So I might be looking at a MED Board... Any help?

mb2025

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ok, so my condition that might put me out of the military is that I have a back injury, compression fractures from a parachuting accident a few years ago. So over the years I have developed bowel and bladder problems. At first it was just running to the restroom 6 or 7 or 10 times a day and some night time wetting. Now I am needing to change absorbent material 5 times a day. If I am close enough to a restroom I can still usual make it. For bowel, I tend to have an incident about once a day, but there are ar days with three or more incidents. The only doctors I have seen have been for constaint back pain. The bladder and bowel issues were never really addressed. I did try to talk to my doctor months ago but he just blew me off. Well they are taking it serious now... Anyways, my doctor has already talked about starting a med board. I see her again next week. Any suggestions? Since I am in korea, I don't think I can med board here. Thanks any suggestions appreciated!
 
One of the main things they fail to address is nerve problems associated with the back injury. Many times this takes the form of pain/numbness down the leg due to sciatica problems. Often times the lack of documentation leads to the nerve problems not being considered unfit on their own, leading to lower percentages offered at the med board.

What I'm curious about is the possibility of not being able to control bowel/bladder being related to the sciatica nerve.

The are supposed to move you to the installation closest to your home of record to finish MEB board processing btw.
 
As an update, today I hade a tilt table test. I passed out after 1 minute, both blood pressure and heart rate dropped and the I passed out. My guess is between that and neurogenic bowel and bladder they will probably not let me stay in the military... :(
 
One thing that can "help" (but, I don't think is strictly needed) is having your absorbent materials/pads prescribed. I have seen cases where a neurogenic bladder/loss of bowel control has not been addressed in the MEB (so, as maparker stated, above, make sure it is addressed by the MEB or at least appeal the MEB if it is not covered and specifically address these conditions along with frequency of problems) and at the PEB, a question asked is whether the pads/absorbent material was prescribed. If they are prescribed, it can greatly aid in "proving" the frequency. (That is, if you are going through a prescribed usage of 90/mo, that tends to support at least 3 "incidents" per day...part of the problem in many cases is this stuff can be- or is- embarrassing and sometimes folks don't want to go into details. This is understandable, but, also understand that there are steps you can take to gather evidence showing the frequency and the problem).

Hope all works out well for you. Any other questions, please let us know.
 
So I just met with the Doctors again. They are diagnosing me with Autnomic Nerve Disorder. They are saying that it is possibly from a TBI or a damaged ganglia in my spine. Because of syncope I am unfit so they are going to start the process of med boarding me. What does this mean? Will I have any chance to stay? I guess I can't drive a car, but what about driving a desk? They also said I have an OVer Active Neurogenc Bladder and bowel. All attributed to my nerve disorder. If they retire me what percentage would I be looking at? And can I be in the National guard?

Thanks to anyone who can help. This has not been an easy time in my life. I guess not its just wait for paperwork to be done and move to a WTU. Good bye Army :(
 
I just got my results back and for a neurogenic bladder I was rated at 60% for that condition. I'm not sure about the overall percentage but for that one condition it was as stated above. I hope this helps out a little bit. And I'm sorry you are dealing with the bladder and bowel stuff, it really sucks!
 
Austin55,

I don't know if you mind sharing, but for me i guess I don't have a lot of treatment options for the Neurogenic bladder which they are saying is over reactive. So basically they said I will just have to wear adult diapers the rest of my life. At least my doctor finally figured out how to put me on con leave while they figure out the WTU piece. I really sucked going to work in a diaper, passing out and everything. I wish the military was better at treating wounded men and women.
 
As an update, today I hade a tilt table test. I passed out after 1 minute, both blood pressure and heart rate dropped and the I passed out. My guess is between that and neurogenic bowel and bladder they will probably not let me stay in the military... :(
Tilt Table Test? That's how they finally diagnosed my POTS syndrome and Autonomic Neuropathy. Although they diagnosed you with Autonomic nerve disorder, you may want to bring that up to your doctor as your symptoms are sometimes symptoms that go along with POTS and Autonomic Dysfunction. I was rated 60/100 for POTS/AND and the symptoms that go along with it. If you have any questions about this type of disorder , shoot me a PM. I know its a difficult one to deal with.
 
