Misdiagnosis of Migraine
| About misdiagnosis: When checking for a misdiagnosis of Migraine or confirming a diagnosis of Migraine, it is useful to consider what other medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative conditions relevant to diagnosis. These alternate diagnoses of Migraine may already have been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of Migraine. For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases, see Overview of Misdiagnosis. |
Alternative diagnoses list for Migraine: For a diagnosis of Migraine, the following list of conditions have been mentioned in sources as possible alternative diagnoses to consider during the diagnostic process for Migraine:
- Common headache
- Cluster headache
- Muscular contraction headache
- Transient ischemic attack - misdiagnosis between TIA and migraine is reasonably common.
- Multi-Infarct Dementia
Migraine as an alternative diagnosis: The other diseases for which Migraine is listed as a possible alternative diagnosis in their lists include:
Discussion of diagnosis/misdiagnosis of Migraine: The similarity between migraine and symptoms of TIA can cause problems in diagnosis. The rare person under age 40 who suffers a TIA may be misdiagnosed as having migraine; similarly, TIA-prone older patients who suffer migraine may be misdiagnosed as having stroke-related headaches.1
Tension headaches are usually described as a continuous pressure pain or tightness of varying severity over the entire head, whereas migraine headaches are a severe, throbbing pain over one or both temples, or behind one eye or ear, and are often accompanied by nausea and vomiting.2
Medical news summaries about misdiagnosis of Migraine: The following medical news items are relevant to misdiagnosis of Migraine:
- 90% of sinusitis cases misdiagnosed
- Heart transplant has a good prognosis despite difficult journey
- Migraines frequently misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed
- Young man misdiagnosed several times after having a stroke
Misdiagnosis cases for Migraine:
No cases available yet.
Footnotes:
1. excerpt from Headache - Hope Through Research: NINDS
2. excerpt from MIGRAINE HEADACHES: NWHIC
Last revision:
June 2, 2003
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