Get the Facts

When you are frustrated by the pain of frequent, severe headaches, you feel like you are the only one in the world who feels like you do. But those headaches may be migraines. The truth is that millions of people, both men and women, suffer from migraines and are joined by a common need for relief.

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More than a headache

Approximately 29.5 million Americans suffer from migraines and half – 14 million – are undiagnosed. In the past, many clinicians believed that migraine was simply a vascular condition, induced by blood vessel dilation. Recent data suggests migraine headaches involve a chain of events that are both vascular and neurological.

Although headache pain is one of the most recognized symptoms of migraine, other associated symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound (photophobia and phonophobia). Symptoms of a migraine can vary from attack to attack in the same person, and different people may exhibit different symptoms.

Migraine sufferers may also experience a variety of non-traditional migraine symptoms, including sinus pain and pain in the back of the neck.

Developing migraines

During childhood, boys and girls develop migraine with the same frequency. During puberty, migraines become more common in girls, a trend which leads to a greater prevalence of migraines in women compared to men.

Although cycling hormones are a frequent trigger of migraines in women, stress is the leading trigger of migraine in adults
Migraines are hereditary: 70-80% of patients have a family history
- There is a 50% chance of inheriting a migraine if one parent suffers and a 75% chance if both parents get migraines

Diagnosing migraines

The American Migraine Study II (AMSII), a population-based survey of more than 20,000 households, showed that only 41% of men who met diagnostic criteria for migraine had been told by their doctors they had migraines, while more than half of women were correctly diagnosed with migraines.

This could be because physicians have a higher sensitivity to screen women for migraines and because men may be less likely to consult a physician

According to the International Headache Society’s diagnostic criteria for migraine headaches, the following symptoms must be present and not attributed to another cause:

At least two of these symptoms:

Pain on one side of the head
Moderate to severe pain
Throbbing pain
Worse pain when moving or bending

At least one of these associated symptoms:

Nausea or vomiting
Sensitivity to light and sound

Migraine misdiagnosis

The failure to diagnose migraines may be due in part to a lack of understanding of migraine and the similarity in symptoms to other, better-recognized conditions.

One study evaluating headache diagnosis patterns revealed that 94% of patients who consulted a physician for headaches met IHS criteria for migraine or probable migraine
The same study found that nearly 90% of self-diagnosed tension/stress headache patients met IHS criteria for migraine or probable migraine
In AMS II, almost two thirds of all undiagnosed migraine sufferers are misdiagnosed with either a tension headache or sinus headache
In AMS II, 41% of migraine patients had headache pain on both sides of the head (bilateral pain)

Bilateral pain is often associated with tension headaches

The impact of migraine attacks

Migraines cost employers nearly $10 billion a year due to migraine-related absenteeism
According to AMSII, 81% of migraine sufferers have had their daily activity restricted because of a migraine attack
According to a survey of working adults, of those who had been diagnosed with a migraine, 65% responded that their job performance was negatively impacted
63% of those whose job performance was negatively impacted by migraines had to leave work early, and over half (55%) called in sick

Managing migraines

If you are diagnosed with migraine, your physician may prescribe a triptan, the most commonly prescribed class of migraine-specific prescription medications. Triptans are believed to work on serotonin receptors located on cranial blood vessels, thereby reducing the dilation of those blood vessels, which is thought to be a source of migraine pain

Men & migraines

It’s estimated that greater than seven million men in the United States suffer from migraines – approximately 25% of all migraine sufferers
Men are most likely to suffer from migraines during the prime of their lives, ages 18-59
Only 49% of male migraine sufferers had consulted a physician at some point for their migraines, compared to 73% of females
An estimated nine million men have not seen a doctor in five years. Men cite fear, denial, embarrassment, and threatened masculinity as reasons for not seeing a doctor