The Veteran's migraines are rated at the maximum schedular rating of 50 percent, and his low back and cervical spine disabilities are granted service connection.
The deciding factor: The evidence showed that the Veteran experienced very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks of migraines, meeting the criteria for a 50% rating under DC 8100. For the cervical spine and low back disabilities, the Board found current diagnoses and credible lay statements linking the conditions to service.
- Claimed conditions
- migraines, intervertebral disc space disease with degenerative changes of the lumbar spine (a low back disability), multilevel degenerative disc disease/degenerative joint disease of the cervical spine with foraminal narrowing and right upper extremity radiculopathy (a cervical spine disability)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 50%
- Decision date
- October 29, 2019
- Citation
- 19181326
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,812 · Granted: 30% (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 19181326.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for migraines was reopened due to new evidence. Service connection is granted for painful scars, but the rating assigned remains at 10 percent. The claims for fibromyalgia and bilateral shoulder disability are denied.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the Veteran's headaches are at least as likely as not caused by his service-connected traumatic brain injury, and thus grants service connection for this condition.
- Dismissed
The appeal concerning the service connection claims for various conditions and initial compensable evaluations for service-connected erectile dysfunction and bilateral hearing loss is dismissed due to the Veteran's death.
- Granted
The Board has granted a 50 percent disability rating for the Veteran's migraines, effective April 30, 2026. The decision found that the Veteran's migraine headaches caused characteristic very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability.
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