Migraines are typically self-limited. Its recurrent severe headache is associated with autonomic symptoms. Mostly, every other individual who suffers from migraine headaches experience them with frequent aura.

The severity of the pain, duration of the headache, and frequency of the attacks are different for every person. A migraine that lasts more than 72 hours is termed as status migrainosus.

There are four possible phases of migraine. It is not necessary that all the phases will be necessarily experienced.

The four phases are as follows:

Prodrome phase
It is one of the most common phases among the people who suffer from migraine. With its onset, it can the prodrome phase last from two hours to two days. It can be caused due to prolonged consumption of processed food or high caffeine beverages. Its symptoms include altered mood, irritability which can range from depression to fatigue. The person in this phase may experience constipation or diarrhea.

Aura phase
Strictly in medical terms, an aura is a transient focal neurological phenomenon. In simple words, the person going through this phase might experience frequent visual impairments or other sensory or motor symptoms. The aura phase occurs in most of the cases.

Visual disturbances often consist scintillating scotoma. It is a partial alteration in the field of vision. It may interfere. This happens to people who get migraine headaches due to sensory stimulation. These typically start near center of the vision and then spread out to the sides with zigzag lines.

Sensory auras are the second most common type and occur in almost 40 percent of people with auras. In this type of phase, the person often feels pin pricks on one side of hand, and it spreads through-out the nose and mouth area of the same side. With this, numbness usually occurs with the loss of position sense. Other symptoms usually range from speech or language disturbance.

Pain phase
This phase occurs when the headache is moderate to severe in intensity. It aggravated by physical activity. Bilateral neck pain is associated with it. This phase is experienced when migraine is caused due to physical stress.

Postdrome
The migraine postdrome leaves the person with head pain, cognitive difficulties, gastrointestinal symptoms, mood changes, and weakness. This phase occurs to the people who experience migraine due to irregular sleep cycle.