The Board has remanded the cases of service connection for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Fibromyalgia due to a lack of VA examinations and opinions.
The deciding factor: The Board found that additional VA examinations and opinions are necessary to determine if the Veteran currently has diagnoses of IBS and/or fibromyalgia, which meet the requirements of a partially unexplained etiology (MUCMI).
- Claimed conditions
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Fibromyalgia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 30, 2023
- Citation
- 23063535
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 23063535.
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 decided to remand the case due to a lack of rationale in the VA examiner's opinion and an inconsistency between the examination report and nexus opinion.
- Granted
The Veteran's irritable bowel syndrome is granted a rating of 30 percent, the maximum schedular rating under Diagnostic Code 7319. Service connection for migraine headaches as secondary to service connected tinnitus and PTSD is also granted.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's request for an earlier effective date of May 19, 2024, for a separate 10 percent rating for GERD. The decision states that prior to this date, ratings for GERD and Irritable Bowel Syndrome could not be combined due to VA regulations at the time.
- Remanded (sent back)
The reduction of the disability rating for headaches from 50% to 30% is not proper and is void ab initio. Effective dates are denied for various service connection claims.,Multiple issues related to initial disability ratings, effective dates, and earlier effective dates for higher ratings are remanded.
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