Subscribe for News and Updates
Stay informed with the latest news, updates, and episodes from the HeadWise podcast.
These tests can help you communicate the severity of your headache pain to your healthcare provider and/or help you identify a migraine. If you need a diagnosis or are seeking treatment, please visit our Provider Finder page to locate a healthcare provider in your area.
ID Migraine™ - Self-Administered Screener*
During the last 3 months, did you have any of the following symptoms with your headache? Yes or No?
· Answering “yes” to two out of three of these questions means there’s a 93% chance you have migraine.
· Answering “yes” to all three means there’s at least a 98% chance you have migraine. Source
Please schedule an appointment soon with your primary care provider and share your symptoms.
*Note: Disability, nausea, and sensitivity to light, sensitivity of 0.81 (95% Confidence IntervaI, 0.77 to 0.85), specificity of 0.75 (95% Confidence IntervaI, 0.64 to 0.84) in a primary care setting.
Other Headache Tests
HIT stands for Headache Impact Test. This tool helps patients communicate the severity of their headache pain to their healthcare provider. It helps to:
- Determine the impact headaches have on the patient’s life
- Better communicate the information to the healthcare provider
- Track the patient’s headache history and the effectiveness of therapy over time
- Visual distortions such as blind spots, flashes of light and zigzag lines
- Motor weakness
- Disruption to sensory symptoms such as smell, taste or touch
- Temporary loss of ability to speak or understand speech
- Temporary lack of coordination or control of arms and legs
- Vertigo
- Unilateral headache pain
- Pulsating headache
- Aggravation of headache by routine physical activity
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Sensitivity to light and/or sound
- Moderate to severe pain intensity
MIDAS stands for Migraine Disability Assessment Questionnaire. It was developed to measure headache-related disability in three areas:
- Paid work and education (school/college)
- Household work
- Family, social and leisure activities
By measuring the number of days missed in these activity areas due to migraine, the MIDAS tool can “improve migraine care by getting treatment right the first time a patient consults” with his or her healthcare provider.
The MIDAS score looks at the patients’ medical needs and helps the healthcare provider to determine the appropriate treatment at the first consultation.
Allodynia can occur in individuals with headache, particularly in those experiencing migraine.
Understanding Allodynia
- Allodynia is a condition where normally non-painful stimuli cause pain.
- It is often associated with migraine.
Prevalence in Headache Disorders
- Studies indicate that a significant percentage of people with migraine report allodynia.
- It may also occur in other headache types, such as tension-type headache, but is less common.
Mechanism
- The exact mechanism is not fully understood, but it involves changes in the nervous system’s pain processing pathways.
Symptoms
- Individuals may experience pain from light touch, pressure, or even changes in temperature.. The Allodynia Symptom Checklist (ASC-12) is a comprehensive questionnaire to identify the presence and severity of allodynia.