The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development, including a VA examination to assess the severity of his TBI residuals since October 23, 2008.
The deciding factor: The Veteran has not been provided with an adequate assessment of his TBI residuals since October 23, 2008, as required by prior remand instructions.
- Claimed conditions
- muscle contraction headaches, lightheadedness
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 7, 2015
- Citation
- 1543137
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 1543137.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted payment for non-VA ambulance care provided by Southwest on June 2, 2025, to transport the Veteran to Banner Casa Grande Medical Center emergency room due to leg pain and lightheadedness. The claim meets the criteria under section 1725 of the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a higher initial rating of 70 percent for the Veteran's service-connected somatic symptom disorder with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety, as well as a higher rating of 50 percent for muscle contraction headaches. However, it denied a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) based on a single service-connected disability.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches, with accompanying symptoms such as light and noise sensitivity, blind spots, nausea, numbness, tingling, dizziness, lightheadedness, throbbing, and pulsating pain, are considered a medically unexplained chronic multi-symptom illness (MUCMI) due to his Gulf War service. The Board granted the Veteran's claim for service connection under this presumption.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the cases of service connection for tension headaches and lightheadedness, as well as tinnitus. The Veteran's appeal is being held due to a duty-to-assist error where relevant private treatment records were not obtained.
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