The Board has granted service connection for headaches, to include as secondary to a psychiatric disorder and/or tinnitus. The decision also grants service connection for obstructive sleep apnea (sleep apnea). However, the claim for an acquired psychiatric disorder is remanded due to insufficient evidence of in-service stressor.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's headaches are found to be at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected tinnitus. The Board also granted service connection for obstructive sleep apnea (sleep apnea). However, the claim for an acquired psychiatric disorder is remanded due to insufficient evidence of in-service stressor.
- Claimed conditions
- Headaches, Obstructive Sleep Apnea (sleep apnea), Acquired psychiatric disorder (PTSD, bipolar disorder, alcohol abuse, paranoia, borderline personality disorder)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19119267
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,948 · Granted: 29% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19119267.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
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 denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches, which manifested as very frequent and prolonged attacks causing severe economic inadaptability, are granted a 50 percent disability rating for the entire period on appeal.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks an earlier effective date for a 30 percent disability rating for his service-connected headaches, which was awarded with a noncompensable rating at 0 percent. The Board is remanding the claim due to inadequate examination and the need for a new VA examination to evaluate the severity of the Veteran's headaches without considering the ameliorating effects of any medication.
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