Migraines are the most common type of vascular headache and are characterized by severe pain on one or both sides of the head, sometimes associated with stomach problems, and, at times, disturbed or blurred vision.

Migraine Symptoms:

There are two types of migraine headaches known as “classic” and “common.” The visual symptoms called an “aura” such as bright flashing lights or differing line shapes, blurred or temporary loss of vision. Some or all of these symptoms tend to happen ten to thirty minutes before the onset of a classic migraine. There may also maybe a speech impediment, weakness may occur in the arms or legs, the face or hands may tingle, confusion may also occur. The “aura” is a characteristic of a “classic” migraine.

Migraine symptoms tend to present as intense throbbing or pounding headache which usually affects one side of the head and can spread to the other side and be accompanied by throbbing or pounding pain in the forehead, temple, ear, jaw, or around the eyes. A Common migraine is the most common kind of migraine which affects the greatest number of people.

Symptoms of “common” migraine:

Mood swings

Lack of mental awareness

No aura

Fatigue

Diarrhoea and increased urination

Fluid retention

Nausea and vomiting

Migraine Long-term problems/treatments:

A classic migraine attack lasts one to two days

Common migraine pain can last three or four hours

Both classic and common migraine can strike as often as several times a week

Some migraines become very predictable (if in doubt keep a diary)

Symptoms:

The pain can be classified by at two or more of the following

Severe to moderate headache

The headache becomes aggravated by movement

Throbbing on one side of the head

There is also at least one of the following associated symptoms

Nausea

Diarrhoea 

Vomiting

Headache may last for between 4 and 72 hours

Sensitivity to light which is called photophobia, or sensitivity to noise, photophobia

Other symptoms include

Articulation and coordination problems

Sensitivity to smell called osmophobia

General feeling of being extremely unwell

Difficulty in concentrating or confusion

An aura which is a visual disturbance, for example: bright lights, flashing lights, zigzag lines, difficulty in focusing or blind spots

Tingling and weakness in either legs or arms associated with pins and needles or numbness.

Migraine does occur over many years or even decades. The frequency may vary from person to person, from a few a years to several per week. 

Triggers:

Common dietary triggers include:

Caffeine

Missed or inadequate meals

Citrus fruits, cheese and cultured products such as chocolate

Wines, beers and spirits

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Dehydration

Physical and Emotional Triggers: 

Emotional triggers such as arguments, excitement and stress

Lack of sleep or oversleeping

Viral infection or cold

Vigorous or excessive exercise

Neck and back pain, stiff and painful muscles, especially in jaw, neck, shoulders, and upper back

Environmental Triggers:

Bright sunlight and bright or flickering lights

Weather changes, changes in barometric pressure

Travel and stress related

Strong smells, e.g. Petrol, perfume, chemicals, various food odours

Hormonal triggers:

Menopause

Ovulation

Oral contraceptives

Menstrual period    

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

Early Warning Symptoms, which are called the prodromal.

Migraine sufferers can experience warning symptoms up to 24 hours before an attack.

These symptoms include:

Mood changes, varying from depression and irritability to elation

Behaviour such as being obsessional, lethargic, and hyperactive

Nausea, changes in appetite from intense hunger to a complete lack of appetite; constipation or diarrhoea  

Neurological yawning, drowsiness, difficulty with vision

Muscular symptoms include general aches and pains

Light and sound will have its effect.

Fluid retention, passing more fluid 

Please go to top left corner under “pain” or “conditions” for in-depth information on headaches. 

Migraine

Migraines are the most common type of vascular headache and are characterized by severe pain on one or both sides of the head, sometimes associated with stomach problems, and, at times, disturbed or blurred vision.

Migraine Symptoms:

There are two types of migraine headaches known as “classic” and “common.” The visual symptoms called an “aura” such as bright flashing lights or differing line shapes, blurred or temporary loss of vision. Some or all of these symptoms tend to happen ten to thirty minutes before the onset of a classic migraine. There may also maybe a speech impediment, weakness may occur in the arms or legs, the face or hands may tingle, confusion may also occur. The “aura” is a characteristic of a “classic” migraine.

