Have you ever had a frighteningly painful throbbing headache that made you fail to concentrate on most of your tasks for the day? Has that scary thought ever crossed your mind? Yes, that thought that maybe its a migraine attack? Well, it has crossed my mind a hundred times. And while not every headache is cause for alarm, it is best to arm yourself with knowledge of the enemy. So what is the difference between an ordinary headache and a migraine?
Ordinary Headache.
Also known as tension headaches, these can happen as frequently as every once in two days or less than once a month. They are characterised by pain and tenderness in the neck and shoulders, dull throbbing pain that engulfs the head, some sensitivity to light, some sensitivity to sound, fatigue and irritability. Usually, tension headaches do not cause more symptons like nausea and vomiting.
Tension headaches can generally be treated or minimised by closing your eyes and resting, massaging your temples and neck, cutting out stressful factors and meditating on top of moderate use of pain killers. Tension headaches can also become chronic however, occuring almost daily, in which case seek medical assistance.
Migraine.
Migraine on the other hand is an intense throbbing that affects one side of the head and is usually accompanied by nausea, impaired vision and vomiting. Migraines usually send out warning signs in form of a migraine aura, which is a change in vision, before the pain starts. This aura and the one sided pain is said to be caused by uneven flow of blood on that side of the brain or a dysfunction in the brain stem.
Symptoms of a migraine include impaired vision or seeing flashes of light, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound which immediately trigger an attack, irritability, nasal congestion and a one sided severe throbbing or acute headache. Sometimes however, the pain can cover the whole head. If you experince more or all of these symptoms, please hurry to your doctor. A stitch in time saves nine. Doctors also advise that you keep a migraine journal in which you record every attack; time and date, pain intensity, symptoms etc.