Last Updated on November 17, 2022 by Shabnam Sengupta
Diagnosing migraine at home is difficult. People often relate migraine with headaches only. However, there are other symptoms which an experienced doctor analyze to confirm migraine out of different types of headaches.
A review published in 2021 shows migraine and other headaches have impacted 488 million Indians.
In the answer below, we have discussed how to analyze migraine at home and other related questions.
How do you self-diagnose migraine pain?
There is no specific method of diagnosing migraine. People also misconstrue migraine with other headaches, or vice versa. Keeping an eye on the duration and frequency of migraine symptoms can help people self-diagnose migraine. The symptoms can better be understood with the stages of migraine. Migraine has four stages of prodrome, aura, attack, and post-drome.
What are the symptoms of a migraine?
The Prodrome stage has symptoms of constipation, mood changes, food cravings, stiff neck, increased urination, fluid retention, and frequent yawning. The aura stage shows symptoms of visual loss, visual phenomena, such as seeing various shapes, bright spots or flashes of light, pins and needles sensations, weakness or numbness, and difficulty speaking.
The attack stage shows symptoms of pain in the head, pain that throbs or pulses, sensitivity to light, sound, and sometimes smell and touch, nausea, and vomiting. The post-drome stage comes after a migraine attack is over. People feel drained, confused, and washed out. Some people also feel elated. However, the migraine pain can arise again at this stage.
Do I have a migraine test?
No. No specific test can diagnose migraine at home or even at the doctor’s place. For an accurate diagnosis, a general physician identifies the pattern of headaches through medical history, symptoms, and a physical and neurological examination. In a complex scenario, the doctor can also conduct a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scan to diagnose brain damage.
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