Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to The Veterans Disability Nexus, where we provide unique insights and expertise on medical evidence related to VA-rated disabilities. Leah Bucholz, a US Army Veteran, Physician Assistant, & former Compensation & Pension Examiner shares her knowledge related to Independent Medical Opinions often referred to as “Nexus Letters” in support of your pursuit of VA Disability every Tuesday & Wednesday at 7AM Central.
Take control of your medical evidence related to your benefits and visit https://podcast.prestigeveteranmctx.info/veteran/ for more information and to connect directly with us!
Hey, guys. It's Leah Bee from Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting. I am a US Army veteran, physician assistant, and former compensation, and pension examiner. So today, wanna come on and talk about a really important topic that affects a lot of veterans, and that is alcohol use disorder and how that can be related to VA disability. So did you know that alcohol use disorder is one of the most common challenges faced by veterans and that it can also be connected to your VA disability benefits.
Leah Bucholz:Not in the most straightforward way that you always would think about, but in today's video, we're gonna be breaking down alcohol use disorder, how it impacts veterans, what the research says, how it can lead to serious medical conditions, and what the VA means when they talk about willful misconduct, and and substance abuse and alcohol or substance abuse. So stick around until the end where we're gonna share some resources that could help you or a loved one. So okay. So let's try to understand alcohol use disorder in veterans. Right?
Leah Bucholz:So alcohol use disorder or AUD is more than just drinking too much. It's a medical condition where alcohol use leads to distress or harm. For veterans, alcohol often becomes a way to cope with, combating stress, trauma, or physical pain. Now the VA recognizes alcohol use disorder as a serious condition, but here's the catch. VA disability benefits usually aren't gonna be granted for alcohol use disorder as a primary condition.
Leah Bucholz:However, the story doesn't really end there because alcohol use disorder often connects other serious health issues that may be considered, service connected, so, like, as a bridge. We've talked about a lot of different things that can be used as a bridge to another condition, like obesity as an intermediate step, sometimes medications. You know, things like smoking, we have a video on as well. So if you have a service connected disability that is going to influence that alcohol use disorder or that substance use and it leads to another condition, you might be able to be service connected for that. So let's talk about what some of the research says.
Leah Bucholz:So research shows that veterans that are are at a higher risk for alcohol misuse compared to the general population. In fact, VA studies have found that nearly one in ten veterans struggles with substance use disorder, and alcohol is by far the most common. Other studies have highlighted strong connections between alcohol use and conditions like PTSD, TBI, traumatic brain injury, and chronic pain. So many veterans report using alcohol as a form of self medication. Unfortunately, that not only increases risk of depression, suicidality, you know, it worse it can worsen other medical conditions and physical health.
Leah Bucholz:So alcohol use use disorder is rarely just one problem on its own. It's often part of a larger health picture. So how how can alcohol use disorder lead to other conditions? So alcohol use disorder can cause other disabling medical conditions like I mentioned earlier. So this is a key part of understanding how it ties into VA disability.
Leah Bucholz:So here are a few examples. Long term alcohol use can damage the liver, leading to things like cirrhosis or liver failure, fatty liver disease. Heavy drinking often leads to weight gain, which raises the risk of things like type two diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. We have a ton of other videos about obesity and how that can, bridge to other conditions as well. And, again, I've I've often seen cases where alcohol use related to the mental health condition sort of ties in to the weight gain as well leading to, again, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etcetera.
Leah Bucholz:So chronic alcohol use can trigger stomach ulcers, pancreatitis, nerve damage, and even cognitive decline that looks like dementia or worsening brain injury symptoms. In these cases, alcohol use disorder becomes the bridge to serious chronic medical conditions. And while the VA may not grant benefits directly for alcohol use disorder, those secondary conditions like cirrhosis or diabetes can qualify if they can be linked back to your service or to your alcohol use. So let's talk about willful misconduct in VA disability. So this is where things get complicated with the VA's rules on willful misconduct.
