migraine vs headache

What is the difference between a migraine and a headache ? 

Migraines are a spectrum of very specific headaches. They tend to be associated with other things .So people often have problems with bright lights problems with loud noises. They tend to occur in the same areas . They tend to occur with a high frequency so these are patients that get headaches anywhere. Between a couple of times a week to ten or fifteen times a week. when they have them they have to get away from lights. They have to get away from sounds some things can trigger them we know that certain types of foods can trigger them. We know that certain lights and certain noises can trigger them and that these are patients that then are usually evaluated by a neurologist. Because they keep having these episodic headaches.

A lot of times when that worst headache in the world is used it has to do with more specific and worrisome types of headaches headings that could be associated with problems with the blood supply in the brain strokes things like that .These headaches can feel as bad as your worst headache in the world but they're very regular. So some people will have a headache that's behind the eye, some people will have it around the temple sometimes in the back of the head they tend to be in very specific locations. Sometimes people will see some colored lights and things like this called an aura that presents and that they know the headache is coming .So it's very different from your run-of-the-mill headaches. Something you know sort of between the eyes to take a little ibuprofen and it goes away these are very regular and ultimately debilitating series of headaches. There are different types of headaches so you'll hear people talk about cluster headaches you'll talk about migraine headaches and other types and so sorting out individual headaches is very important for whether these are migraines or whether they're related to other areas.

Migraine

It's a complex subject matter. Because most people with lots of headaches have underlying migraines. Most people with migraines have multiple types of headaches so it can be a tough thing to break up our walls as a migraine is a tension headache, is it a sinus headache, is it a menstrual migraine headache or is it a rebound headache. So there are lots of things that can cause headaches 50% maybe more than 50% of us have migraine tendencies and a bad migraine is easy and hard to mistake but mild migraines up can overlap a lot with tension.
Headaches muscle tension tightness neck pain and other things. When a patient sees a neurologist we try to pick apart which of the headaches are disabling. what can be done to potentially prevent them? So we try to look at the triggers look at the diet look at changes in the weather patterns of something. We can intervene to try to address either with medication or lifestyle change then sometimes. We're able to prevent a lot of headaches if on the other hand.

It's difficult to prevent them because the patient has tried these interventions or they're not working then we have to think more about medication to prevent the headaches from occurring in the first place. Sometimes we just treat the headaches as they come if you have one headache a year. We don't need to be so concerned about preventing them as much as getting an effective strategy and effective strategy place to knock that headache out once. It occurred sure there's a migraine are numerous and different for different people, but the common ones that stick show up again and again in studies include aspartame, which is a diet sweetener used in diet colas and other things too gum chewing gum aspartame is a big one nitrates and nitrites, which are added as a preservative to lunch meats salami pepperoni ham turkey. Sometimes in some frozen pizzas, other products got a look at the label red wine all alcohol can for some people from VOC headaches MSG which we've heard about for years in other contexts too but this is a major trigger for headache for some people found in Chinese food and so you got to look at the label to avoid some of this caffeine in large quantities can trigger headaches caffeine. Withdrawal can trigger headaches of caffeine Kanako's both the list goes on and on but the big ones are mostly artificial ingredients added to foods to keep them fresh and artificial.