How is migraine diagnosed?
Migraine is diagnosed clinically — from your history and the pattern of your symptoms — because there is no blood test or scan that confirms it. A clinician looks at how your headaches behave over time and matches them against recognised criteria, so a clear, dated account of your attacks is central to getting the diagnosis right.
A clinical, history-based diagnosis
Doctors diagnose migraine using established criteria (such as those in the ICHD-3) that describe the typical attack: the duration, the character and location of the pain, the associated nausea or sensitivity to light and sound, and how it affects normal activity. They also check that nothing else better explains the symptoms. Because the diagnosis rests on the pattern rather than a test, the quality of your history matters enormously — which is where memory tends to let people down.
When scans are used
Imaging such as an MRI or CT scan is not used to diagnose migraine itself; a typical migraine has normal scans. Tests are ordered only to rule out other causes when there are warning features — for example a sudden 'thunderclap' headache, a headache that is new and progressive, or one with neurological changes. If your pattern is typical and your examination is normal, a clinician may confidently diagnose migraine without any scan at all.
How tracking helps
A dated diary gives a clinician exactly what the diagnosis depends on: how often attacks happen, how long they last, what symptoms come with them, and how they change over time. It also helps flag anything atypical that deserves a closer look. Temple keeps that record so your account is accurate rather than reconstructed — it supports the conversation and doesn't diagnose you itself. Temple is a tracking tool, not medical advice — for anything specific to you, consult a healthcare professional.
Temple keeps a dated account of your attacks — frequency, duration and symptoms — so the history a diagnosis depends on is accurate rather than reconstructed.
Common questions
- Is there a test for migraine?
- No single test confirms migraine. It's a clinical diagnosis based on your history and symptom pattern against recognised criteria. Scans are used only to rule out other causes when warning features are present, not to diagnose migraine itself.
- Do I need a brain scan to diagnose migraine?
- Usually not. A typical migraine with a normal examination doesn't require imaging. Scans are reserved for unusual or concerning features — such as a sudden severe headache or new neurological symptoms — and that decision belongs to a clinician.