Migraines & Headaches: Do You Know the Difference?
You have most likely had a headache at some point in your life. But was it a migraine, and do you know the difference between a migraine and a headache? There are several different kinds of headaches but migraines are in a league of their own. June is National Migraine and Headache Awareness Month. This month is dedicated to raising awareness about headaches, migraines and the differences between the two. We are going to take you through what makes migraines different from other types of headaches, but first we have to define the different types of headaches.
In general, a headache is any pain in any region of the head. They can occur on one or both sides of your head. They can be isolated to one location or radiate across the head from any one point. It may appear as a sharp pain, a throbbing sensation or a dull ache. Headaches can develop suddenly or gradually and can last for a couple of hours to several days. This pain comes from a mix of signals between your brain, blood vessels, and nearby nerves. Specific nerves in your blood vessels and head muscles turn on and send pain signals to your brain. It isn’t clear yet how those signals get turned on in the first place. Headaches can be caused by a variety of things including illness, stress, your environment, and genetics. There are over 150 types of headaches. We will go over the more common ones below.
The most common type of headache is a tension headache. These headaches can cause mild, moderate, or intense pain behind the eyes as well as in your head and neck. People often describe it as feeling as though they have a tight band around their forehead. These headaches usually happen in episodes. Tension headaches are caused by muscle contractions in the head and neck regions. Lack of sleep, stressors, food or change in diet, illness, etc can all lead to tension headaches.
Sinus headaches come with deep and constant pain in your cheekbones, forehead, or on the bridge of your nose. These occur when your sinuses get inflamed. The pain usually comes with other sinus symptoms such as a runny nose, fullness in the ears, a swollen face, or a fever.
Cluster headaches are very severe headaches. They cause intense burning and pain behind or around one eye. It can be a throbbing pain or it can be constant. On the side of the pain usually an eyelid droops, the eye reddens, the pupil gets smaller, and the eye makes tears. The nostril on the same side will run and stuff up. These headaches tend to happen in groups. You could get them multiple times a day during a period that can last weeks or even months. Each headache tends to last anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours. Men are three to four times more likely to get cluster headaches than women.
Chronic daily headaches are also quite common. This type of headache occurs 15 or more days a month for longer than 3 months. Some of these headaches are short while others can last hours. These headaches can be chronic tension headaches, a new daily persistent headache, or a chronic migraine.
So what exactly makes a migraine stand out from a headache? Migraines tend to involve a plethora of different symptoms including nausea, pain behind the ear or in the temple as well as vomiting, and vision loss. Pain, in comparison to headaches, is far worse for migraines and centralized in location. Sensory issues involving light and sound worsen the symptoms of migraines. Symptoms are developed from a young age, as migraines appear genetically as well as derived from one’s environment. The role of serotonin has also been attributed to migraines as well. Alcohol, anxiety, hormonal changes, and contraceptives among others are known to be triggers for migraines. Migraines tend to have four stages: prodrome, aura, attack, and postdrome.
Prodrome
Days before a migraine, you may notice changes that warn of an upcoming migraine, including:
Constipation
Mood changes, from depression to euphoria
Food cravings
Neck stiffness
Increased thirst and urination
Frequent yawning
Aura
For some, aura may occur before or during migraines. They're usually visual but can also include other disturbances in senses. Each symptom begins gradually, builds up over several minutes, and lasts for up to an hour. Migraine aura includes:
Visual phenomena, bright spots or flashes of light, zig-zag lines that expand across the eye
Vision loss
Pins and needles sensations in an arm or leg
Weakness or numbness in the face or one side of the body
Difficulty speaking
Hearing noises or music
Uncontrollable movements or giddiness
Attack
A migraine attack can last from four to 72 hours if untreated. Migraines might occur rarely or strike several times a month.
During a migraine, you might have:
Pain usually on one side of your head, but often on both sides
Pain that throbs or pulses
Sensitivity to light, sound, and sometimes smell and touch
Nausea and vomiting
Post-drome
After an attack, you might feel drained, confused, or depressed for up to a day. Sudden movement might bring on the pain again briefly.
Migraines occur a bit differently and are more serious than your typical headache. Migraines, unlike headaches, tend to centralize on one area of the head and are stronger in intensity. Also unlike headaches, migraines can include a multitude of other symptoms that alter the impact of the migraines themself. Aura as well as hypersensitivity to light and sound don’t occur in headaches the same way they do for migraines. Ultimately, the level of pain and other phenomena that occur with migraines differentiate themself from headaches.
As an overview, headaches come in all shapes and forms. From cluster headaches to tension headaches, most headaches are treatable and can be classified by their individual symptoms. Over-the-counter medication can aid in the treatment for headaches, as well as rest and any method of reducing stress and anxiety. As for migraines, avoiding whatever you find triggers your migraine will do the best at treating your migraine, but migraines are all subjective and can be unique to the person who is impacted by them. When impacted by either a headache or migraine, find what helps suppress your symptoms the best. If you need help in diagnosing migraines or headaches, call your primary care provider and set up an appointment to learn more about preventative measures that work best for you.