4753 Headaches: Its Getting Interesting

[Fat]

In our veteran group, Mark, wants to file a supplemental claim for headaches.

He was originally denied secondary connection to Vertigo around the 2011-2012 time frame.

He had two episodes for headaches due to cold symptoms and one episode of head pain caused by heat while in the Marine Corp.

He went for a C&P Exam in late 2011 and was diagnosed with vascular migranes by the C&P examiner.

He was denied secondary service connection due to no medical relationship between headaches and vertigo.

 

He is consulting with his primary physician for treatment and is wondering if direct service connection is the best way forward.

He will use the military service records, C&P examiners diagnosis, and a current diagnosis as the foundation for direct connection.

The group reiterated make sure the current diagnosis include all sypmtoms, residuals, and problems he is dealing with.

 

Is he on the right track??????

 

All comments are welcomed.

[Tbird]

Bump

[GBArmy]

Fat The first thing that jumps out to me is how many in the group have medical degrees? None, right. The veteran has to get a IMO/nexus from a neurologist and find out what causes what symptoms. Also, watch out for pyramiding.

[pacmanx1]

Not saying which way it goes but VA will be looking for continuity of symptoms and or treatment.  Some proof like a migraine log or regular treatment or report of symptoms.

[USMC_VET]

Second for what  @GBArmy said.

The VA sees his claim like this.

A veteran had headaches from a cold on two occasions and once from a heat injury while in service

A veteran during a Compensation and Pension examinations has developed migraines after service

 

you see? there is nothing connecting them together other than the fact that they both cause pain in the head area.  you MUST have three things for a claim to win at the VA, called the Caluza elements.

1)Current diagnosis of disability

2)In service event or aggravator

3. Nexus.

in laymans terms

1) something must be wrong now

2) Something happened while you were active duty that caused or is aggravating (making current issue worse than if you had never served)

3) medical evidence or medical opinion from a medical professional saying 1 caused 2 or 1 made 2 worse than it would have normally been.

 

merely having headaches in the corps and then later having headaches after you got out isnt enough.  

example:

10 years after you got out your back pain is starting to really bother you and hurt your ability to funciton at work.  You never went in for back pain while in nor is there any injury on record in your Service medical record that indicates any injury to the back.  You are connected for shin splints and bad knees from forced marches while you were in.  If you just send in that evidence, that your back hurts now, and your service connected for your knees you will be denied 9/10 times.  If you go to a spinal specialist and they do an exam and conclude that your back pain is caused by your knee injury or how you walk due to the shin splints/knees then you now have all 3 caluza elements.  Or lets say (as in my case) they say that you had congenital back issues that were jsut bad genetic luck, however your military service made these issues much worse than had you never served you now have a case that has all three elements to claim that military service AGGRAVATED your exisiting disability.

If your friend wants to win hes going to need to see a neurologist, not a Nurse practioner(NP) or General Practicitioner (family medicine/urgent care) and they will need to conclude that something in service caused these vascular migraines or aggravated that issue where its worse than it would have been.   

Vascular migraines is a older term that isnt really used anymore so im suprised that the C&P examiner used that diagnosis.  you either have a primary or secondary headache, primary is migraines/cluster headaches and those are their own thing, secondary being something else is wrong (say a cold, heat stroke, allergies) and that causes the headache.  

having a headache from a cold and heat stroke doesnt really have any evidence that it causes long term issues like migraines to develop later or continue long after you recuperate.  There are some long term effects from heat stroke, but those are rare and i think it would be hard to make a case for a rare side effect that didnt develop until years after the initial incident.

I dont know this marines history however if he was hit with IED's, was in a MOS with alot of noise, has been diagnosed with PTSD or Tinnitus, those can cause migraines later in life, but im not suprised at all that they denied it based on what you said his inservice event was.

 

[USMC_VET]

1 hour ago, pacmanx1 said:

Not saying which way it goes but VA will be looking for continuity of symptoms and or treatment.  Some proof like a migraine log or regular treatment or report of symptoms.

one of the best things i did for my migraine claim was that, after my first denial, i started keeping a log for almost a year, handwritten then scanned along with regular treatment and exams with family medicine and neurologists. the log isnt for proving any caluza elements, its for helping to prove your symptoms and its effect.

[Tbird]

Documentation is key