Do you have a Migraine or a Headache?
Headaches can vary greatly in their duration, cause and severity. There is a difference between a headache and a migraine headache.
The signs of migraine may include: a one-sided or both sided throbbing or pulsating pain in the head made worse with activity (the word migraine is derived from the Greek word hemikrania meaning ‘half of the head’); a feeling of nausea or actually being sick; and/or light and/or sound and/or smell sensitivity or aura . People don’t necessarily need to have all these symptoms, just some of them, to suggest it may be a migraine 4,5,6,7.
If you get regular headaches, it is important to see a doctor. A doctor can help diagnose your headache.
Who gets Migraine?
Migraine affects both sexes and all ages, rising through early adult life, peaking at 30-40 years and declining in the late 40s and early 50s 2. People most at risk are those with a family history of migraine.
Prevalence of migraine in UK
Migraine is ranked as one of the three most common disorders and the seventh highest specific cause of disability worldwide and in UK 2,5,8,9.
It is also highly prevalent, recent estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study (GBD) 2016 put adult migraine prevalence at 23.3% 2, women (24.4%) are more likely to have migraine than men (12.1%) in the UK 2.
Each year, an estimated 86 million equivalent workdays are lost due to migraine -related absenteeism and presenteeism (11.4 workdays lost for per person with migraine each year) 2.