Citation Nr: 22015338 Decision Date: 03/17/22 Archive Date: 03/17/22 DOCKET NO. 18-28 145A DATE: March 17, 2022 ORDER Service connection for multiple sclerosis (MS) is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran experienced symptoms indicative of MS during service and continuity of such symptoms since his separation from service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for MS are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 1113, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service in the United States Army from January 1985 to May 1988. This case comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a decision of the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) dated in August 2016. The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a November 2021 hearing; a transcript of the hearing is of record. 1. Service connection for MS The Veteran asserts that his symptoms of MS began in service or within seven years after separation from service. At the November 2021 Board hearing, he testified that he had weird feelings and symptoms in service, including during marches, and that he now recognizes that his symptoms were manifestations of MS, and they continued after service until he was ultimately diagnosed with MS. Certain chronic diseases will be presumed related to service if they were shown as chronic in service; or, if they manifested to a compensable degree within a presumptive period following separation from service; or, if they were noted in service, with continuity of symptomatology since service that is attributable to the chronic disease. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2013). The Veteran has a current diagnosis of MS as evidenced by a July 2016 VA examination report. MS is an enumerated condition under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a); Walker, 708 F.3d 1331. Governing regulation provides for presumptive service connection of MS if manifested to a compensable degree within seven years after separation from service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a)(3). Service treatment records show the Veteran was treated for symptoms of numbness of the right hand in May 1987, during active service. A September 2013 private medical record from UCSF Medical Center reflects that the Veteran was in his usual state of health until 1997 when he experienced rapid onset of left arm numbness and hand spasms when washing his hair. At that time, a brain and cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other studies were normal, and MS was not diagnosed until 2001. An annotation to this record states that the correct date of onset was 1994, not 1997. In a January 2020 statement, the Veteran reported that the above annotation was made by the medical center after seeing that Dr. G. treated him there in 1994 for symptoms of MS. He stated that attempts to obtain medical records dated in 1994 were unsuccessful. At the July 2016 VA examination, the Veteran reported that he started having numbness and tingling sensation in his hands and feet off and on about the time he was separated from military service. He started seeing a neurologist in 1991 and had a lumbar puncture, but was told a definitive diagnosis of MS could not be made at the time as he did not have insurance in order to obtain an MRI. He reported that he later started having other symptoms such as visual blurring and intermittent difficulty with balance, in addition to numbness involving the limbs and left face. He was eventually seen by a private physician, Dr. W., in 2001. The VA physician opined that the Veteran's MS started around the time he was separated from service. By a letter dated in September 2019, Dr. W. (the same physician referenced by the Veteran during his July 2016 VA examination) stated that the Veteran developed symptoms of MS while he was in service in the 1980s, consisting of paresthesias in the hands, which is commonly an early symptom of MS. He opined that the probability is that MS was occurring at that time. By a letter dated in October 2019, a VA physician, Dr. L., stated that he had treated the Veteran since January 2013, and he had been diagnosed with MS in 2001. The Veteran reported that he began experiencing episodes of electric-shock sensations in his limbs starting in the late 1980s that lasted up to two to three weeks, and since starting treatment for MS, these episodes were less frequent. Dr. L. opined that it is as likely as not that the Veteran's MS started in the 1980s during service. While no treatment records are available from during the applicable presumptive period, the Board finds that the Veteran continued to experience the same symptoms from May 1987 to the present. The Veteran is competent to report that he experienced symptoms of numbness and tingling in his hands and feet during that period but did not seek an MRI because he did not have health insurance. His statements and testimony are credible and entitled to probative weight, as they are internally consistent and consistent with other evidence of record, which shows that these symptoms were attributable to the Veteran's MS. VA and private physicians have opined that the Veteran's relapsing-remitting MS started in service or about the time he was separated from the military service. Accordingly, after resolving all doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board finds that service connection for MS is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. S. BUSH Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board C. L. Wasser, Counsel The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.