Clear guides, original reporting and a closer look at VA claims.
39 articles · All sections
VA concedes noise exposure for combat service or a duty position on its noise listing. The harder questions are the hearing test and the medical link. Build one timeline of noise, symptoms and tests.
Compare an ordinary day with a back-pain flare in a dated worksheet, so the examiner can estimate flare-up limits from an accurate history instead of a guess.
A before-and-after worksheet shows how PTSD now affects work, sleep, routines and relationships, in your own words and with dates, not scripted rating language.
VA can service-connect depression caused or worsened by a service-connected painful condition. VA generally assigns one rating for all service-connected mental disorders. What to gather.
VA's asthma code can be met by breathing-test results or by treatment. Keep prescriptions, actual use and full test reports in one dated index, without interpreting the test yourself.
VA can grant erectile dysfunction secondary to service-connected diabetes, and its diabetes exam form lists ED as a complication. The ED rating is folded into diabetes, but SMC-K is paid separately.
VA can service-connect sleep apnea secondary to allergic rhinitis, and the Board granted it in 2022. The research is mixed, so the opinion has to separate apnea onset, worsening and CPAP tolerance.
VA can grant GERD secondary to NSAIDs taken for a service-connected condition, and the Board did in 2025. The claim turns on records of why you took the medicine, when, and how the reflux followed.
A hearing-loss denial may turn on VA's test-based definition of hearing disability, the service record, or the medical link. Normal hearing at separation does not end the claim.
VA can grant migraines secondary to tinnitus, and the Board did in 2021 on consistent clinician opinions. Research links the two but not the direction, and a head or neck injury can explain both.
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