It can be challenging to differentiate between a headache and a migraine while you’re encountering an elevated degree of pain and pressure in your head. Separating a headache from a migraine and the other way around is important. It can mean quicker alleviation and timely treatment, and assistance in preventing the occurrence of future headaches or migraine attacks. Read about the distinctions between headaches and migraines and their types and symptoms in this article.

What is a headache?
Headaches are among the most widely recognized kinds of aggravation that individuals experience. The pain ranges from mild to severe and happens on both sides of your head. Headaches can last between 30 minutes to a week. There is a wide range of headaches; they can be separated into two general classifications. Primary headache disorder occurs in the absence of any other illness or condition. Tension-type, cluster, and hemicrania are some common types. Secondary headache disorder happens when the headaches are side effects of different circumstances like colds, flu, influenza, tumors, among others, or are indications of various illnesses.

What is a migraine?
Migraine produces a more extensive scope of side effects than headaches and lasts somewhere in the range of four hours to a few days. Migraine progresses through stages. In its full-blown stage, they are frequently joined by vomiting, pain in the temples, temporary vision loss, nausea, and sensitivity to light, sound, and certain smells. The accurate causes are still being studied. There are two types of migraines- migraine with aura and migraine without aura. An aura is a feeling that a person experiences before a migraine-like feeling of tiredness or having trouble thinking straight, seeing flashing lights, tingling or numbness sensation, or an unusual sense of taste, smell, or touch.

What is the difference between a headache and a migraine?
The pain of migraine, as compared to tension or other types of headache, can be moderate to severe. In some cases, the pain is so intense that patients may be needed to rush to the emergency room. Migraine headaches usually affect one side of the head, but sometimes they can affect both sides. A major difference is the pain quality which may cause severe throbbing, making it difficult to perform daily tasks. There are no specific tests that can determine the difference. However, your doctor (neurologist) may examine the duration of the pain to get a clear diagnosis.