BVA Case 24-1888: Depression

Gilbert pursued those claims on appeal,and in July 2018 the Board found that his claims raised the issue of entitlement to TDIU.

Increased Rating for Headaches In the February 2024 decision on appeal, the Board found that before April 14,2023,the veteran did not suffer characteristic prostrating headache attacks frequent enough to warrant a compensable rating.

The Board found that though the veteran sought treatment at the 4 Case:24-1888 Page: 5 of 13 Filed:06/18/2025 emergency room on occasions, he did not report extreme exhaustion or powerlessness constituting prostrating attacks.

The Board noted that though the April 2023 examiner attributed the veteran's difficulty focusing and concentrating to headaches,the examiner did not state that the veteran was reduced to a state of utter physical exhaustion or helplessness or extreme exhaustion or powerlessness because of these and other headache symptoms.

The Board concluded that both VA examiners indicated that the [v]eteran did not experience characteristic prostrating attacks prior to April 14,2023, and the overall evidence did not show that the veteran's headaches are so severe as to result in exhaustion, helplessness,or powerlessness.

The Board noted that in April 2023 the Court remanded the matter for the Board to explain how it calculated the veteran's earned incomein 2013 and 2014 and how it determined he was not marginally employed during that time.

The Board noted that the veteran was employed by three different school districts from 2013 to 2014.

First,the Board noted found that the veteran's earnings from one employer between January 2013 and November 2013 alone exceeded the poverty threshold for one person in 2013.