Citation Nr: 20022489 Decision Date: 04/01/20 Archive Date: 04/01/20 DOCKET NO. 15-40 598 DATE: April 1, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tension headaches as secondary to service-connected schizoaffective disorder, depressive type is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s tension headaches disorder is caused by the Veteran’s service-connected schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. CONCLUSION OF LAW Tension headaches are proximately due to service-connected schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310 (2019). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service from July 1970 to March 1976. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2013 rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In August 2018, the Board denied the Veteran’s claim of entitlement to service connection for headaches. The Veteran appealed the Board’s denial of this issue to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court). In September 2019, counsel for the Veteran and the Secretary of VA filed a Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR). An Order of the Court dated October 2019 granted the motion, vacated in part the Board’s August 2018 decision, and remanded the case to the Board. The parties to the JMPR agreed that an argument for service connection for headaches as secondary to the Veteran’s service-connected acquired psychiatric disorder was raised by the Veteran but was not addressed by the Board in its decision. Remand was therefore warranted for the Board to consider and discuss this argument. The Veteran’s claims folder has been returned to the Board for further appellate proceedings. Service connection for headaches Veterans are entitled to compensation from VA if they develop a disability “resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty.” 38 U.S.C. § 1110 (wartime service), 1131 (peacetime service). To establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a veteran must show: “(1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service”-the so-called “nexus” requirement. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed.Cir. 2004). Service connection is also warranted for disability which is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury. When service connection is thus established for a secondary condition, the secondary condition shall be considered a part of the original condition. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a). Any increase in severity of a non-service connected disease or injury that is proximately due to or the result of a service connected disease or injury, and not due to the natural progress of the nonservice connected disease or injury will be service connected. However, VA will not concede that a non-service-connected disease or injury was aggravated by a service-connected disease or injury unless the baseline level of severity of the nonservice-connected disease or injury is established by medical evidence created before the onset of aggravation and the receipt of medical evidence establishing the current level of severity of the nonservice-connected disease or injury. The rating activity will determine the baseline and current levels of severity under the Schedule for Rating Disabilities (38 C.F.R. Part 4) and determine the extent of aggravation by deducting the baseline level of severity, as well as any increase in severity due to the natural progress of the disease, from the current level. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(b). For secondary service connection to be granted, generally there must be (1) evidence of a current disability; (2) evidence of a service-connected disease or injury; and (3) nexus evidence establishing a connection between the service-connected disability and the current disability. See Wallin v. West, 11 Vet. App. 509, 512 (1998). The Veteran contends that he has a headache disorder that is related to service or is alternatively secondary to his service-connected schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. See a statement from the Veteran dated December 2017. A probative medical opinion is of record concerning the issue of nexus for the Veteran’s headaches disorder in the form of a December 2017 private opinion by H.S., M.D. Specifically, after review of the Veteran’s medical history and interview of the Veteran, Dr. H.S. concluded that the Veteran has a tension headaches disorder that is more likely than not caused and permanently aggravated by his “mood disorder” which the Veteran has been granted service connection as schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. Dr. H.S.’s rationale for his conclusion was based on his review of the Veteran’s medical history, in particular the Veteran’s report that when the Veteran has an episode of depression, the Veteran experiences tension headaches and must lie down in a dark and quiet room for relief. Further, Dr. H.S. noted review of medical research that showed patients who suffer from a mental health disorder are more likely to develop headaches because pain and mood are regulated by the same part of the brain. In this case, the Board finds that the most probative evidence supports a finding that the Veteran currently has a tension headaches disorder that is caused and aggravated by his service-connected schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. In this regard, the Board finds the medical opinion of Dr. H.S. highly probative as such opinion was based on thorough review of the Veteran’s medical history. The Board further notes that there is no medical opinion of record which indicates that the Veteran’s current tension headaches disorder is not caused or aggravated by his schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. Accordingly, there is a competent and credible basis to conclude that the Veteran’s current tension headaches disorder is caused and aggravated by his service-connected schizoaffective disorder, depressive type, particularly when reasonable doubt is resolved in his favor. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102 (2018). Therefore, service connection for tension headaches, as secondary to the Veteran’s service-connected schizoaffective disorder, depressive type is warranted. See 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303, 3.310. K. R. Kardian Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Arif Syed, Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.