Classification of migraine

Migraine headache is a common and potentially debilitating disorder often treated by family physicians. Before diagnosing migraine, serious intracranial pathology must be ruled out. Migraine is typically manifest by episodic disabling headache, though it is more than just head pain. Migraine lasts hours or days, and is absent more often than it is present; the average attack frequency is once a month.

There are two main types of migraine: migraine without aura (MO),and migraine with aura (MA).
 
Migraine without aura
This type of migraine is a recurrent headache disorder with attacks lasting 4-72 hours. Between 70% and 90% of the population with migraine have this type, which is sometimes called common migraine. It consists of a headache with other symptoms such as nausea and sensitivity to light, sound or smells, accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms or by heightened special senses. Headache has at least two of the following:
*Aggravation by or causing avoidance of routine physical activity (e.g., walking, climbing stairs) *Moderate or severe pain intensity
*Pulsating quality
*Unilateral location

Migraine with aura
This type of migraine is a disorder with recurrent attacks of reversible focal neurological symptoms that usually develop gradually over 5-20 minutes and last for less than 60 minutes.Visual aura usually leads to easy diagnosis. Auras affecting sensation, movement, cognition, vestibular function, or consciousness may be difficult to distinguish from thromboembolism, or from epilepsy (especially occipital seizures).

If the patient have migraine with aura, he is about twice as likely to have an ischaemic stroke in his lifetime compared to those without migraine. However, the overall risk linked to migraine is still very low, and he is far more likely to have a stroke because of other risk factors like smoking and high blood pressure.

Classification of migraine