Migraine Symptoms
Migraines can look different for everyone. The most common symptoms include the following:
Prodrome symptoms:
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Problems concentrating
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Irritability and/or depression
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Difficulty speaking and reading
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Difficulty sleeping
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Yawning
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Nausea
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Fatigue
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Sensitivity to light and sound
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Food cravings
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Loss of appetite
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Increased frequency of urination
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Muscle stiffness
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Feeling very warm (sweating) or cold (chills)
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Pale skin color (pallor)
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Feeling tired
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Diarrhea
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Fever
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Abdominal pain
Aura symptoms:
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Numbness and tingling
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Visual disturbances – you might be seeing the world as if through a kaleidoscope, have blurry spots, or see sparkles or lines
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Temporary loss of sight
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Weakness on one side of the body
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Speech changes
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Dizziness
Headache symptoms:
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Neck pain, stiffness
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Depression, giddiness, and/or anxiety
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Sensitivity to light, smell, and sound
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Nasal congestion
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Insomnia
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Nausea and vomiting
Postdrome symptoms:
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Inability to concentrate
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Depressed mood
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Fatigue
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Lack of comprehension
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Euphoric mood
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The pain is usually a moderate or severe throbbing sensation. The pain gets worse when you move and may prevent you from carrying out normal activities.
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The symptoms of a migraine usually last between 4 hours and 3 days. You may feel very tired for up to a week afterward.
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Routine physical activity, movement, or even coughing or sneezing can worsen the headache pain.
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Migraines occur most frequently in the morning, especially upon waking. Some people have migraines at predictable times, such as before menstruation or on weekends following a stressful week of work.
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The pain is usually a moderate or severe throbbing sensation. The pain gets worse when you move and may prevent you from carrying out normal activities.
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The symptoms of a migraine usually last between 4 hours and 3 days. You may feel very tired for up to a week afterward.
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Routine physical activity, movement, or even coughing or sneezing can worsen the headache pain.
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Migraines occur most frequently in the morning, especially upon waking. Some people have migraines at predictable times, such as before menstruation or on weekends following a stressful week of work.
Migraine Phases
1. Prodrome
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The “pre-headache” can mark the beginning of a migraine attack.
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It can last several hours or days.
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Most people with migraines experience this, but not everyone.
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During this phase, taking medication, minimizing/avoiding other trigger factors (e.g. foods, alcohol), and practicing mindfulness meditation, relaxation therapy, or other biobehavioral techniques can help or even prevent headaches in some cases.
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Prodrome symptoms vary from person to person but can include changes in mood, from feelings of depression or irritability to difficulty focusing.
2. Aura
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Doesn’t necessarily occur during every migraine attack.
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People experiencing aura might endure periods of blurry vision or vision loss, or the appearance of geometric patterns, flashing or shimmering lights, or blind spots.
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These symptoms usually evolve over at least 5 minutes and can last up to 60 minutes.
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In about 20% of individuals, the aura may last longer than 60 minutes and in some, the aura may not precede the headache phase but occur after the headache has already started.
3. Headache
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Characterized by pain on one or both sides of the head.
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This phase typically lasts from several hours to up to three days.
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Headache phase pain can vary from person to person and from incident to incident, with some migraine attacks causing mild pain while others are debilitating.
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The pain can shift from one side of a person’s head to the other.
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Besides pain, headache phase symptoms can include nausea, inability to sleep, anxiety, and sensitivity to sound, light, and smell.
4. Postdrome
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Occurs after the end of the headache phase, and not every person with migraines suffers from postdrome, but it does occur in most (approximately 80%).
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Symptoms of postdrome include fatigue, body aches, trouble concentrating, dizziness, and sensitivity to light.
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Even though the headache is over, people in postdrome are still experiencing a migraine attack and can benefit from avoiding triggers that aggravate headaches, like bright lights and strong smells.
Types of Migraines
There are various types of migraines, and identifying what category your migraines fall into can be important to determining your specific treatment plan.
Migraine with aura:
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Around 15% to 20% of people with migraine headaches experience an aura. This includes visual disturbances and other neurological symptoms that appear about 10 to 60 minutes before the actual headache and usually last no more than an hour.
Migraine without aura:
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This is the most common type of migraine. The symptoms are the same as a migraine with aura, but the phase aura phase does not occur.
Chronic migraine:
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A migraine that occurs at least 15 days per month. Symptoms may change frequently, and so may the severity of the pain. Those who get chronic migraines might be using headache pain medications more than 10 to 15 days a month, and that, unfortunately, can lead to headaches that happen even more frequently. Chronic migraine affects 1-2% of the general population and about 8% of patients with migraine.
Episodic migraine:
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Migraines that occur fewer than 15 days a month. They can have similar symptoms to chronic migraines, but typically last longer.
Abdominal migraine:
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This mostly affects young children and involves moderate to severe pain in the middle of the abdomen lasting one to 72 hours, with little or no headache.
Basilar-type migraine:
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Mainly affects children and adolescents and may be associated with the menstrual cycle.
Hemiplegic migraine:
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A rare and severe form of migraine that causes temporary paralysis—sometimes lasting several days—on one side of the body prior to or during a headache.
Menstrual migraine:
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Affects women around the time of their period, although most women with menstruation-related migraines also have migraines at other times of the month.
Migraine without headache:
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Characterized by visual problems or other aura symptoms, nausea, vomiting, and constipation, but without head pain.
Ophthalmoplegic migraine:
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An uncommon form of migraine, with head pain along with a droopy eyelid, large pupil, and double vision that can last for weeks after the pain is gone.
Retinal migraine:
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A condition characterized by attacks of visual loss or disturbances in one eye. These attacks, like the more common visual auras, are usually associated with migraine headaches.
Status migrainous:
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A rare and severe type of acute migraine in which disabling pain and nausea can last 72 hours or longer. The pain and nausea can be so intense that people need to be hospitalized.
Migraine with brainstem aura:
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With this migraine, you'll have vertigo, slurred speech, double vision, or loss of balance, which occurs before the headache. The headache pain may affect the back of your head. These symptoms usually occur suddenly and can be associated with the inability to speak properly, ringing in the ears, and vomiting.