Early diagnosis key to treating migraine headaches - Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

Your head is killing you! All you want to do is escape and lie down in a dark, quiet room. So, what's making you feel so bad? Is it a tension headache or a migraine headache? Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the two.

Headaches are tough, but migraine headaches are in a league of their own. They can hit harder and last longer. They can be a lot more stubborn to treat than tension headaches. One headache specialist says the first step in finding relief is figuring out what is the problem.

Carol Crenshaw, a veteran cardiac nurse, has been struggling with painful headaches since she was 15. Crenshaw's mother and two sisters all had the same type of headaches.

"I had no idea what it was, I just knew I was really sick, because I got the light sensitivity and the nausea," said Crenshaw.

It took her the better part of 20 years to come to Piedmont Hospital neurologist Dr. Robert Gilbert, who diagnosed Carol with migraine headaches.  
    
Gilbert says Crenshaw's story is typical. People often don't get help, because they're not sure why they're having headaches.
 
"I think most people still think a lot of these headaches are simply tension, or they say, 'I have a sinus infection,'" said Gilbert.

Gilbert says the first sign you have a migraine is severe pain.

"The pain is going to limit their activity. It's going to last for hours, not 30 minutes as a tension headache might. And quite often they're going to get sensitive to bright lights, loud sounds, odors," explained Gilbert.

A migraine will throb, like a headache with a pulse. It will get worse when you move around. Where the pain is felt can vary.

"It can be more the forehead or the orbit, or it can be the back of the neck. I mean three-quarter of patients with migraine have neck pain, so people think, 'That's a tension headache!' No, it's not," said Gilbert.

If you're hurting, Crenshaw says go to your doctor. She wishes she did 20 years ago.
 
"It will change your life, if you get treatment," said Crenshaw.

About 20 percent of migraine sufferers experience an aura with their migraine. It's usually a visual disturbance, like a zig-zag of light that hits before the headache. The key is getting a diagnosis, and then finding the right treatment.