Migraines & headaches decisions — 2024

The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection and increased rating for a psychiatric disorder is denied.,The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection and increased rating for headaches is denied.

The Veteran's claim for an initial compensable rating for migraines is remanded due to a conflict in the severity evaluations from different medical examinations.

The Veteran's service connection claims for CFS, skin disorder, and headaches have been granted. The claim for OSA and hypothyroidism is remanded.

The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for spinal arthritis, multiple sclerosis, severe right leg pain with nerve damage issues, severe left leg pain with nerve damage issues, and migraine headaches due to incomplete service treatment records and a need for further examination.

The Veteran's migraines and major depressive disorder with generalized anxiety disorder were granted service connection, but an initial rating greater than 30 percent for migraines was denied. A compensable rating (greater than zero percent) for bilateral hearing loss was also denied.

The Veteran's appeal for service connection for migraines is dismissed under the modernized review system due to an improper filing of a VA Form 10182. The Board has now created a separate legacy appellate stream and issued a remand, ensuring the Veteran's original appeal remains alive.

The Veteran's increased ratings for service-connected disabilities, including a headache disability and femoral radiculopathy of the lower extremities, were granted in response to a supplemental claim filed on August 31, 2022. The award of past-due benefits is eligible for attorney fees.

The Veteran is granted a TDIU effective May 24, 2015, based on her service-connected adjustment disorder with anxiety and other disabilities. The effective date for the TDIU was changed to March 2018 when she received a 70% rating.

The Board denied the Veteran's claim to revise a rating decision that reduced her disability rating from 20% to noncompensable for chronic pelvic inflammatory disease with parametritis and retroflexed uterus and migraine headaches, finding no clear and unmistakable error.

The Board has denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for migraine headaches, finding that he does not have a current diagnosis of this condition and thus cannot establish entitlement to service connection as secondary to his service-connected allergic rhinitis.

The Veteran's claims for higher ratings for bilateral hearing loss, service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, headache disorder, lower back disorder, right and left lower extremity radiculopathy are all remanded due to inadequate examinations and development.

The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for chronic sinusitis and headaches, finding that these conditions began during active duty service.

This decision grants an effective date of January 3, 2019 for the increased ratings of 70 percent for PTSD and 30 percent for migraines. The earlier effective dates are based on receipt of claims for increase in November 2018 and January 2020.

The appeal for service connection of tension headaches was dismissed as the underlying claim had already been granted and a rating assigned in July 2022.

The Veteran's claims for service connection for tinnitus, a rating in excess of 50 percent for unspecified anxiety disorder, and compensable ratings for thoracic spine muscle spasm with spurring and migraine headaches have all been denied.

The Veteran's radiculopathy of the right and left lower extremities, PTSD, and low back disorder were granted initial disability ratings. The Veteran's PTSD was denied a higher rating.

The Veteran's headaches, right ankle disability, and left ankle disability are all granted service connection as they have been established by competent and credible testimony of observable symptoms that caused functional impairment.

The Veteran's headaches were granted an initial disability rating of 50 percent effective April 21, 2017. The appeal for an earlier effective date for service connection and TDIU was denied.

The Veteran's appeals for individual unemployability, migraine headaches, and right shoulder residuals were dismissed due to the death of the Veteran. The claims are not validly filed as they pertain to a deceased person.

The Board has denied the claims of service connection for Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Migraines, finding that there is no evidence to support a link between these conditions and service or service-connected disabilities.