The Board has remanded the claim of service connection for migraine headaches, to include as secondary to service-connected disabilities, including the medications taken for those disabilities, due to inadequate VA medical opinions. The Veteran's claims will be further developed and a new addendum opinion is needed regarding whether his service-connected conditions aggravated his migraines.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the previous VA medical opinions were inadequate as they did not address whether the Veteran's service-connected conditions themselves aggravated his migraines.
- Claimed conditions
- migraine headaches, rheumatoid arthritis with degenerative features of the lumbar spine, depressive disorder, not otherwise specified, right Achilles' tendonitis, peptic ulcer disease, hemorrhoids
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 6, 2018
- Citation
- 18108973
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 18108973.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Granted
The Veteran's depression was rated at 50 percent prior to September 27, 2017. From September 27, 2017, the rating for depression increased to 70 percent.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for additional development due to incomplete medical records and insufficient opinions regarding the relationship between service, including a stick injury in England, and current left eye disability (including amblyopia and cataracts) as well as migraine headaches.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches are productive of very frequent, completely prostrating and prolonged attacks capable of producing severe economic inadaptability. The Board has granted a 50 percent disability rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches.
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