The doctors I am working with don't seem the best. My GP is great, but some of the specialists really suck. So I don't know if they even considered. How would I know if I have POTS or AND? The follow up question is if I do how do I get my doctors to realize it?
 
If you have a great GP/PCM then I would ask him/her to send you out for a Civilian Doc for a second opinion. I had the same issue as you with specialist who were not up to par. The first Neurologist I saw had to google POTS to tell me what it was.. I knew more about it than my Neruo, so I asked my PCM to send me out for a second opinion and got much better results and information.

The tilt table test is, as far as I know, is the definitive test to determine POTS.
 
So my PCM is saying that it will probably take 3 to 6 months to get my paperwork together, submitted and sent to a WTU. Does that sound correct? It seems like a long time to me. I have been on con leave, and my doctor is going to continue to recommend con leave, but I don't know if the unit is going to be ok with that. I would love to work but I am worried about it because I keep on passing out. I cannot drive. If I do work it is going to be a 2.5 hour trip to work every day and back.

On another note I finally met with several specialist. They are all saying Autonomic Nerve Disorder. The Urologist has now confirmed neurogenic bladder and bowel. I have also been diagnosed with vasovagel and syncope. So I cannot imagine that the military will keep me:(

I think this is all from a parachuting accident 3 years ago when I ended up with 3 compression fractures after a bad jump. Am I going to have to prove this? How difficult will the MED Board make things for me?

I also hope I end up with an good medical retirement since it does not look like I can drive and I pass out 2 to 4 times a week. Due to chronic exhaustion I can barely make it 4 hours without needing a nap.

Thanks all,
 
ok, so my condition that might put me out of the military is that I have a back injury, compression fractures from a parachuting accident a few years ago. So over the years I have developed bowel and bladder problems. At first it was just running to the restroom 6 or 7 or 10 times a day and some night time wetting. Now I am needing to change absorbent material 5 times a day. If I am close enough to a restroom I can still usual make it. For bowel, I tend to have an incident about once a day, but there are ar days with three or more incidents. The only doctors I have seen have been for constaint back pain. The bladder and bowel issues were never really addressed. I did try to talk to my doctor months ago but he just blew me off. Well they are taking it serious now... Anyways, my doctor has already talked about starting a med board. I see her again next week. Any suggestions? Since I am in korea, I don't think I can med board here. Thanks any suggestions appreciated!

Welcome to the PEB Forum! :)

Please reference my URL below for detailed information about the DoD IDES process:

http://www.pebforum.com/site/threads/a-detailed-explanation-of-the-dod-ides-meb-peb-process.22807/

Hmm, I also, have a medical diagnosis of vasovagal syncope with mild orthostatic intolerance and an IBS diagnosis too!

Hopefully, you shall be referred into the DoD IDES process soon rather than later at this point in time. Take care and continue to enjoy life! :cool:

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
Get a copy of your medical records. Go through them NOW (while you're on leave) with a fine tooth comb. Pay particular attention to the time frame of your accident. Make sure those records are there now because if they aren't you will be chasing them down later and may not have the time. If things are missing from your records at the time it is sent to the board, you can get really damaged by that in the board's findings. This is what happened in my husband's case. They can't assess something they don't have, so make sure they have what they need to find in your favor.
 
Tilt Table Test? That's how they finally diagnosed my POTS syndrome and Autonomic Neuropathy. Although they diagnosed you with Autonomic nerve disorder, you may want to bring that up to your doctor as your symptoms are sometimes symptoms that go along with POTS and Autonomic Dysfunction. I was rated 60/100 for POTS/AND and the symptoms that go along with it. If you have any questions about this type of disorder , shoot me a PM. I know its a difficult one to deal with.

I pm you
 
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