A female patient presents to the clinic with complaints of a severe, throbbing, unilateral headache. She complains of seeing flashes of light prior to the headache. She complains of sound and light sensitivity as well as nausea

Question

The clinician should recognize these as symptoms of:
A. Epilepsy with aura
B. Cluster headache
C. Migraine headache
D. Normal pressure hydrocephalus

Answer 1

ANS: C
Typical migraine pain begins unilaterally but may become generalized and may lateralize to the opposite side and/or radiate to the face or neck. The pain ranges from a dull ache to a throbbing or pulsatile pain. The pain is often severe and/or incapacitating and is often aggravated by movement, light, and noise. Accompanying symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia, osmophobia, dizziness, chills, and/or ataxia. There may be tenderness to palpation of the temporal arteries. Auras, if experienced, may include blurred vision and scotoma and/or other prodromal symptoms, such as anorexia, irritability, restlessness, or paresthesias lasting from 30 minutes to 3 hours before the onset of migraine pain.