The Veteran's claims for service connection for migraine headaches and vertigo, dizziness and loss of balance are being remanded due to duty-to-assist errors. The VA needs to provide an adequate opinion regarding whether the Veteran’s conditions are secondary to his service-connected tinnitus.
The deciding factor: The VA did not provide a sufficient rationale in their previous opinions regarding whether the Veteran's headaches and dizziness are caused or aggravated by his service-connected tinnitus.
- Claimed conditions
- migraine headaches, vertigo, dizziness and loss of balance
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 18, 2020
- Citation
- A20018863
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 A20018863.
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 granted a 50 percent rating for the Veteran's migraine headaches based on prostrating attacks occurring more than once a month and severe economic inadaptability.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches were granted a 50 percent disability rating, effective August 8, 2023, due to very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks that are productive of severe economic inadaptability.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches with an initial rating of 50 percent effective from August 10, 2022, and denied the claims for service connection for a right knee disability, obstructive sleep apnea, kidney disability, low back disability, and erectile dysfunction.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for migraine headaches as proximately due to the Veteran's service-connected tinnitus.
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