{"id":16377,"date":"2023-08-10T17:19:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T17:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/what-are-migraines-and-chronic-migraines\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T07:25:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T07:25:02","slug":"what-are-migraines-and-chronic-migraines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/what-are-migraines-and-chronic-migraines\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Migraines and Chronic Migraines?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headache is a prevalent condition that most of you must be experiencing in your routine with different frequencies and intensities. But all headaches are not migraine headaches; there are many types of headaches occurring due to various reasons, and one of the widespread headaches is migraine headaches. The <\/span><strong>migraine symptoms<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are more severe and intense compared to other headaches. According to research by Migraine Research Foundation, about 9 million people in the United States suffer from migraines, which is considered the third most common disorder spread worldwide.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, migraine is a neurological disorder with different symptoms which can be tracked down to inheritable genes responsible for regulating a certain group of brain cells, blood vessels, and nerves of the brain. Thus, the <\/span><strong>meaning of migraine<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be understood as a heritable disease. Generally, migraines are classified as episodic migraine and chronic migraine, having differences mostly in their frequencies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><strong>Episodic Migraines<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this type of migraine, a patient usually experiences less than 14 headaches a month over a time period of three months. However, it is not necessary that in order to count the headache, it has to be a severe headache or migraine headache. It has been found that around 2.5 to 4.6% of episodic migraine patients show advancement toward chronic migraine in a year.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A doctor cannot diagnose migraine based on any specific diagnostic test, so a doctor asks you for <\/span><strong>migraine symptoms<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Migraine headaches are generally felt on a single side of the head, i.e., it is unilateral. First of all, a doctor takes the history of your pain, and if you have the below-mentioned history, you will be diagnosed with episodic migraine:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headache episodes are lasting for 4 to 24 hours<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You are having migraine headaches for less than 15 days a month<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You have had at least five migraine attacks in your lifetime.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many a time, these attacks are accompanied with:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sensitivity to light&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sensitivity to noise<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vomiting&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nausea&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The triggering factors for episodic migraine are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Menstruation&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stress&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Climate changes<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some other reasons may also be responsible, like particular medicine triggering the pain, any brain injury, or maybe any disorder in the eye. Hence a doctor takes your holistic medical history to know the root <\/span><strong>migraine cause<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and reach the correct diagnosis to be able to offer treatment accordingly.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Chronic Migraine<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this type of migraine, a patient has 15 or more headaches a month over a time period of three months. Also, at least eight or more are migraine headaches, and it can be assured that it is not due to extensive medications. As in chronic migraine, a patient suffers from a large number of migraine headaches in a month; this type of migraine can extremely affect one&apos;s routine and cause disability.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, chronic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.srlworld.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>migraine causes<\/strong><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> unemployment in many cases as the patient is not able to go to work due to frequent attacks. Moreover, many researchers have said that chronic migraine patients commonly suffer from anxiety, depression, heart issues, respiratory disorders, and chronic pains.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to diagnose you with chronic migraine, your doctor will take the history of your headache, and if you have the following history, you will be confirmed for chronic migraine:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headache attacks are lasting for more than 24 hours<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You are experiencing migraine headaches for 15 or more days each month for a span of three months<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And having the symptoms of migraine for a minimum of eight days from those days a month.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the study conducted in Current Pain and Headache Reports, many researchers have understood the <\/span><strong>meaning of migraine <\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and concluded that chronic migraine patients have an episode that lasts for an average of 65.1 hours if a patient is not taking any treatment and with the treatment, the episode lasts for an average of 24.1 hours. This is very high when compared to episodic migraine, as an episode of episodic migraine lasts for an average of 38.8 hours without taking any treatment, and with treatment, it lasts for 12.8 hours.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Prevalence of Episodic and Chronic Migraines<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The following points will explain the prevalence of both conditions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has been found that episodic migraine is more prevalent as compared to chronic <\/span><strong>migraine symptoms<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the American Migraine Foundation, around 12% of Americans are suffering from migraine, and chronic migraine accounts for 3 to 5% of cases.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Migraine Research Foundation, migraine is more common among women, which is about 18 percent of cases, as compared to men, which is about 6 percent of cases.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has also been found that the occurrence of migraine is also linked to ethnicity and race of people. This can be associated with health equities, socioeconomic factors, and some other varying factors that cause stress and anxiety.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a study conducted in 2021, chronic migraine is more common among the black and African American crowd, people with lesser family income, and the Latinx crowd.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Later after regulating various variables in the same research, it is found that only family income is responsible for the prevalence of chronic migraine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hormonal changes in women are responsible for the occurrence of migraine. That is why women in their 40s usually suffer from chronic migraine. According to the National Headache Foundation, 60% of ladies suffer from migraine attacks during their menstrual cycle.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the other variables that are responsible for a higher incidence of chronic migraine are anxiety, obesity, medication overdose, and depression.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><strong>Also Read:- <a href=\"https:\/\/www.srlworld.com\/blogs\/headache-types-causes-home-remedies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Headache Classification, Types, Causes, Home Remedies<\/a><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Treatment of Migraine<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treatment alternatives for episodic migraine are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes doctors may advise OTC medications for the cure of episodic migraine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;However, based on the severity and frequency of the attack, the doctor even prescribes specific medicines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Preventive medications are also prescribed in some cases. These preventive medications are useful in reducing the episodes of episodic migraine and thus give some relief to the patient.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treatment for chronic migraine are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OTC medicines help in curing the current migraine attack.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prescribed medicines by doctors are also helpful in treating chronic migraine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prophylactic medicines also work well. These help in preventing migraine attacks.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the medicines that are helpful in the<\/span><strong> treatment of migraine<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and lessening the intensity, frequency, and time span of each attack are antiseizure drugs, some cardiovascular drugs, onabotulinumtoxin A, antidepressants, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a research team in New York, it has been found that chronic migraine patients suffer maximum from non-headache problems in comparison with episodic migraine patients. The non-headache-related problems include disability among patients, not being able to go to work, and ultimately resulting in higher rates of unemployment. Chronic migraine patients also have higher chances of experiencing depression, anxiety, and higher incidences of respiratory and heart disorders. Thus, it becomes important to understand the <\/span><strong>meaning of migraine<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> so that whenever you experience frequent headaches, you will immediately consult your doctor to get it diagnosed at the earliest and get treated accordingly. This will save you from affecting your daily life due to migraine.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2e2e2e;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Agilus Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Fortis Healthcare Limited<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Headache is a prevalent condition that most of you must be experiencing in your routine with different frequencies and intensities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[413,518],"class_list":["post-16377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diseases","tag-migraine","tag-symptoms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16953,"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16377\/revisions\/16953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilusdiagnostics.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}