Migraine Symptoms

A lot of people get migraines – roughly 11 out of every 100. These migraine headaches can run in families and tend to start between the ages of 10 and 46 but of course there are exceptions to this with children starting even under the age of 5 and adults after the age of 50. In this article, we will tell you about the main migraine symptoms.

Migraine headache symptoms

A migraine typically begins in a specific area on one side of the head. It then spreads and builds in intensity over 1 to 2 hours before gradually subsiding. It can last up to 24 hours and in some cases, several days. Along with the migraine, there may be other migraine symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light (called photophobia), and sensitivity to sound (phonophobia). The hands and feet may feel cold and sweaty and you may not be able to tolerate unusual odors.

As there many different types of migraines, you also get many different migraine headache symptoms.

o Migraine with aura – this is when bight shimmering lights appear around objects or at the edges of the field of vision. There can also be zigzag lines, wavy images or even hallucinations. There can even be temporary vision loss with this migraine. Other migraine symptoms can include motor weakness, difficulty with speech or language, dizziness, vertigo, tingling or numbness of the face, tongue or extremities.
o Common migraines (without aura) – this is the most usual type of migraine and along with the migraine headache, symptoms may include tiredness or mood changes the day before the headache starts plus nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light.
o Basilar artery migraine - this is where there is a disturbance of the basilar artery in the brainstem. The migraine symptoms can include a severe headache, vertigo, double vision, slurred speech and even poor muscle coordination. This type usually occurs in children or teens.
o Carotidynia – this is where extreme pain can be felt in the jaw or neck with tenderness and swelling over the carotid artery in the neck. This is more common in older people and the attacks can occur as often as several times per week and last for a few minutes to up to several hours.
o Headache-free migraine – this is where the aura (described above) can occur without a headache.
o Ophthalmoplegic migraine – this is where the main migraine symptom is a headache felt in the eye, similiar to ocular migraines. There may well be vomiting too. As the headache continues, the eyelid droops and those nerves responsible for eye movement become paralyzed. Unfortunately this may continue for days or even weeks.
o Status migraine – fortunately this is a very rare type of migraine which manifests with very intense pain, often lasting longer than 72 hours. Hospitalization can be required.

Although migraines are so common, it is mostly women who suffer from them as approximately 75% of migraine sufferers are women. The migraine headache symptoms in women are often associated with menstruation, hormonal changes and even pregnancy.

Statistics show that 157 million workdays are lost each year in the United States due to migraine headache symptoms and the World Health Organization considers migraines to be one of the most debilitating diseases in the world.

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