In order to diagnose migraines, your healthcare provider will ask a number of questions about the headache, such as how often you have
headaches or where the pain is. He or she will also ask about other symptoms that you may experience. Your healthcare provider will also perform a physical exam, looking for signs of conditions known to cause headaches. If your healthcare provider is unsure of the diagnosis, he or she may also order tests to rule out other more serious
causes of headaches.
Treatment Options for Migraines
There are many different treatment options for migraines based on their frequency, severity, and disability. Some people with mild, infrequent migraine headaches may do fine with over-the-counter medications. Other people may need more powerful medicines to treat moderate-to-severe attacks. Finally, others may have migraines so frequently that preventative treatment is recommended.
In general, your healthcare provider may recommend one or more treatment options, including:
Migraine Versus Tension Headache
While migraine headaches affect millions of people, they are still less common than
tension headaches. Tension headaches cause a more steady pain over the entire head rather than throbbing pain in just one spot.
Most of the time, migraine attacks happen occasionally. However, tension headaches can occur as often as every day. While fatigue and stress can bring on both tension and migraine headaches, migraines can be triggered by certain foods, changes in the body's hormone levels, and even changes in the weather.
There are also differences in how these two
types of headaches respond to treatment with medicines. While some over-the-counter drugs used to treat tension headaches sometimes help migraine headaches, the drugs used to treat migraine attacks do not work for tension headaches.
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