How did migraines come to be classified separately from headaches, instead of just being an intense headache?
In: Biology
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I have had headaches and I have had migraines. One is not a more extreme form of the other. The symptoms are different. When I get a headache I don’t see zig-zagged flourscent lights in the middle of my vision which wont go away for 3-4 hours.
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From a medical perspective migraines aren’t classified separately from headaches. They are instead a classification within headaches. There are three primary headaches:
1. Tension type (what may be consider “headaches” in layman’s terms)
2. Migraine type
3. Cluster type
Each presents differently and occurs fr commonly in different people/under different circumstances, but all are, in fact, headaches.
Edit: these are considered primary types, where as “secondary headaches” have another underlying identifiable cause, such as a space occupying lesion, like a tumor.
A migraine describes far more than a headache, it’s a neurological problem that causes a variety of symptoms.
Blurry vision, ringing in the ears, dizziness, nausea, upset stomach, tiredness, and a whole variety of other potential symptoms.
Treating it like a simple headache isn’t appropriate because it’s not just a matter of dealing with the pain, you also have to treat the symptoms and the root cause of a migraine.
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Because it’s much more than an intense headache.
It’s not all the same for all people, not all people get all of these, but as well as the pain there’s
* Distorted vision
* Acute sensitivity to light
* Acute sensitivity to sound
* Vomiting (I used not even be able to keep water down)
* Extreme tiredness. (I used to have to lie down. Sitting up was too much effort)
* Recovery (It used to take me 48 hours before I felt normal again)
Migraine is a persistent physiological disorder involving blood vessels along the brain. It’s more akin to epilepsy than “a headache”. It’s there, waiting to be triggered. Semantically speaking, you don’t get migraines as much as you have migraine, and get migraine attacks.
The headache is a frequent part of a migraine attack, but not the only, or even a required part. The problem in classification comes from the overlapping of various types of headaches, including those caused by migraine. For example, stress can be a source for all kinds of headaches, as well as a trigger for migraine. How stress triggers things can be different though. Generally speaking, with migraine, stress raises blood pressure, which triggers the attack. With other headaches, it can be blood pressure, a matter of pinched nerves from muscle tension, or other things. Then there are things like soy protein, something about it will trigger some people (my wife for example), but have nothing to do with any other kind of headache (unless they’re an allergen).
How to differentiate, when the causes are so myriad and overlapping, are the other symptoms people have already mentioned. But even then, like I said about headaches not being a mandatory component, it’s not always the same. I didn’t get diagnosed as a migraineur because of frequent headaches. I was diagnosed because of the things that accompanied those headaches.
My migraines dont always have head pain as the most prominent symptom. Usually I know because my sensory inputs are out of whack. Lights too bright, sounds too loud and also having my vestibular system off and every input is being wickedly distorted.
My migraines actually have little to no pain. I just get dizzy af and have vision issues. I was so surprised when they diagnosed me with migraines!
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