One code addresses headache claims
In the Miscellaneous Diseases section of 38 CFR 4.124a, Diagnostic Code 8100 — titled Migraine — is the entry that rates headache disability, with the four levels reproduced on the criteria page in this series. The schedule does not publish a second percentage table for other headache types in that section.
The same section makes the point from the other direction: residuals of traumatic brain injury that carry a distinct diagnosis, such as migraine headache, are evaluated separately under that diagnosis's own code rather than inside the TBI table.
What differs is the record, not a second chart
Because there is one set of criteria, the practical questions are the same whatever wording your records use:
- Diagnosis: do your records diagnose migraine, record headaches without that diagnosis, or use both wordings at different times?
- Character: do the records show attacks that are prostrating — attacks that stop you — or only that headaches occurred?
- Frequency: can attacks be counted across the last several months, as the 10% and 30% criteria measure?
If your records only say headaches
A claim is evaluated on the evidence in the file. If your records record headaches but never address diagnosis, frequency, or what attacks do to you, the file is thin on exactly the points the criteria measure — whatever the eventual diagnosis wording.
Two steps strengthen that record without changing what is true: ask your provider to document the diagnosis and attack pattern accurately at your next visit, and keep the dated headache log described on the hub page so frequency and prostrating character are recorded as they happen.
Headache-vs-migraine record check
Use this check to see what your existing records already show before you file or respond to a decision. It reads your file against the questions the DC 8100 criteria ask.