Migraine - What Is It?

Migraine is a genetic neurological disease...

What is a Migraine? That's partly answered by saying what a Migraine is not. A Migraine is not a headache.

Migraine has now been shown to be a genetic neurological disease characterized by flare-ups often called "Migraine attacks." A headache can be one symptom of a Migraine attack, but it's just that -- one of the possible symptoms. Some Migraineurs (people with Migraine disease) have Migraine attacks without having a headache. These are called "acephalgic" or "silent" Migraines.

There are still multiple theories of what actually occurs to bring on a Migraine attack when we encounter a trigger. Advancements in imaging technology have allowed scientists to actually observe the brain during a Migraine attack. The most prevalent theory is that Migraineurs have overly excitable neurons in our brains. When a trigger is encountered, those neurons fire in a wave across the brain, starting a cascade of event involving several centers of the brain including the brainstem.

The final common pathway involves dilation or swelling accompanied by inflammation of small arteries in the coverings of the brain. The headache of a Migraine attack, if there is one, is from sensory impulses transmitted by the nerves from these inflamed blood vessels and surrounding tissues transmitted to higher centers of the brain and experienced as pain.

There are, within Migraine disease, different forms of Migraine. The most common is Migraine without aura (formerly called common Migraine), followed by Migraine with aura (formerly called classic Migraine). Only about 25% of Migraineurs experience an aura, and even within that 25% it's unusual to experience aura with every Migraine attack. Most commonly, Migraineurs have a diagnosis of Migraine without aura, or Migraine with and without aura.

There you have the condensed answer to, "What is a Migraine?" For more information, please see these articles on various forms of Migraine and headache: