Migraine Log for VA Disability: What to Record About Each Episode

A migraine log for a VA claim is a dated record of each attack: when it started and ended, whether you had to stop and lie down and for how long, what treatment you used, and what work or home task you lost. VA rates migraines by how often attacks force you to stop, so entries written at the time give the examiner and the rater facts that a single appointment cannot show. The printable template below takes about a minute per attack.

VA rates migraines under Diagnostic Code 8100. The levels turn on "characteristic prostrating attacks": about one every two months over the last several months for 10%, about one a month for 30%, and "very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability" for 50%, the highest level in the schedule. VA's headaches DBQ asks the examiner about the same things: typical duration, prostrating attacks and how often they happen. The migraine condition guide covers service connection and ratings; this page is about the log.

What "prostrating" means for your log

"Prostrating" is VA's word, not a box you need to tick. In one 2025 decision, the Board of Veterans' Appeals (the Board) used the dictionary meaning, "extreme exhaustion or powerlessness." The field in your log is simpler: did the attack make you stop what you were doing and lie down, and for how long? Record that fact every time, including the attacks you worked through. The pattern across many entries is what a rater compares with the criteria.

Printable migraine log: one line per attack

Print this table or copy it into a notebook. Fill in only what you know, and note when you wrote each entry.

At the end of each month, add a summary line above that month's entries:

Keep the dated lines under the summary. A monthly total alone hides the difference between a short attack that responded to medication and a two-day attack that kept you in a dark room.

Fictional example: "September 7, about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Light sensitivity and nausea. Left a work meeting at 10:30, took my prescribed medication and lay down in a dark room until about 1 p.m. Could answer a short text after that but could not read a screen or finish the meeting. A coworker covered my afternoon call. Written that evening."

Include milder attacks and days when treatment worked; the contrast shows a clinician your usual pattern as well as your worst days. Do not list a treatment you did not take, and do not rewrite older entries to match a rating level. If you fill in an entry later, say so.

Record work effects as they happened

If an attack affected work, record the actual consequence: hours missed, an unscheduled break, a task reassigned, a shift finished at lower output, or no effect at all. Keep any leave or schedule records you already have. Having a job does not rule out the 50% level. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims held in Pierce v. Principi (2004) that "nothing in DC 8100 requires that the claimant be completely unable to work" to qualify. Overstating hurts as much as understating, so write what happened.

Be just as specific about home responsibilities. "Couldn't pick up my child for two hours, and my partner did it" says more than "couldn't function." Keep other people's private details out of any shared tool or sample.

How a migraine log fit into one Board grant

In Decision A25086254, October 6, 2025, a veteran appealed a noncompensable (0%) initial migraine rating. The June 2023 VA exam described attacks lasting less than a day that did not produce completely prostrating attacks. The record also held treatment notes, a migraine log showing several attacks a month, the veteran's statements describing two to three attacks a week at times and their effect on his work, and a February 2024 private exam describing attacks lasting one to two days during which he could not work, drive or focus.

The Board found the evidence in approximate balance, gave the veteran the benefit of the doubt, and granted 50%. The log was one part of a record that also included a detailed medical report; the decision does not show that a log alone produced the award. An earlier private report had focused on what caused the headaches. The later report described how severe they were, which is what a rating decision measures.

Use that difference when you review your own entries:

Migraine appeals at the Board: Claim Raven's figures

In Claim Raven's analysis of 2024 to 2025 Board decisions, migraines were a decided issue in 869 condition records: 40.7% favorable, 25.5% denied and 33.7% remanded. Where the Board quoted lay evidence, such as the veteran's or a witness's own statements, 50.5% of 533 migraine records were favorable, compared with 25.9% of 324 records where it did not. The lay-evidence study explains how that was measured. These are appeals of claims that were already disputed, and the migraine label mixes service-connection and rating issues, so the numbers describe patterns at the Board, not your odds. They also do not show that a quoted statement caused a grant.

Bring the log to your clinician and your claim

Show the log to your treating clinician and point out changes in frequency, treatment response or function, so the medical record reflects them. A log is lay evidence; it supports but does not replace diagnosis, treatment records or the exam. VA says an increased claim needs current evidence that the condition has worsened and accepts medical and lay evidence. If VA has already denied an increase, compare that decision with the rating criteria before you add more entries.

Claim Raven, which sells claim-preparation tools, offers the free statement builder on this page for turning checked log entries into an editable personal statement.

Sources and scope

Checked September 23, 2026: 38 C.F.R. § 4.124a, Diagnostic Code 8100 (eCFR, current through August 27, 2026); VA's headaches DBQ; VA evidence guidance; Pierce v. Principi, 18 Vet. App. 440 (2004); and Board decision A25086254. This page explains how to keep a log. It does not predict a rating for any claim.