Are my chronic granulomatous disease and sleep apnea connected to each other?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 53 year old army veteran, served for 33 years, who was diagnosed while serving in the army with chronic granulomatous disease and sleep apnea. When I filed a Veterans Administration (VA) claim, the VA rated me for compensation but combined the ratings into one rating. This means that the VA is saying that granulomatous disease caused the sleep apnea. All of my research indicates these two medical diagnoses are completely independent of each other and have no impacts on each other. I am looking for a medical opinion to support my research so that I may submit it to the VA so I am rated separately for each diagnosis.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an immunodeficiency condition where the white blood cells cannot fight the pathogens effectively which cause different types of infections.

As for sleep apnea, it is caused by narrowing of the air passages mostly in the nasopharynx area which cause interrupted night sleep, usually the cause is obesity in short-necked persons or hypertrophied uvula.

There is no relation between both except in very rare conditions (Kimura's disease) where CGD causes hypertrophy of the larynx.

Please provide me with some photos of your neck and inside your mouth to see if there is hypertrophied uvula. Sleep apnea is usually associated with hypertension and severe headaches. Do you have any of them?

Revert with more information to an internal medicine physician online.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

As you are not obese, most likely you have hypertrophied uvula which could be corrected surgically after ENT assessment.

Yes, in my opinion, there is no relation between both conditions.

For more information consult an internal medicine physician online.