What type of migraine do I have?

You might suspect you suffer from migraines but are not sure of the symptoms, or maybe you have just been diagnosed with migraines but don’t know much about the condition. If you are asking ‘What type of migraine do I have?’, read on.

Whatever your situation, if it is possible that migraine may be the cause of your headaches, it’s worth finding out about the different types of migraines – of which there are a great many – because you will be amazed at the number of different ways that the condition can present itself.

For example, you can have the headache without the visual symptoms (aura), or you can have visual symptoms without the headache. Children can even experience migraines as abdominal pain.

There are too many to list all the different symptom profiles here, but to help with your question ‘What type of migraine do I have?’ take a look at the list below, posted by Teri Robert, Lead Health Guide for the HealthCentral Migraine Community at HealthCentral.com, to see if anything rings a bell with you:

1. Migraine without aura

2. Migraine with aura

a. Typical aura with migraine headache

b. Typical aura with non-migraine headache

c. Typical aura without headache

d. Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM)

e. Sporadic hemiplegic migraine

f. Basilar-type migraine

Childhood periodic syndromes that are commonly precursors of migraine

a. Cyclical vomiting

b. Abdominal migraine

c. Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood

4 Retinal migraine

5. Complications of migraine

a. Chronic migraine

b. Status migrainosus

c. Persistent aura without infarction

d. Migrainous infarction

e. Migraine-triggered seizures

6. Probable migraine

a. Probable migraine without aura

b. Probable migraine with aura

c. Probable chronic migraine