Migraine symptoms tend to present as intense throbbing or pounding headache which usually affects one side of the head and can spread to the other side and be accompanied by throbbing or pounding pain in the forehead, temple, ear, jaw, or around the eyes. A Common migraine is the most common kind of migraine which affects the greatest number of people.

Symptoms of “common” migraine:

Mood swings

Lack of mental awareness

No aura

Fatigue

Diarrhoea and increased urination

Fluid retention

Nausea and vomiting

Migraine Long-term problems/treatments:

A classic migraine attack lasts one to two days

Common migraine pain can last three or four hours

Both classic and common migraine can strike as often as several times a week

Some migraines become very predictable (if in doubt keep a diary)

Symptoms:

The pain can be classified by at two or more of the following

Severe to moderate headache

The headache becomes aggravated by movement

Throbbing on one side of the head

There is also at least one of the following associated symptoms

Nausea

Diarrhoea 

Vomiting

Headache may last for between 4 and 72 hours

Sensitivity to light which is called photophobia, or sensitivity to noise, photophobia

Other symptoms include

Articulation and coordination problems

Sensitivity to smell called osmophobia

General feeling of being extremely unwell

Difficulty in concentrating or confusion

An aura which is a visual disturbance, for example: bright lights, flashing lights, zigzag lines, difficulty in focusing or blind spots

Tingling and weakness in either legs or arms associated with pins and needles or numbness.

Migraine does occur over many years or even decades. The frequency may vary from person to person, from a few a years to several per week. 

Triggers:

Common dietary triggers include:

Caffeine

Missed or inadequate meals

Citrus fruits, cheese and cultured products such as chocolate

Wines, beers and spirits

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Dehydration

Physical and Emotional Triggers: 

Emotional triggers such as arguments, excitement and stress

Lack of sleep or oversleeping

Viral infection or cold

Vigorous or excessive exercise

Neck and back pain, stiff and painful muscles, especially in jaw, neck, shoulders, and upper back

Environmental Triggers:

Bright sunlight and bright or flickering lights

Weather changes, changes in barometric pressure

Travel and stress related

Strong smells, e.g. Petrol, perfume, chemicals, various food odours

Hormonal triggers:

Menopause

Ovulation

Oral contraceptives

Menstrual period    

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

Early Warning Symptoms, which are called the prodromal.

Migraine sufferers can experience warning symptoms up to 24 hours before an attack.

These symptoms include:

Mood changes, varying from depression and irritability to elation

Behaviour such as being obsessional, lethargic, and hyperactive

Nausea, changes in appetite from intense hunger to a complete lack of appetite; constipation or diarrhoea  

Neurological yawning, drowsiness, difficulty with vision

Muscular symptoms include general aches and pains

Light and sound will have its effect.

Fluid retention, passing more fluid 

Please go to top left corner under “pain” or “conditions” for in-depth information on headaches. 

1- Status Migrainosus. 

This is a Migraine that can last longer than 72 hours.  Symptoms of nausea and light sensitivity last for a couple of days but the headache will persist. 

2-Ophthalmoplegic Migraine (with double vision)

Paralysis of one or more of the muscles moving the eyes resulting in the eyes moving out of alignment and the person seeing double

3-Retinal Migraine (with loss of vision in one eye) a loss of vision in one eye, and normal vision in the other. 

4- Common Migraine.

5-Migraine with aura.

6-Migraine Aura without Headache.

The migraine with aura becomes less severe over the years; these attacks are referred to as migraine aura without headache. However it’s unusual for attacks to have occurred without a headache.

7-Lower Half Headache or Facial Migraine.

This is a common migraine that covers one half of the face affecting the nostril, jaw and cheek. 

8-Basilar Artery Migraine  (with loss of balance and fainting). 

Symptoms include visual disturbances, dizziness, imbalance, speech impediment. This will be followed by pain in the back of the head.  Fainting may also occur at the height of the attack.

9-Abdominal Migraine (recurrent stomach pains in childhood)

Symptoms are periodic abdominal pains.

10- Hemiplegic  Migraine   (with weakness on one side of the body). 

