Types of Migraines

Head pain is associated with all headaches, but different types of headache have specific symptoms.

Tension Headache

Tension headache symptoms usually start slowly and build. They include:

• Constant, steady pain and pressure
• Dull and achy pain
• Pain felt on both sides of the head (90% of cases), in the forehead, temples, and the back of the head
• Pressure may feel like a tight band around the head
• Intensity that ranges from mild to severe and can vary during the day
• Tightness in head and neck muscles
• Difficulty concentrating
• First felt soon after waking
• Insomnia
• Grinding teeth

Migraine Headache

Migraines occur in phases that may include the following:

• A warning in the hours or days before the headache (in 50% of all cases) that may include:
  • A change in mood
  • Fatigue
  • Bloating
  • Tense muscles
  • Yawning
  • Food craving
• An aura that lasts about 15-30 minutes and may produce the following sensations:
  • Flashing lights or spots
  • Temporary, partial loss of vision
  • Speech difficulties
  • Weakness in an arm or leg
  • Numbness or tingling first in hands then spreads to arms and finally to the face and mouth, including the lips and tongue
  • Restlessness
  • Confusion
• Migraine pain that starts within an hour of the aura ending:
  • A headache, usually on one side but may involve both sides
  • Typically, the headache feels intense, throbbing, or pulsating and is more severe with movement
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Sensitivity to light or sound
  • Sore or achy muscles
  • Lightheadedness or dizziness
• A post-headache period that usually lasts for 4-72 hours and often goes away with sleep. After the headache, you may experience:
• Food intolerances or cravings
• Trouble concentrating
• Fatigue
• Sore muscles

Cluster Headache

Cluster headache involves stabbing, penetrating, burning, or explosive head pain that:

• Is on one side of the head, but not both
• Often starts around the eye and spreads to the same side of the head
• Occurs daily or almost every day for 4-8 weeks
• Can occur 1-6 times per day
• Often occurs at about the same time each day
• Increases in intensity over time
• May start within two hours of going to sleep
• Can awaken you from sleep
• Usually lasts 30-45 minutes, but may last up to three hours
• May be accompanied by restlessness and agitation
• May be accompanied by nausea

During the headache other symptoms may occur on the affected side, including:

• Stuffy or runny nose
• Redness or watering of the eye
• Droopy eyelid
• Constriction of the pupil of the eye
• Facial swelling

Sinus Headache

Sinus headache symptoms include:

• Pain and tenderness behind the forehead and cheeks and around the eyes
• Pain in the back of the neck or upper teeth
• Pain ranging from mild to severe
• Pain that is more intense first thing in the morning
• Pain that may worsen when you bend over
• Headache occurring with other symptoms of sinusitis, including:
  • Nasal stuffiness and congestion
  • Thick nasal drainage
  • Post-nasal drip
  • Fever
  • Fatigue
  • Stuffy ears
  • Pharyngitis/Tonsillopharyngitis
  • Cough
  • Puffiness around the eyes

Pseudomotor Cerebri Symptoms

• Daily or near daily generalized headaches with fluctuating intensity
• Nausea may or may not occur
• Transient obscurations of vision-a greying out of vision that only lasts a few seconds, tends to occur with coughing, sneezing, bending down
• Diplopia-double vision
• Pulsatile intracranial tinnitus-whooshing noise in ear
• Pain behind the eye
• Visual loss-advanced case
• Pain with eye movement