Migraine VA rating
The VA rates migraine under DC 8100, and most ratings land in the 0–50% range. What decides yours is the criteria below and what your record actually documents.
What the criteria ask for at each level
DC 8100 — 38 CFR §4.124a
| Rating | What the record has to show |
|---|---|
| 0% | Occasional attacks. |
| 10% | Characteristic prostrating attacks averaging one in 2 months. |
| 30% | Prostrating attacks averaging once a month over the last several months. |
| 50% | Very frequent, completely prostrating and prolonged attacks producing severe economic inadaptability. |
The schedule's own words
Ratings turn on specific terms, and a record that describes the same reality in different language often reads as a lower rating. These are the words this code measures:
- prostrating
- completely prostrating and prolonged
- severe economic inadaptability
Evidence that moves this rating
- A headache journal covering at least 2–3 months (date, duration, forced to lie down?, work missed)
- Treatment records showing prescribed migraine medication
- A buddy statement from someone who sees you during attacks
What your statement has to cover
Doctors chart symptoms; they rarely chart consequences. That part is yours, and it is usually what separates a documented rating from a reported one.
- Use the word "prostrating" when it's true: an attack that forces you to stop everything and lie down in a dark room.
- State the frequency plainly: "I average X prostrating attacks per month."
- Connect attacks to work: missed days, left early, productivity lost — that's "economic inadaptability."
Our Statement Builderwalks through the questions that produce that kind of statement, in the schedule's own terms.
What migraine can lead to3 documented pathways
A secondary claim runs through a condition the VA already accepts, so the argument about your service is already won. What is left is the medical link — and a nexus opinion has to name the mechanism, not just the pair.
| Can lead to | The mechanism a nexus has to state |
|---|---|
| Insomnia | Frequent or nocturnal attacks fragment sleep and condition the brain against it. |
| Depression | Chronic, unpredictable, debilitating pain causes depression and economic inadaptability. |
| GERD (acid reflux) | Common side effect of powerful migraine pain medications. |
A pathway existing in the literature is not the same as your claim being granted — your records and the VA decide that. How secondary claims work covers the argument.
Before you spend money on this claim
VA ratings do not add. Each new rating applies only to the part of you the VA still counts as unimpaired, then rounds to the nearest ten — so from 70%, a new 10% condition leaves you at exactly 70% and changes your payment by nothing.
That does not make the claim worthless; it can still matter for TDIU, for SMC, or later when something else is added. But it is worth knowing before you pay for a nexus letter rather than after. Check what one more condition does at your rating — it takes a minute.