Citation Nr: 20036713 Decision Date: 05/28/20 Archive Date: 05/28/20 DOCKET NO. 18-05 560 DATE: May 28, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 20 percent for service-connected fibromyalgia is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from September 2002 to September 2004 and from August 2008 to September 2009. This current matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2017 rating decision in which the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) granted service connection for fibromyalgia and awarded a 20 percent rating for this disability, effective from March 16, 2017. Initial rating in excess of 20 percent for service-connected fibromyalgia The Veteran was most recently accorded a VA examination in June 2017, at which time a diagnosis of fibromyalgia was made. The examiner indicated that this condition requires continuous medication and that the Veteran’s fibromyalgia symptoms are present more than one-third of the time. Since that most recent VA examination, the Veteran has reported that his fibromyalgia has worsened. Specifically, he believes that this condition has become less responsive to medication and that his pain is constant in his legs, arms, and torso and unresponsive to drug therapy. See July 2017 Notice of Disagreement and February 2018 VA Form 9. Based on this evidentiary posture, the Board finds that a remand for a current VA examination is necessary. When a claimant asserts, or the evidence shows, that the severity of a disability has increased since the most recent rating examination, an additional examination is appropriate. Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400 (1997). Accordingly, a remand is necessary to accord the Veteran a new examination addressing the current severity of his service-connected fibromyalgia. Additionally, the Board notes that the most recent VA treatment records are dated in April 2017. On remand, any outstanding VA and private treatment records should be associated with the claims file. Accordingly, this matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Identify and obtain any outstanding VA and private treatment records, to include VA treatment records from April 2017 to the present, and associate them with the claims file. All requests and responses for the records must be documented. If any identified records cannot be obtained, notify the Veteran of the missing records, the efforts taken, and any further efforts that will be made by VA to obtain such evidence, and allow him an opportunity to provide the missing records. 2. Then, schedule the Veteran for an appropriate VA examination to determine the nature and current severity of his service-connected fibromyalgia. The entire claims file must be made available to, and be reviewed by, the examiner. Any indicated tests and studies must be accomplished, and all clinical findings must be reported in detail. Following review of the claims folder, an interview with the Veteran, and completion of any testing deemed necessary, the examiner should discuss the symptoms associated with the Veteran’s service-connected fibromyalgia. Complete rationale for all opinions should be provided, and a discussion of the facts and medical principles involved would be of considerable assistance to the Board. If an opinion cannot be provided without resorting to mere speculation, the examiner must provide a complete explanation as to why an opinion cannot be rendered. In so doing, the examiner must explain whether the inability to provide a more definitive opinion is the result of a need for additional information, or that he or she has exhausted the limits of current medical knowledge in providing an answer to that particular question. THERESA M. CATINO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board A. Goreham 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.