which led to the dreaded yet justifiable downslip and am waiting on referrals. After a visit to the ER today for my lips and face, inner mouth swelling, the doctor strongly believes I have hereditary angioedema, which my mother suffers from in some form as well as other autoimmune issues. He is recommending referrals to my PCM to look deeper and sent off blood tests.

I am very doctor averse and find myself very anxious about what the next steps look like as I have always been healthy up to this point. I understand a lot of it will be trying different treatments etc. but wondering if anyone has dealt with this less common health issue and what the outcome was. I have tried researching the regs on fitness for duty based on what I currently have but honestly have a tough time interpreting what that looks like in reality. Any help or insight is greatly appreciated, and apologies if this is the wrong thread as I am new here.

 

[Provis]

Good evening,

I have been dealing with random parts of my body swelling, typically my lips, eyes, wrists and portions of my head as well as migraines effecting vision in my left eye since the beginning of the year. I finally bit the bullet and spoke with my PCMa few months back, which led to the dreaded yet justifiable downslip and am waiting on referrals. After a visit to the ER today for my lips and face, inner mouth swelling, the doctor strongly believes I have hereditary angioedema, which my mother suffers from in some form as well as other autoimmune issues. He is recommending referrals to my PCM to look deeper and sent off blood tests.

I am very doctor averse and find myself very anxious about what the next steps look like as I have always been healthy up to this point. I understand a lot of it will be trying different treatments etc. but wondering if anyone has dealt with this less common health issue and what the outcome was. I have tried researching the regs on fitness for duty based on what I currently have but honestly have a tough time interpreting what that looks like in reality. Any help or insight is greatly appreciated, and apologies if this is the wrong thread as I am new here.

So are you active dutye or guard/reserves? How long have you served? If Guard or Reserve how many active duty years. Being found fit can be easier or harder. Assuming aviation its easier to be found unfit. Same thing for infantry. If you mess up a finger its a bigger deal for combat or aviation than for lets say S1 job for example.

 

[Civil-attorney-47]

So are you active dutye or guard/reserves? How long have you served? If Guard or Reserve how many active duty years. Being found fit can be easier or harder. Assuming aviation its easier to be found unfit. Same thing for infantry. If you mess up a finger it’s a bigger deal for combat or aviation than for lets say S1 job for example.

Appreciate the response, I am at 9.5 years and am active duty.

 

[Provis]

Appreciate the response, I am at 9.5 years and am active duty.

Okay so at least you don't have to worry about the condition not being service connected. If you have served 8 years or more active duty then everything is service connected. Even hereditary conditions. I am not an expert of every health condition or MOS and it varies depending on those factors. The branch matters too. I would do a free consult with a private IDES attorney. They can give you some basic advice and also give you a quote for their services. If you read here long enough you will know that I always recommend hiring one. My wife did and it was a game changer. No way possible that she gets the same results relying on JAG and trusting the system. I will send you some references. They should be able to give you an idea of your case and if they can help. FYI: they are not cheap but you get what you pay for and I can personally testify that they are worth it if you want the best possible results.

 

[Civil-attorney-47]

Okay so at least you don't have to worry about the condition not being service connected. If you have served 8 years or more active duty then everything is service connected. Even hereditary conditions. I am not an expert of every health condition or MOS and it varies depending on those factors. The branch matters too. I would do a free consult with a private IDES attorney. They can give you some basic advice and also give you a quote for their services. If you read here long enough you will know that I always recommend hiring one. My wife did and it was a game changer. No way possible that she gets the same results relying on JAG and trusting the system. I will send you some references. They should be able to give you an idea of your case and if they can help. FYI: they are not cheap but you get what you pay for and I can personally testify that they are worth it if you want the best possible results.

Goodmorning,

Officially referred to IDES and awaiting PEBLO assignment. For an update the official diagnosis on the angioedema side was Chronic Urticaria, which required me to start Xolair (immunosuppressant). Thankfully I haven’t had any swelling in two months where it was consistently 4-6 times a month. This shot is what referred me for the MEB based on non-deployability and needing to be under close monitoring by doctor from my understanding. I have tried researching and found very little cases with Xolair specifically mentioned but from my understanding I should at least qualify for the 60% rating on the use of immunosuppressants alone correct? Also, for the Army is an unfit decision pretty clear given non-deployable meds historically? If you have any insight or advice on this side of things I’d appreciate it!

On the ocular migraine side the neurologist is suspecting intracranial hypertention causing pressure on my optical nerve along with potentially being root cause of migraines in general based on my MRI results. He started me on propranolol daily to see if it helps but I also take ubrelvy at the onset of migraine which helps slightly with intensity and duration. I’m averaging 6-8 migraines a month with 2-3 having visual disturbance. From my understanding this would be unfitting as well under AR 40-501. I just wanted to provide as much context as possible, but should both unfitting conditions be listed or is the MEB referral only for one unfitting condition and the rest get covered along the way through C&P exams? Apologies for the long message but stressed on the process and trying to ensure I don’t screw any of it up!

 

[Provis]

Goodmorning,

Officially referred to IDES and awaiting PEBLO assignment. For an update the official diagnosis on the angioedema side was Chronic Urticaria, which required me to start Xolair (immunosuppressant). Thankfully I haven’t had any swelling in two months where it was consistently 4-6 times a month. This shot is what referred me for the MEB based on non-deployability and needing to be under close monitoring by doctor from my understanding. I have tried researching and found very little cases with Xolair specifically mentioned but from my understanding I should at least qualify for the 60% rating on the use of immunosuppressants alone correct? Also, for the Army is an unfit decision pretty clear given non-deployable meds historically? If you have any insight or advice on this side of things I’d appreciate it!

On the ocular migraine side the neurologist is suspecting intracranial hypertention causing pressure on my optical nerve along with potentially being root cause of migraines in general based on my MRI results. He started me on propranolol daily to see if it helps but I also take ubrelvy at the onset of migraine which helps slightly with intensity and duration. I’m averaging 6-8 migraines a month with 2-3 having visual disturbance. From my understanding this would be unfitting as well under AR 40-501. I just wanted to provide as much context as possible, but should both unfitting conditions be listed or is the MEB referral only for one unfitting condition and the rest get covered along the way through C&P exams? Apologies for the long message but stressed on the process and trying to ensure I don’t screw any of it up!

What were you referred for? Meaning did they give you a P3 profile for both those conditions? Most of the time the iPEB mirrors the NARSUM and the NARSUM typically has the referred conditions as unfitting. The key is to work on adding the missing unfit condition from the start. Make sure all unfit conditions are listed in the commander's impact statement. That those conditions have sufficient profiles and so on.

 

[Civil-attorney-47]

The way it was described to me was I would be out in for a P3 for the use of Xolair, nothing was mentioned about the migraines other than starting propranolol. With that being said, it was a follow up appointment and our clinics are understaffed so they typically rush through appointments. I’m hoping there is still time to get the migraines/intracranial hypertension added to the referral as unfitting but just don’t know much about the process.