Common Medical Migraine Labels
Here are some of the labels that doctors and insurance companies might use. It’s important to remember that they're just terms to categorize symptoms, not labels that dictate how you work on ending your pain.
Migraine Without Aura: Also known as the classic migraine, this type typically involves a throbbing pain on one side of the head. It may also bring about nausea and sensitivity to light and sound, and can last up to 3 days.
Migraine With Aura: A type of migraine accompanied by neurological symptoms before the headache. These symptoms, called auras, can include visual disturbances, sensory changes like tingling, speech difficulties, and rarely, motor issues. Auras typically last 5 to 60 minutes.
Cervicogenic Headaches: Often associated with migraines due to neck pain that occurs before, during, or after a migraine episode. While commonly experienced by 80-90% of women with migraines, this neck pain is typically a symptom rather than the cause of their migraines.
Exertional Migraine: The onset of migraine pain during or 5-8 hours following physical exertion. This condition suggests that many individuals who experience headaches post-exercise could be classified under this category.
Chronic or Episodic Migraine: This label is characterized by frequent headaches occurring on 15 or more days each month. In addition to the high frequency, chronic migraine symptoms can include a persistent throbbing or pounding pain, typically on one side of the head, along with nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. This diagnosis allows for more medication options like preventatives, off-script medications, CGRPs, pain patches, radio frequency ablations, and maybe even surgery.
Retinal or Ocular Migraine: Characterized by temporary partial or total blindness in one eye, which may include symptoms such as dimming, flashing lights, or spots. This condition often overlaps with migraine with aura, and individuals with prominent visual disturbances may receive either or both diagnoses.
Ice pick headaches: Characterized by brief, intense episodes of sharp, stabbing pain. The pain typically originates at the back of the head or upper neck, often behind the ears, and it can travel upwards on one side of the head. These episodes generally last only for seconds. The symptoms of ice pick headaches may overlap with those of occipital neuralgia.
Hemiplegic Migraine: This form of migraine is characterized by temporary paralysis or weakness on one side of the body, often accompanied by severe headache. The symptoms can be alarming, closely resembling those of a stroke, including visual disturbances, difficulty speaking, and confusion.
Menstrual or Hormonal Migraine: These migraines occur around the menstrual cycle, typically emerging before, during, or immediately after a period or around any hormone fluctuations such as perimenopause. The symptoms include throbbing, pulsating headaches that are often more intense and long-lasting than other labeled migraines. You may also experience nausea, heightened sensitivity to light and sound, as well as mood changes.
Vestibular Migraine: Identified primarily by symptoms of dizziness or vertigo, which can occur with or without accompanying head pain. The term "vestibular" refers to the vestibular system, which includes parts of the inner ear and brain that help control balance and eye movements. Disruptions in this system can lead to the sensation of spinning (vertigo) and other symptoms like poor coordination and confusion.
Medication Overuse Headaches (MOH): Frequent use of headache medications can lead to this condition. Symptoms of MOH are typically chronic daily headaches with characteristics similar to that of the original headache disorder being treated.
Silent Migraine: Characterized by the absence of headache, this migraine type manifests with the usual aura phenomena, including changes in vision, sensations of numbness or tingling, and occasionally, challenges with speech. Despite the onset of these typical migraine-related symptoms, the anticipated headache does not develop, presenting a unique scenario where the migraine completes its cycle silently, without the pain.
Cluster Headaches: Characterized by chronic, persistent pain on one side of the head. Accompanying symptoms often include drooping eyelids, eye redness, tearing, facial sweating, and nasal congestion.
Abdominal Migraines: Categorized by pain centered in the abdomen, rather than the head. This type of migraine is observed more frequently in children and teenagers. Abdominal migraines are loosely termed as such due to their possible association with common migraine triggers, which can include stress, physical exertion, and inadequate sleep, among others.
Daily Persistent Headache: A relatively new label describing pain that starts one day and does not go away. These headaches are thought to be caused by viral infection or a stressful life event. There are no set defined symptoms associated with DPH.
A sinus headache is identified by pressure and pain in the face, specifically in the areas around the sinuses. Sinus-induced migraines encompass symptoms of both a classic migraine and a sinus headache, leading to facial pain alongside traditional migraine symptoms.
An Intractable Migraine: Also known as status migrainosis, this is a severely painful and debilitating type of migraine attack that lasts for more than 72 hours. This condition often does not respond to usual migraine management treatments, making it particularly challenging to treat.
Occipital Neuralgia: A condition in which the occipital nerves, the nerves that run from the top of the spinal cord up through the scalp, become inflamed or injured. This can happen as a result of an accident, certain medical conditions, or for no detectable reason. Sufferers may experience sharp, shooting, or throbbing pain that typically starts at the base of the head (the occipital region) and can radiate upwards toward the scalp or forward into the face.
Trigeminal Neuralgia: Involves the trigeminal nerve, which is the main nerve responsible for sensation in the face. It can become compressed or damaged due to various factors, including an accident, illness, or even the presence of a blood vessel pressing against the nerve. This condition causes extreme, sporadic, sudden burning or shock-like facial pain that can last from a few seconds to several minutes per episode.
Weather-related migraines, also known as "barometric pressure migraines," are a type of migraine headache that is triggered by changes in the weather or atmospheric pressure. Individuals with this label are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, or even storm fronts. While symptoms commonly associated with migraines—such as sensitivity to light, nausea, or aura—may also occur, the key trigger is the change in weather conditions.
Hypnic headaches, also known as "alarm clock headaches," are a migraine type that typically awakens individuals from sleep, usually at the same time each night.
These are just some of the labels doctors and insurance companies use to categorize migraines.
