Clinical neurology makes much of making a difference between episodic and chronic migraine but when you look below the surface you find that it seems one of definition. Fewer than 15 days a month is episodic and more than 15 days is chronic.
I will certainly agree that someone with more days is likely to suffer more but:-
a) This does not take account of the severity of the headache
b) Most people feel the difference between headache and migraine but approx 15% cannot clearly tell the difference.
c) Many of those who can tell the difference report that their "other" headaches reduce in frequency and/or severity with effective treatment of their migraines
d) Russell Lane and Paul Davies in their book "Migraine" suggest that primary headaches (including migraines) start because of a common process that they call the "migraine mechanism" and that this is separate to the division of headaches into the myriad forms described in the International Headache Society classification system
So... are episodic and chronic migraines really different entities or just a position on a continuum between less and more migraine?
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