The Board remands the claim for an initial compensable rating for headaches, not otherwise specified, to obtain a more adequate medical examination that considers the severity of the Veteran's condition without the ameliorative effects of medications.
The deciding factor: The June 2023 VA Headaches Examination did not adequately address the ameliorative effects, if any, of the Veteran's use of asprin or NSAIDs on his headache disability, and a remand is necessary to correct this predecisional duty to assist error.
- Claimed conditions
- headaches, not otherwise specified
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25098664
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 896 · Granted: 51% (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 A25098664.
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 remands the issue of entitlement to a compensable rating for headaches, not otherwise specified, due to an inadequate VA examination that did not address the ameliorative effects of medication.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected headaches were denied a compensable rating as they did not meet the criteria for a 10 percent rating under Diagnostic Code 8100.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeal regarding the earlier effective date for service connection of headaches, not otherwise specified and migraines with headaches, not otherwise specified with vertigo associated with PTSD.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for his service-connected lumbar myositis, psychoneurosis and conversion hysteria, residuals of shrapnel wounds of the left thigh and pelvis with retained foreign bodies and scars, and residuals of shell fragment wounds of the right thigh and left leg. The veteran was also denied entitlement to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities.
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