Migraines (Headaches)
Migraines are rated under 38 CFR § 4.124a, Diagnostic Code 8100. The VA focuses on how frequent and severe your attacks are, and whether they force you to miss work or stay in bed.
VA Rating Levels
You have migraines, but attacks are less frequent and less severe than what's needed for a 10% rating.
Characteristic prostrating attacks (severe enough to force you to stop what you're doing and lie down) averaging one every 2 months over the last several months.
Characteristic prostrating attacks occurring on average once a month over the last several months.
Very frequent, completely prostrating and prolonged attacks that are productive of severe economic inadaptability — meaning migraines seriously affect your ability to hold a job and earn a living. This is the maximum rating.
Exam Tips & Key Evidence
- →Keep a migraine log: date, duration, severity, what you had to stop doing, whether you went to bed
- →"Prostrating" means severe enough that you have to stop everything and lie down — make sure your C&P examiner understands this
- →"Severe economic inadaptability" doesn't mean you can't work at all — it means migraines substantially interfere with your employment
- →Common secondary to: PTSD, TBI, tinnitus, neck injuries
Commonly Related Conditions
38 CFR Reference
38 CFR § 4.124a, Diagnostic Code 8100