Headache

This chart may help you to understand what type of headache you have. If you have more than one type of headache, this chart may be harder to use. Also, not every patient fits neatly into one category, so your headache may act differently from what you see here. If you have your history taken by our experts, the clinical impression will be more accurate.

Caution: without a physical examination by your physician and appropriate testing, an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment are not possible.

	Migraine with Aura (MA)	Migraine without Aura (MoA)	Chronic Migraine (CM)	Tension-Type Headache (TTHA)	Cluster Headache (Cluster)	Other Cause
More common in	Female	Female	Female	Female > Male	Male	Male = Female
Pain type	Throbbing	Throbbing	Mixed	Steady	Steady pressure	Fluctuating
Pain intensity	Variable	Moderate to Severe	Moderate to Severe	Mild to Moderate	Excruciating	Steadily increases over time
Pain side	One-sided	One-sided	Both sides	Both sides	One-sided	Always same location
Frequency	1-6 days per month	1-6 days per month	15-30 days per month	1-7 days per week	1-4 times per day for 3-8 weeks	Steadily increases over time
Duration	4 to 72 hours	4 to 72 hours	4 to 24 hours	1 to 24 hours	45 minutes to 3 hours	Steadily increases over time
Nausea	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Variable, depending on cause
Aura present	Yes	No	Sometimes	No	No	Usually no
Disability	Sometimes	Yes	Yes	No	Briefly	Steadily increases over time
Seasonal	Yes	Yes	No	No	Spring/Fall	No
Time of day	Any time	Early morning	All day	Any time	Evening & awakens at 1-3 am	Can awaken from sleep
Menstrually related	Not often	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Triggers	Many	Many	No	Stress	Alcohol, sleep	No

For a more accurate clinical impression and treatment suggestions, you should take ProMyHealth's headache questionnaire.