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Whole decision: Denied

The Board has denied the veteran's claims for an initial compensable evaluation for migraine headaches and service connection for a psychiatric disorder, bilateral plantar fasciitis, and folliculitis. The issues of entitlement to higher initial evaluations for fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome have been resolved as granted by the RO.

The deciding factor: The veteran's headaches are characterized as muscle contraction and closed (open tension) headaches with mild to moderate interference with daily activities. There is no evidence of characteristic prostrating episodes, which would warrant a higher evaluation under Diagnostic Code 8100.

Claimed conditions
Bilateral Plantar Fasciitis, Folliculitis, Migraine Headaches, Psychiatric Disorder (characterized as mood swings)
How they argued it
Reopened with new and material evidence
Exposure basis
None
Rating
Not verified here — check the original decision
Decision date
May 22, 2003
Citation
0309587

Veterans Law Judge

JAMES L. MARCH

Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)

Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.

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. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0309587.

What this means for you

A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.

What you can do next

Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).

Related decisions

Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.

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