Is migraine hereditary?

Migraines usually occur in many situations, such as due to mental tension or mental stress, as well as concentrated headaches. Migraines are very harmful to the body and can cause nausea, vomiting, and even dizziness. Whether this disease is hereditary depends on the pathological state.

Disease diagnosis

1. Tension headache, also known as muscle contraction headache. Its clinical characteristics are: the headache is diffuse and may be located in the forehead, bilateral temporal areas, vertex, occipital area and neck area. The headache is often dull, with a feeling of pressure and tightness in the head, and patients often describe it as if they are wearing a hat. The headache is often persistent and can be mild or severe at times. There are often tender points on the scalp and neck. Massaging the head and neck can relieve headaches. There is often tension in the forehead and neck muscles. Often accompanied by nausea and vomiting.

2. Cluster headache, also known as histamine headache, Horton syndrome. It manifests as a series of dense, short-term, severe unilateral drilling pains. Unlike migraine, the headache area is often localized and fixed to one side of the orbit, retrobulbar, and frontotemporal regions. The onset of the disease often occurs at night and wakes the patient up with pain. The onset time is fixed, sudden and without warning. It may start with a burning sensation in one side of the nose or a feeling of pressure behind the bulb, followed by pain in a specific part of the nose, which is often unbearable, and is accompanied by facial flushing, conjunctival congestion, tearing, runny nose, and nasal congestion. A considerable number of patients experience Horner's sign and photophobia, but are not accompanied by nausea or vomiting. The triggers may be drinking, excitement or taking vasodilators during the cluster period of attacks. The age of onset is often later than that of migraine, with an average age of 25 years, and the male to female ratio is about 4:1. Rare family history.

3. Painful ophthalmoplegia, also known as Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. It is an idiopathic inflammatory disease involving the orbit and cavernous sinus characterized by headache and ophthalmoplegia. The cause may be nonspecific inflammation of the intracranial internal carotid artery and may also involve the cavernous sinus. It often presents as persistent swelling and tingling behind the bulbar and around the orbit, with diplopia occurring after a few days or weeks, and may involve the III, IV, and VI cranial nerves. It may recur after an interval of several months or years, and angiography is required to rule out internal carotid artery aneurysm. Corticosteroid treatment is effective.

4. Headache caused by intracranial mass In the early stage of the mass, the headache may be intermittent or more severe in the morning, but as the disease progresses. It often becomes a persistent headache with progressive worsening. Symptoms and signs of intracranial hypertension may appear, such as headache, nausea, vomiting, optic disc edema, and focal symptoms and signs may appear, such as mental changes, hemiplegia, aphasia, hemisensory disorders, convulsions, hemianopsia, ataxia, nystagmus, etc. It is not difficult to identify the typical ones. However, it should be noted that there are also people who have suffered from migraine for more than ten years and were finally diagnosed with giant hemangiomas.

Inspection method

Laboratory tests:

Routine blood, urine, electrolyte and cerebrospinal fluid examinations were performed to exclude organic lesions.

Other auxiliary examinations:

Brain CT or MRI examination has important significance for differential diagnosis.