The Board has determined that the Veteran's cluster headaches began during his active military service and granted service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the evidence was in equipoise, resolving doubt in favor of the Veteran who reported having headaches since deployment to Afghanistan. The June 2016 VA examination did not establish a relationship between the current cluster headaches and those from active duty, but the Veteran's lay statements were considered credible.
- Claimed conditions
- cluster headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 8, 2019
- Citation
- 19184731
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 Board granted an effective date of January 19, 2016, for the award of service connection for chronic fatigue syndrome, cluster headaches, back muscle pain, rhinosinusitis, and right knee painful joint.
- Granted
The Board granted an effective date of November 26, 2018 for the award of a 50 percent rating for the Veteran's service-connected cluster headaches.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for depression was dismissed as it is subsumed by the already service-connected PTSD. A 50 percent rating for cluster headaches was granted, and a higher rating for autoimmune hepatitis was denied.
- Granted
The veteran was granted a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) due to his service-connected disabilities preventing him from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation.
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