Question:

 I had an incident in 1992 falling off a cliff causing both a head injury and compound fracture to my lower leg (bones, knee, skin).  I remained in the Navy, but had a long convalescence in 1993. In 1994,  I began to notice head aches, severe enough to inhibit speech and vision. The Navy diagnosed me with "Classic Migraine" in early 1994. In 1994 I submitted for Disability for my leg and head injury and they gave me the following: Brain disease due to trauma: 10%; Removal Cartilage knee: 10%, Impairment of lower leg tibia and fibula 20%. Also 0% for scars of head, neck, face; Impairment of knee, general, and paralysis of muscular-cutaneous nerve. My headaches worsened, debilitating me from work and school, so in 1995 I submitted another claim for Migraine headaches, which subsequently was overlooked. I clearly had documentation in my Military Medical record post head injury. I have been to the VA with drugs, MRIs, and treatment for my migraines headaches now for over 24 years. The headaches continue to be debilitating. I have been over looked for positions, bonuses, and promotions within my current company that I have been with for 15 years since I occasionally have headaches impairing work. I actually left for another job, which during the short stint I had a severe headache that left me hospitalized for a day. Subsequently, that employer deemed me incapable of consistently doing my job. This was devastating. I ended up convincing my previous employer to take me back since they knew of my headaches and they are somewhat manageable.

Upon recent visit to the VA for a checkup, my nurse noticed that my Migraines were never listed as part of my disability. I find this ironic because they are the most debilitating thing in my life inhibiting me at times from quality of life within work, home, sex, etc. I was and still am very surprised the migraines were never qualified. I am going to resubmit for judgement on my claim for migraines with a VA Claim, but my question is this. If the VA finds favor for me, do I have any claim for retroactive pay or action since the claim was missed in 1995? Thanks for your help

Jim's Reply:

The date you speak of is called the effective date. An effective date is the date that a rating and benefits will commence for a given claim. The effective date is always the date that the claim was made. If a claim is denied, we have one year from the date of denial to file an appeal and doing that will retain the original effective date. If we don't formally file a claim within that first year the claim is considered to be permanently closed. If you file a claim for migraines and you prevail, the effective date will be the date you filed...there won't be any retroactive action. From the perspective of VA the VA didn't miss anything in 1995. They acted on what you claimed and I have to assume that the "brain disease due to trauma" rating was made at least in part based on the history of headaches and rather than rating migraines as a stand alone condition, headaches were a part of that diagnosis. As the headaches worsened over time, it was your task to file for an increase in those benefits. You claim that you filed for migraines and that the claim was "overlooked". If you have evidence of that, let me know...that could change everything.