The Board found that the veteran's pre-existing headache disorder did not increase in severity during his period of service beyond its natural progression and was not shown by competent medical evidence to have been permanently aggravated therein. Therefore, service connection for a headache disorder is denied.
The deciding factor: Medical evidence does not support finding an increase in severity of the veteran's preexisting headaches during service.
- Claimed conditions
- headaches (including migraine headaches, tension headaches, and sinus headaches)
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2003
- Citation
- 0301028
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0301028.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for various conditions, including tension headaches, bilateral plantar fasciitis, and a bilateral hearing loss disability. The Board also denied an initial compensable rating for the Veteran's headache disability.
- Partly granted
The Board denied a compensable rating for service-connected bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims for service connection for tension headaches, insomnia, and anxiety disorder due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for an initial compensable rating for tension headaches, alternatively diagnosed as migraine headaches, finding that the evidence did not show characteristic prostrating attacks averaging one in 2 months over the last several months.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a retrospective medical assessment regarding the severity of the Veteran's headaches without medication to determine if an earlier effective date for a 50 percent disability rating is warranted.
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