Migraine vs. headache

Headache is a symptom. Migraine is a neurologic disease that can include headache plus other symptoms.

Migraine pattern

Migraine attacks often include moderate-to-severe throbbing or pulsing pain, nausea or vomiting, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, and worsening with normal activity. Pain can be one-sided or two-sided.

Other headache patterns

Tension-type headache is often described as pressure or tightness on both sides of the head and is usually not accompanied by nausea. Cluster headache causes severe one-sided attacks, often around the eye, with symptoms such as tearing, nasal congestion, or restlessness.

These patterns can overlap, and a person can have more than one headache disorder. New or changing headache patterns deserve medical review.

Why tracking helps

Tracking symptoms, duration, disability, medication response, and red flags helps a clinician decide whether the pattern fits migraine, another primary headache disorder, or a secondary headache caused by another condition.

The most useful comparison notes are concrete: attack length, nausea, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, whether movement worsens pain, whether you need to stop normal activity, and whether medication restores function. Those details are more helpful than simply labeling the pain as “migraine” or “headache.”

Sources

• Mayo Clinic: Migraine symptoms and causes
• Mayo Clinic: Headache causes
• NHS: Migraine