A headache can feel like pressure, throbbing, or a tight band around your skull. A migraine goes further: nausea, light sensitivity, and pain sharp enough to stop your day. Most cases settle with rest, water, and time.
Reviewed personally by Dr. Sunkara · Written for Symptoms of Headache and Migraine · Updated September 2026
Quick Answer
The symptoms of headache and migraine range from mild, dull pressure to a severe, one-sided, throbbing pain that limits daily activity. Migraine adds nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound, sometimes preceded by visual auras. Tension headaches feel more like a tight band. Most headaches resolve within hours and aren't a sign of anything serious.
Most people notice headache symptoms gradually: a dull ache behind the eyes on a stressful afternoon, or a familiar throb that starts on one side and builds over an hour. What are the symptoms of headache in its earliest stage? Often just fatigue, neck stiffness, or a craving for something sweet, a day or two before the pain itself arrives. For migraine specifically, this early window is called the prodrome. Some people also notice an aura: flashing lights, blind spots, or tingling in an arm, that shows up shortly before or during the headache. The World Health Organization estimates migraine affects roughly 1 in 7 people worldwide, one reason almost everyone knows someone whose plans get derailed by one.
Here's the thing worth remembering: a headache or migraine is a symptom, not a diagnosis on its own. Most cases are primary, meaning the pain itself is the condition, with no underlying disease driving it. But recurring or unusual patterns can sometimes point toward something else entirely, a sinus problem, a medication overuse cycle, or rarely a structural cause that needs a closer look. That doesn't mean every headache needs a scan. It means paying attention to how your pattern changes over time matters more than any single bad day. Dr. Sunkara often tells patients that consistency, or the lack of it, is the real diagnostic clue.
The vast majority of headaches, even severe migraines, are not dangerous. They're exhausting and disruptive, but they pass. A small number of symptoms, though, signal something more urgent and deserve same-day medical attention rather than waiting it out at home.
Seek immediate care if you also have:
A neurological condition causing throbbing, one-sided pain with nausea and light sensitivity. Genetics and brain chemistry, particularly serotonin and CGRP, play a central role in why attacks happen.
The most common headache type, felt as a dull, band-like tightness around the head. Usually triggered by stress, poor posture, or long hours at a screen.
Rare but intensely painful attacks focused behind or around one eye, often at the same time each day. More common in men and linked to sleep-cycle disruption.
Headaches caused by something else entirely: sinus infections, medication overuse, dehydration, or, less commonly, a structural problem that needs its own diagnosis and treatment.
Where the symptoms of headache and migraine show up, and how they behave, often says more than severity alone.
Certain factors make the symptoms of headache and migraine more likely to show up, and more likely to repeat.
AGE
Migraine most often begins between the teenage years and age 40, then tends to ease with age for many people.
FAMILY HISTORY
Migraine runs in families. The American Migraine Foundation notes roughly 4 in 5 people with migraine have a close relative who also has it.
HORMONAL CHANGES
Shifts in estrogen around periods, pregnancy, or menopause make migraine more likely, which is part of why women are affected more often.
STRESS & SLEEP
Both too little sleep and too much, along with ongoing stress, are among the most consistently reported migraine triggers.
DURATION
Headaches lasting more than a few hours regularly, or migraines that stretch beyond 72 hours, warrant a specialist visit.
SEVERITY
Pain that stops you from working, eating, or sleeping, even occasionally, is severe enough to need proper evaluation.
PROGRESSION
Headaches that are becoming more frequent, more intense, or changing character over weeks deserve a closer look.
01
Dr. Sunkara starts with a detailed conversation: when symptoms began, how often they occur, and what makes them better or worse. This history alone often points to the likely cause.
02
A focused exam checks reflexes, coordination, vision, and strength to rule out other neurological causes and confirm the pain pattern fits a primary headache disorder.
03
MRI or CT scans aren't routine for a typical migraine, but doctors order them when red-flag symptoms, a new pattern, or an abnormal exam raises concern about something else.
Treatment for the symptoms of headache and migraine scales with how often they occur and how much they disrupt daily life, not a one-size approach.
MOST CASES
settle with rest, hydration, trigger tracking, and simple over-the-counter pain relief.
SOME CASES
need prescription medication, either to treat attacks as they happen or to prevent them.
FEW CASES
require specialist-led evaluation and imaging for frequent, severe, or treatment-resistant migraine.
A migraine headache causes throbbing, usually one-sided pain along with nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. Some people also see flashing lights or blind spots beforehand.
Living with unpredictable head pain gets exhausting fast.
If your headaches or migraines are becoming more frequent, more severe, or just don't fit a pattern you understand, talk to Dr. Sunkara for a proper evaluation and a second opinion you can trust.
Written & reviewed by Dr. Raveesh Sunkara, Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon & Spine Surgeon · Last updated September 2026 · Next review due March 2027