Migraine Headaches

Migraine Headaches

Migraine headaches, also know as vascular headaches, are very frequent, affecting about 12% of young women and about 5% of young men. This type of headache can be severe and debilitating. Head pain is often described as pulsating or throbbing in nature and is often associated with other features such as nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light (photophobia), sound (phonophobia) and even smells (osmophobia). Some migraines are associated with neurological symptoms (auras) just before or during the onset of pain. These are referred to as migraine with aura. You can click 'migraine symptoms' to read more about the range of migraine symptoms.

Is it truly a migraine?

As a headache specialist, I have learned that migraine does not really have to have all these features. Many patients have head pain that isn't so severe and they don’t have nausea or sensitivity to light or sound, and yet I still think they have migraines. Why? Because they respond to the same medications and often have the same triggers as migraines. If it responds like a duck and has the same triggers as a duck – its probably a duck. Headache specialists call them ‘atypical migraine’.

Migraine Headaches

Is it truly a migraine?

General Topics

Unusual Forms of Migraine

Special Topics