WHY DO WE PUT A MIGRAIN WITH HEADACHE?
Many people ignore the symptoms of migraine, concentrating only on acute pain in the head, which makes the migraine look like a headache. We analyzed the main differences of migraine from tension headache and cluster headache, so that it is easier for you to understand what exactly bothers you.
Most often we experience a tension headache, migraine also occurs quite often, but the cluster headache is quite rare. With a tension headache, we experience unpleasant sensations in the temporal and occipital areas, our head, as if squashed by a hoop. Cluster pain, on the other hand, is characterized by one-sided pain in one eye. The sensations from it are usually more painful than those of tension and migraine headaches. Migraine is characterized by a fairly long pain in the frontal and temporal areas of the head.
There are several types of migraine: migraine with aura (visual disturbances in the form of pulsating lines in front of the eyes, distortion of perception of the size and shape of objects), migraine without an aura. Cluster pain is characterized by several attacks (at a frequency of 1 time in two days up to 8 times a day), manifested every day for several weeks or months. At the same time between these attacks, we absolutely do not feel pain. The headache of tension manifests itself when the muscles of the neck are strained, in addition, we can feel the tension in the area of the shoulder-blades. As a rule, the tension headache develops slowly, while the cluster pain attacks lightning fast. The only warning can be time: cluster pain can occur every day at the same time. As for migraine, the aura here is a kind of warning.
The frequency and duration of bouts of pain are not a hallmark of any type of headache. Migraine, for example, can last from three hours to three days1. Attacks can cause you inconvenience several times a week, and can occur every few years. One attack of cluster pain can last from 15 minutes to 3 hours, although most often it lasts less than an hour. Tension headache usually lasts from half an hour to several hours. It can also cause inconvenience several days in a row.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
As follows from the above, the difference between these three types of pain is quite significant. Nevertheless, migraine without an aura is easily confused with a headache of tension, due to the fact that both migraine and cluster headache are manifested most often on one side of the head. If in doubt, whether you experience tension headache, cluster pain or migraine, we advise you to consult a specialist.