Leah Bucholz:So by law, VA usually is not going to grant disability compensation for conditions caused by a veteran's own willful misconduct. If the VA believes that your alcohol use was purely a matter of personal choice or reckless behavior, they may deny your claim. But and this is a big but. The situation changes if the alcohol use disorder develops as a symptom of another service connected condition. For example, if you start drinking heavily to cope with your PTSD, depression, or chronic pain, the VA may now view the alcohol use disorder and any conditions caused by it as secondary to the service connected issue, not just willful misconduct.
Leah Bucholz:So that's why medical evidence and documentation and your personal history are so important. The line between willful misconduct and a service connected disability isn't always clear, and how your case is presented can make all the difference. So I wanna talk about some resources for veterans. I'm gonna pull up a window on va.gov here in a second. But if you or somebody you love is struggling with alcohol use, you don't have to face it alone.
Leah Bucholz:So let's see. Let me let me just shift over here really quick to this other screen I have. K. Okay. This is va.gov.
Leah Bucholz:I like to come on va.gov a lot because they have a lot of really great resources. So as you can see, this is, I just looked up va.gov, you know, alcohol use disorder, and it brought me here. So substance use treatment for veterans, and it just outlines what services VA offers. So there's medications, medically managed detox for substance abuse. Drug sub drug substitution therapies can be used for cravings.
Leah Bucholz:There's opiate addiction. We're not really talking about that today, but there's some other options for alcohol as well. There's short term outpatient counseling, intensive outpatient treatment. They offer marriage and family counseling, self help, groups, residential care, relapse prevention, special programs for veterans with specific concerns like women veterans. And so there's some more links here, treatment options for substance use.
Leah Bucholz:So I'm gonna click on that real quick. One second. Okay. So if we get to this tab, it it actually has an overview of different things. So we're gonna key in on alcohol today.
Leah Bucholz:And and, again, it talks about what alcohol use disorder is. Twenty nine point five million people in The US had an alcohol use disorder in 2022. So so just some statistics, right, some signs of simp and symptoms of alcohol use disorder. It says you might have alcohol use disorder if you experience two or more of the 11 symptoms listed below, like things like wanting to cut down or stop drinking, experiencing cravings, drinking more than you intended, spending a lot of time getting, getting, drinking, or recovering from drinking, neglecting your responsibilities at home, continuing to drink even though it's causing or worsening your physical and mental health challenges, continuing to drink though it's causing relationship problems, giving up important work, social, or recreational activities, risky drinking in risky settings that put you in danger, developing tolerance, and experiencing withdrawal. So then there's some effects here where it sort of goes into some of those things that we talked about chronic diseases, harmful medication interactions, just some really good education.
Leah Bucholz:And then there's a section here on treatment, and it wants you to talk it talks about local VA medical centers. And then there's a treatment and next steps page where it, again, gives you some of those evidence based therapies like CBT, motivational interviewing, enhancement therapy. So it it just gives you a lot of different resources that VA is gonna offer to help and and, of course, scheduling those mental health appointments. So let me jump back over to my regular screen. Okay.
Leah Bucholz:So I hope this was helpful for you guys to sort of untangle some of the issues with alcohol related disorders because I know a lot of veterans and their family members suffer from this, and there are a lot of resources out there. Also, you don't if you're a veteran, there are a lot of options even if you're not service connected for a d VA disability to get, resources to help with this. I hope this was helpful to you guys. Again, I'm I'm a PA. I assist veterans sometimes with medical opinions.
Leah Bucholz:I'm not a legal professional. So if you want help with your claim or advice, you always wanna check with an accredited legal professional like a BSO, accredited claims agent, or attorney. If you have trouble finding one of those, they're on va.gov. You guys can go take a look. We've even got a video on how to use the search tool on va.gov to find somebody like that in your area or nationwide to help you.
Leah Bucholz:So I hope this was helpful. Please drop some comments and like and subscribe. Alright. Thanks, guys.