Important medical disclaimer
Educational tools only — not medical care
Migraine Trail is not a healthcare provider, medical service, or medical device. These tools use information you enter and simplified educational rules. They may be incomplete or wrong and cannot examine you.
- Results do not diagnose, rule out, confirm, or predict any disease, headache type, trigger, emergency, or personal medical risk.
- Do not start, stop, combine, delay, or change a medicine or treatment—and do not delay professional care—because of a result.
- Labels such as “pattern,” “alignment,” “score,” “threshold,” “risk,” or “urgency” are educational summaries, not clinical findings or probabilities.
Discuss symptoms and decisions with a licensed healthcare professional who knows your history. For a child, involve a parent or guardian and an appropriate pediatric clinician.
If symptoms may be an emergency, stop using this site. Call your local emergency number or seek emergency care now. Never wait for or rely on a tool result.
Cluster Headache vs Migraine Pattern Checker
Compare timing, one-sided eye or temple pain, restlessness, autonomic signs, frequency, and migraine-associated symptoms.
Check urgent warning signs before comparing headache types.
A sudden worst-ever headache, new weakness or speech/vision change, seizure, fainting, fever with stiff neck, or a painful red eye with vision loss needs urgent or emergency assessment. Open the red-flag checker.
Record timing that a specialist can use
Migraine Trail captures duration, frequency, location, symptoms, and treatments so repeated attack patterns are easier to explain.
The most useful distinguishing features
| Feature | Cluster headache | Migraine |
|---|---|---|
| Untreated duration | 15–180 minutes | 4–72 hours in adults |
| Location | Strictly one-sided, usually eye/above eye/temple | Often one-sided, but may switch or be bilateral |
| Behavior | Restless, agitated, pacing or rocking | Usually avoids movement and prefers stillness |
| Eye/nasal features | Prominent and on the same side as pain | Can occur, so not diagnostic alone |
| Frequency | Every other day to eight attacks daily during active periods | Usually less frequent, with longer attacks |
| Associated pattern | Cluster periods and clock-like timing | Nausea, activity aggravation, light/sound sensitivity, sometimes aura |
Clinical references
Frequently asked questions
Can migraine cause tearing or a blocked nose?
Yes. Cranial autonomic symptoms also occur in migraine. Cluster alignment is stronger when they are consistently on the pain side and occur with 15–180-minute, strictly side-locked attacks and restlessness.
Can cluster headache cause nausea or light sensitivity?
Yes. Migrainous symptoms can occur during cluster attacks. Behavior, duration, frequency, strict location, and same-side autonomic signs remain important.
Why does the checker flag attacks under 15 minutes?
Very short, frequent one-sided attacks can fit other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias or neuralgias rather than classic cluster headache. Those conditions require clinical differentiation.
What should I do if the pattern looks like cluster headache?
Arrange a clinical assessment, ideally with a headache specialist or neurologist. New suspected cluster headache warrants evaluation, and effective acute and preventive treatments differ from typical migraine care.
Headache Red-Flag Checker
Check urgent warning signs first.
Migraine vs Tension Checker
Compare another common headache pattern.
Migraine vs Cluster Guide
Read the complete clinical comparison.
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