A 40-Year-Old Woman with Chronic Recurrent Headache (Migraine)

Migraine is a common heritable disease, affecting 1 in 10 people worldwide. Migraine can present in a variety of ways and frequently goes undiagnosed and untreated for years. For some, migraine is an occasional nuisance, but for many more it is a life-long condition marked by exacerbations and remissions. Migraine is three times more common in women and tends to emerge or shift around hormonal milestones such as menarche, the birth of a child, or menopause. The pharmacologic management of migraine can be broken down into acute treatment and preventive therapy. A variety of FDA-approved and off-label pharmacologic treatments are available. With treatment, most patients do well.