How do you know when a headache is a migraine?

[Dontknowwhattodo223]

I've had the worst headache I've ever had today. It's lasted hours, paracetamol and ibuprofen have done nothing. It's like a really intense painful throbbing all over my head but mainly on the right side into my neck. I felt nauseous and sweaty and went pale.

For me, it’s when I also can’t stand being in front of a screen, my eyes can’t stand lights and I need to lie in a dark room.

When im light sensitive

When the nausea hits for me.

When it's on the left side, right behind my eye, I feel nauseous and no painkiller will touch it unless I take them when I get the first warning signs - which could be so subtle I wouldn't always notice until too late. They'd often last two or three days.

Thankfully, they disappeared with the onset of the menopause.

For me when it’s on one side and also creeps into the top of my throat and nose. Just awful.

If the pain is radiating out of one side.
Nausea
Stiff neck
Slight loss of vision
Throwing up
Sinus pain
Tooth ache
Depressed and irritable
Overheating with cold hands and feet
Constipated
Blocked nose

There are my symptoms but there are literally dozens of symptoms. I would say if the pain is predominantly over your right eye/temple, then it could well be a migraine.

Have you tried Nurofen Migraine? It is brilliant stuff. You can also buy sumatriptan OTc now.

When I lose peripheral vision, get blurry vision or have stroke like muscle symptoms (so embarrassing!)

The nausea is also a give away! Go and get yourself some rest @Dontknowwhattodo223

Things to try:
sumatriptan from Boots
ice (narrows blood vessels and reduces pain)
coca cola
salt and vinegar crisps
Darkness
silence
a sleep

and a virtual hug 🤗

migraines are nasty fuckers x

I know when I can't lie down. I desperately need to but it intensifies the pain. I need to cry or shout from pain but that also intensifies it.

I can carry on through a headache but no chance with a migraine.

It is one thing that I would actually go to a hospital with if there was anything they could do. Whereas most of the time I will ignore any health issue until something is nearly dropping off.

Oh and of course the nausea.

You have my sympathies OP.

A GP told me a few years ago that the gut slows down when a migraine hits which could be one of the reasons painkillers don’t work if you don’t get there in time - basically not digesting them so they don’t get into the blood stream.

He gave me a script for an anti-emetic. I take that and then 20 minutes later start taking aspirin. It’s been brilliant.

Same signs/symptoms as above - constipation, light and sound sensitivity, too hot but cold hands/feet, blocked nose, stiff neck. Also IQ plummets about 50 points, can’t work out the most basic of things or remember the names of things 😆

Full fat coke and buttered toast pretty much the only thing I can keep down. After the worst has passed chicken fried rice. Always come out of it quicker if I can get these specifically.

For me it’s the visual aura of zigzags moving in my peripheral vision, then I get blind spots in my vision, my nose and chin go numb, my speech gets jumbled and I can’t make sense of anything I read. If I can sleep I’ll wake up with a savage headache but a relatively clear head. If not, I’m going to be throwing up and crying in pain. Awful things.

My go to is dioralyte, and an aspirin under my tongue.

If you've had a migraine, then you know the difference :)

For me, a migraine is very precise when it starts. I could put a finger on where it hurts, normally above my right eyebrow. Looking at a screen directly increases the pain.
The nausea is intense, but again quite distinctive from just feeling sick.

If it develops into a full migraine, then it effects all my body and I ache all over. I would then feel exhausted for about 24-48 hours afterwards.

For me, if I have a headache and get a really weird taste in my mouth, I know for sure it’ll turn into a migraine. Then I start with the nausea, blurred vision and such a horrific pain that no painkillers will touch. I know it’s getting to the bad stage when all I can think about is being in bed. Normal headaches I can keep going and push through but not with migraines. Also the day before I even start with any symptoms i usually feel in an absolutely foul mood but can’t put my finger on why.

When I vomit several times an hour for 24 hours or more, even when my gut is empty, and my stomach muscles ache for a couple of days afterwards from all the dry heaving. And I get a weird visual thing at the onset, where half my vision looks like it's under water. For me, the nausea and vomiting was always far worse than the headache.

Thankfully, I rarely get them now I'm past the menopause.

Sounds awful, OP.

I don’t get them anymore but when I did I knew it was a migraine because I had an ‘aura’ in my vision in one eye, nausea, and slurred speech, all of which preceded the excruciating pain followed by total inability to function and I could only lie down in a dark room until it passed, be that hours or, more often, overnight. Felt rough for a few days after. Had my first one while pregnant with baby #3 and honestly thought it was a stroke.

It’ sounds horrible but not really migraine like to me- PPs have given excellent descriptions of migraine symptoms.
If it’s really the worst headache you’ve had, you feel generally unwell and painkillers aren’t helping I would be inclined to seek medical advice.
Hope you feel much better soon.

Good point @FaintlyMacabre. Might not be wise to assume a really dreadful headache with nausea must be a migraine. There may be other things to consider. If it lasts a while or comes back you’d be best to speak to your doctor.

Basically, if you have to ask, it isn't.

For me it’s intense pain from pressure and I can’t lift my head off the pillow, or when it hit during the day can’t hold my head upright.

Sensitive to light and once walked into a counter in a shop I was working in. Heavy wooden counter with colleagues by the tills and I misjudged the distance. Hit it so hard I had a huge bruise on my hip.

Oh I don’t think that’s necessarily very fair - I still remember my first migraine when I was 19 (that’s quite some time ago) - I had no idea what the fuck was going on and was very frightened.

Exactly this.

One of my (former) friends once told me she carried on regardless when she had a migraine, including driving 40 minutes each way along country roads, in the dark, to her DDs dance lesson.

I can barely move when mine kick in.

Light intolerance, stomach ache, prickly skin, weird taste....but the most reliable tell for me is usually the crushing ache in the sinuses and face, along with a sort of unreal and unsteady feeling. Usually quite a while before the major pain sets in.

I’m lucky in that my migraines are not usually that severe- but they are totally different type of pain to a typical headache, and with additional symptoms such as gastric slowing and word finding difficulties.
But I can be quite functional and even manage to drive or use a computer if I have to.

Upper spine pain travels to my neck, right hand side only, up to my ear which feels blocked. If it gets past my ear and up to my temple it can last for days, nothing will touch it and it feels like my head is going to snap off my neck. Very scary.
I have sumatriptan on prescription ( half is enough now as long as I catch it early) and have taken Atenolol daily for decades.
It still happens cyclically every 3 weeks despite being 64 and not had a period since 1997.

The most intense drilling pain in left temple, nausea, lethargy, profuse vomiting. If i can take the reliever meds early enough I can stop the vomiting coming .

When abandon extra doesn't work