Differentiating headaches from migraines

For many, normal headaches, tension headaches or migraine are the same as they believe it is just pain in the head. However, they are different both in how it appears and the severity. Basically, the key difference between a headache and a migraine is the severity of pain; migraines causes a much more intense throbbing pain, often on one side of the head, accompanied by additional symptoms like nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity and visual disturbances while a headache usually presents as a dull, pressure-like pain on both sides of the head and is less debilitating. Also, migraines can significantly disrupt daily activities due to their intensity and associated symptoms.

How do I differentiate between a headache and a migraine?

How you feel: A migraine can feel a lot worse than a normal headache; it may be moderate to severe, throbbing pain that can sometimes last for days. Throbbing pain is a type of pain that comes in pulses or beats over and over again.

Where you feel the pain: Headaches can be of many different types but it is usually felt evenly on both sides of the head. Some headaches can be felt as pain in the region of your eyes. If you have a headache focused near your sinuses, you can feel the pain mostly in your cheekbones and forehead but a migraine is usually felt more intensely on one side of your head, although this can vary from person to person.

If you have what’s called an aura: An aura is a set of symptoms that about 15 to 20 percent of people with migraine experience; it can happen before or during a migraine. It can last from 10 minutes to an hour. This causes bright flashing lights, spots, dots, or sparkles, different shapes, wavy lines or lines with sharp, pointy edges or nothing at all, though vision will come back

What you hear/taste and feel: When you have an aura, you can also experience a feeling of prickly pins and needles in your arm or your leg, difficulty talking or changes to the way you talk, ringing in your ears, feeling that things don’t smell or taste the same or feeling weak or numb on one side of the body

If you have a family history: Migraines can be more common in families with a history of that condition. According to statistics, four out of five people with migraines have a family history. If a parent has migraines, their child is 50 percent more likely to have them. If both parents have a history of migraines, their child is 75 percent more likely to have them.

Increased sensitivity: When you have a migraine, you may become more sensitive to lights, sounds, smells and sometimes, touch.

You feel like throwing up: When you have a migraine, you may also experience nausea and also vomit as a result of your migraine.

You are a woman: If you are a woman, you are more likely to get migraines due to the way female hormones work in your body.

Warning symptoms: Migraine can sometimes happen in phases or stages. The first stage takes place one or two days before your headache; it is called the prodrome stage and you can have trouble concentrating or sleeping, irritability or depression, sensitivity to lights and sounds, nausea and food cravings.

Triggers: Headaches can occur for many different reasons; it can be as a result of lifestyle factors like stress or other medical conditions. Migraines can have triggers; missing a meal, caffeine, weather changes, alcohol, and especially red wine, cured meats, being sensitive to the chemicals in some pre-packaged foods,  hormonal changes in women caused by menstrual periods, pregnancy or menopause.

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