Frequency of prostrating attacks
Under §4.124a, DC 8100:
| Level | Criterion |
|---|---|
| 50% | Very frequent completely prostrating and prolonged attacks productive of severe economic inadaptability |
| 30% | Characteristic prostrating attacks occurring on average once a month over the last several months |
| 10% | Characteristic prostrating attacks averaging one in two months over the last several months |
| 0% | Less frequent attacks |
Two words carry the schedule. Prostrating is doing the work at 10 and 30 — not every headache is one, and the criteria are built on the ones that stop you. Severe economic inadaptability appears only at 50, so an argument about work impact belongs at that level and nowhere else.
What a useful record looks like
A contemporaneous log beats reconstruction. For each attack: the date, roughly how long it lasted, the symptoms, whether you had to stop and lie down, what treatment you used, and what it cost you — work, school, caregiving, driving.
Distinguish a routine symptom day from a severe episode, and let the pattern be whatever it actually is. A log showing eleven attacks in six months with four of them prostrating is more credible, and more useful, than one asserting that every day is a 50% day.
If the pattern changes — more frequent, more severe, a new treatment that helps or stops helping — record the change and when.
The headaches DBQ collects the clinical picture. Whether migraine is connected to service, or to another service-connected condition, is a separate question from this schedule.
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Reviewed October 6, 2026