Migraine glossary

Common terms

• Acute treatment: medicine or intervention used during an attack.
• Aura: temporary neurologic symptoms, often visual, that can occur before or during migraine.
• Chronic migraine: headache on 15 or more days per month with migraine features on at least 8 days per month for more than three months.
• Gepant: a migraine medicine class that targets CGRP pathways.
• Medication-overuse headache: headache worsening linked to frequent acute medication use.
• Photophobia: light sensitivity.
• Phonophobia: sound sensitivity.
• Postdrome: recovery phase after the attack.
• Preventive treatment: treatment used regularly to reduce attack frequency or severity.
• Prodrome: early warning phase before the main attack.
• Triptan: migraine-specific acute medicine used for some attacks and some patients.
• Trigger: a factor associated with attack onset in a specific person.

Use this glossary when reading appointment notes, medication plans, or migraine articles. If a term in your care plan is unclear, write it down and ask your clinician or pharmacist what it means for your specific diagnosis, medication safety, and emergency plan. Definitions help, but they do not replace individualized instructions.

Sources

• Mayo Clinic: Migraine symptoms and causes
• American Migraine Foundation: Understanding migraine medications
• American Migraine Foundation: Medication overuse headache