Migraines and Headaches

Migraines are headaches characterized by their recurrence and mild to severe symptoms. Most often, migraines affect what feels like half of a person’s head, and can range from minutes to days in length. The most commonly associated symptoms are nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light, sound, or smell. The pain is generally made worse by physical activity.

Headaches are one of the most common pain conditions – causing pain in the head, face, upper neck, and shoulders. Some headaches are mild and short-lived while others are severe and debilitating.

Headache pain is caused by specific signals interacting with your brain, blood vessels, and nerves. These chemical interactions result in nerves sending pain signals to your brain.

The Two Types of Headaches

There are a wide variety of headaches, but most fall into one of two broad categories: primary headaches and secondary headaches. Primary headaches are caused by dysfunction or overactivity of pain-sensitive structures in your head, not by an underlying, or secondary, disease. Stress and disrupted sleep patterns are often triggers for primary headaches. A migraine is an extremely painful type of primary headache.

Migraines can cause you to feel intense, throbbing, and often debilitating headache pain. Often felt on one side of your head, migraines can last anywhere from a few hours to several days.

Secondary headaches are a symptom of an underlying disease or condition that is activating pain-sensitive nerves in your head. Secondary headaches vary in severity and can be caused by an incredibly diverse and wide range of diseases.