Stroke like symptoms may affect and continue, until the arm and leg on one side are completely paralysed for a several hours.  Repeated attacks will leave a residual weakness.  Familial hemiplegic migraine occurs where there is a family genetic history of hemiplegic migraine.  

11- Migrainous  Infarction.

Symptoms vary from permanent blind spots to a stroke occurring during a typical migraine attack.

 Aura: a warning sign that a migraine is about to begin, and usually occurs about 10 to 30 minutes before the onset of a migraine. Aura generally lasts around 30 minutes. The most common auras are visual including blurred or distorted vision, blind spots, flashing lights or moving lights or zigzag lines and may be associated with speech disturbances, weakness or sensory changes.

Classic migraine is another term for migraine with aura.

Common migraine describes migraine without aura.

Headache diary is used to record your own headache characteristics, patterns and triggers. This information will help you and your health care providers correctly treat your headaches.

Migraine is a vascular headache associated with changes in the dimensions of the arteries within and outside of the brain. Migraine causes mild to severe pain and lasts from a few hours up to few days, this may occur 2 to 6 times in a month. Migraine usually begins when excited or hyperactive nerve cells send out impulses to the blood vessels, causing constriction followed by quick dilation of the blood vessels and the release of prostaglandins and serotonin. This in turn causes a pulsation sensation which tends to be painful in it. Migraine is a genetic disorder that may be inherited with around 70% to 80% of migraine suffers having this genetic link.

Tension Headaches also called “stress” headaches or muscular headaches, are a mild to moderate headaches that may last from 15 minutes to several days. The pain is usually constant and felt in both sides of the head and neck. Exercises don’t make these headaches worse and there are no additional symptoms such as nausea.

Tension-type headache is a term used to describe chronic headaches that cause pain that is similar to a very tight band be placed round your head. This is the most common type of headache affecting nearly 75% of women and 60% of men. Tension headache causes mild to moderate pain, tightness or pressure around the head and neck. These headaches may be induced by the stress, eyestrain or poor posture.

Tension-type headaches occurring on a daily basis are called chronic daily headaches. Many symptoms accompany these headaches including fatigue, sleep disturbances and depression. Tension-type and migraine headaches can occur together and medical doctors believe that the two types of headaches have same pathological mechanism.

Cluster headaches  

Cluster headache is experienced as recurrent excruciating pain and can be described as pounding, throbbing and penetrating with a sensation of burning usually located on one side of the head behind an eye. Occasionally the pain extends to the forehead, cheek or jaw on the same side. 

Cluster headaches are more prevalent in men affecting 5 times more of male sufferers comparing to female ones. Attacks may occur every day or several times per day for weeks or even months and may disappear for several months or even years before they return. Attacks may last from 10 minutes to two or three hours. Cluster headaches are not known to run in families.

There are two kinds of cluster headaches episodic and chronic. Those suffering from episodic cluster headaches may have long, pain-free remissions before the headache returns. Chronic cluster headache sufferers do not have long remissions. If you have had only one month or less of remission between headache attacks you may have chronic cluster headache. Only a small percentage of people with cluster headaches are considered to be chronic sufferers. 

Menstrual Migraines

During childhood, the ratio of female to male migraine sufferers is about even.  During the reproductive years this ratio changes to about five women to every one man being affected.  It is thought that more women suffer migraine headaches because of monthly hormonal fluctuations.  Many women report the onset of first migraine during the same year as the onset of their menstrual period.  More than sixty percent of all women report menstruation as a migraine trigger.   This is caused mainly by a fall in the levels of estrogen that triggers the onset of migraine.

Migraines associated with pre-menstrual syndrome, a common condition in which women also experience breast tenderness, tiredness, irritability and fluid retention in the few days before menstruation, may improve with medications such as evening primrose oil, vitamin B6 or magnesium supplements. Seek advice from your health practitioner before taking high doses of vitamin B6 as it can have toxic side effects. 

Menstrual Migraines, a large percentage of female headache sufferers report a relationship between migraine attacks and the start of menses. These headaches have been related to changes in the levels of the female hormone estrogen during a woman’s menstrual cycle. Estrogen levels drop immediately before the start of the menstrual flow. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) are often used to treat menstrual migraines.