IBS is a recognized Gulf War presumptive functional GI condition under 38 CFR § 3.317 for veterans of Southwest Asia theater service. Non-Gulf-War claims typically require a nexus opinion and often succeed secondary to PTSD.
Top 5 recent grants
Ranked by decision date. Each card shows verbatim Findings of Fact and Reasons & Bases pulled directly from the Board's published decision — no summarization, no AI rewording.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
1. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) granted entitlement to service connection for irritable bowel syndrome, a gastrointestinal condition, in a December 2024 rating decision. There was no indication of clear and unmistakable error. 2. The RO also granted entitlement to service connection for OSA in a December 2024 rating decision. There was no indication of clear and unmistakable error. 3. The evidence is in approximate balance that the Veteran's vertigo was caused or aggravated by her service-connected conditions.
Reasons & Bases (verbatim from decision)
The Veteran served honorably on active duty in the United States Army from February 2006 through February 2010, with additional reserve service. She had over 1 year and 5 months of foreign service, including in Afghanistan, and was awarded the Afghanistan Campaign Medal (w/ Campaign Star), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, among others.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
1. Throughout the appeal period, the Veteran has been unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment as a result of his service connected instability of the right knee, service connected status post anterior cruciate ligament disruption and reconstruction, patellofemoral syndrome and osteoarthritis, right knee and service connected irritable bowel syndrome. 2. The Veteran's service connected disabilities resulted in the need for aid and attendance as he required care or assistance on a regular basis in order to feed himself, keep himself clean and presentable and protect him from the hazards or dangers inherent in his daily environment.
Reasons & Bases (verbatim excerpts from decision)
Based on the evidence of record, the Board finds that throughout the appeal period the evidence indicates that the combined effects of the Veteran's service connected instability of the right knee, service connected status post anterior cruciate ligament disruption and reconstruction, patellofemoral syndrome and osteoarthritis, right knee and service connected irritable bowel syndrome precludes him from maintaining substantially gainful employment that is consistent with his education and occupational experience. In this regard, the Veteran worked in construction in his post-service career, which involved operating heavy equipment, drywall, carpentry, pouring concrete, driving a concrete truck, climbing a ladder and roofing. The Veteran's history of right knee instability, use of a cane and risk of falling would cause difficulty with walking, bending, standing, climbing and kneeling, squatting, prolonged standing, difficulty with pushing, pulling and overhead work would prevent him from performing the aforementioned job responsibilities in construction or in a similar profession. The Veteran would be unable to complete installations, repairs, transport himself to work assignments and use the necessary tools.…
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, the Veteran's IBS began during active service.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
The evidence is at least evenly balanced as to whether the Veteran's gastrointestinal disorder had its onset in active service.
Findings of Fact (verbatim from decision)
The Veteran's gastrointestinal disorder was shown to be causally linked to his service-connected major depressive disorder (MDD).
Get a filed-ready brief on your specific facts — free
The decisions above are the most recent grants — they may not match your specific nexus theory or fact pattern. The NexusVetClaims Precedent Brief runs a semantic search on your exact situation and returns 10 decisions (8 closest analogous matches + 2 instructive contrasts) as a filed-ready PDF with suggested citations and placement guidance for every VA form.
Build my Precedent Brief →One-time payment. Delivered by email within 60 seconds. Powered by real Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions.
How to use these decisions in your claim
- ›Gulf War vets: IBS is on the presumptive list for undiagnosed / functional GI illness — cite § 3.317.
- ›Secondary to PTSD is well-supported — brain-gut axis literature.
- ›Since May 19, 2024, 38 CFR § 4.114 Code 7319 rates IBS by how often abdominal pain comes with bowel movements: 30% for at least one day a week over the past three months, 20% for at least three days a month, 10% for at least once — each with two or more listed bowel changes. Track pain days.
- ›BVA decisions are non-precedential under 38 CFR § 20.1303 but the Board and rating officials regularly find recent analogous decisions persuasive — especially when your facts materially match.
- ›Paste the suggested-citation line into VA Form 21-4138 (Statement in Support of Claim), then attach the full decision PDF as an exhibit.
More BVA grant guides
BVA decisions are public-record Department of Veterans Affairs rulings. Under 38 CFR § 20.1303 they are non-precedential but may be cited as persuasive evidence of how the Board has treated similar facts. NexusVetClaims provides software, not legal representation. This page shows retrieval output from the nexusvetclaims.com BVA corpus and is updated as new decisions are indexed.