MIGRAINE-TYPES

SUMMARY

1. Migraine with aura (AKA classic migraine) makes up 25% of all migraine headaches, last for 5-60 minutes and not longer!

2. Migraine without aura (AKA common migraine) occurs without an aura and is 5x more common than migraine with aura.

3. Complicated migraine (rare) is associated with focal neurologic symptoms, including numbness and tingling of the lips, face, and hand (on one or both sides), arm or leg weakness, slight confusion, and/or dizziness lasting 5-15min.

4. Basilar migraine affects the brainstem in young women or children with a family history of migraine. Symptoms: temp cortical blindness, diplopia, vertigo, dysarthria, tingling, ataxia. Lasts 10-30 minutes and is usually followed by an occipital headache.

5. Acephalic migraine (migraine without headache) can present with abnormal transient neurologic dysfunction such as visual symptoms, focal sensory deficits, transient aphasia, or hemiparesis. Common in elderly.

6. Status migrainosus is characterized by multiple or continuous headaches with persistent scalp tenderness, over 72 hours or longer.

Reference(s)

Wilkinson, I., Furmedge, D. and Sinharay, R. (2017). Oxford handbook of clinical medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Get it on Amazon.
Feather, A., Randall, D. and Waterhouse, M. (2020). Kumar And Clark’s Clinical Medicine. 10th ed. S.L.: Elsevier Health Sciences. Get it on Amazon.
Hannaman, R. A., Bullock, L., Hatchell, C. A., & Yoffe, M. (2016). Internal medicine review core curriculum, 2017-2018. CO Springs, CO: MedStudy.
Therapeutic Guidelines. Melbourne: Therapeutic Guidelines Limited. https://www.tg.org.au [Accessed 2021].