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You’re having massive head pain – and other strange symptoms – it’s natural to wonder if you’re going to recover!  So that brings us to one common question – is it migraine, or brain aneurysm (aneurism) (also called cerebral aneurysm)?  Let’s see if we can shed some light on this issue:

Migraine vs Brain Aneurysm

First, some key things to remember:

1. Brain aneurysm may cause no symptoms whatsoever.  If there are symptoms, they can vary widely in how severe they are.
2. Migraine attacks can come with no headache whatsoever.  Again, symptoms vary widely.
3. With these things in mind, this is important: if you have a worst-ever headache, or an attack with symptoms that you’ve never head before, get to a doctor immediately, no matter what your guess is about what’s causing the pain.
4. Symptoms of brain aneurism vary significantly depending on whether the aneurism is leaking, unruptured, or ruptured.  For our purposes we’ll include symptoms from all three, since you won’t know which is which without a test anyway.

Migraine Attack	Brain Aneurysm
Symptoms of both: severe headache blurred/double vision confusion speech difficulties nausea/vomiting sensitivity to light (photophobia)	Symptoms of both: severe headache blurred/double vision confusion speech difficulties nausea/vomiting sensitivity to light (photophobia)
	Symptoms more common in brain aneurysm: neck pain/stiff neck drooping eyelid loss of consciousness seizure dilated pupil drooping eyelid numbness/weakness/paralysis on one side of the face A more sudden, severe headache than in a typical migraine attack (Many of these symptoms may occur in migraine as well, or may not occur in brain aneurysm.  See notes above.)
Some risk factors: Family history of migraine Usually begins before age 40, often during adolescence Women are more likely to develop migraine	Some risk factors: Family history of aneurysm Aging Women are more likely to develop aneurysm hypertension or arteriosclerosis Drug, alcohol, tobacco use/abuse Read more brain aneurysm risk factors here
Other notes:  Symptoms of migraine attacks are usually temporary.  They generally resolve in a few hours or a few days, although symptoms may return.  For most types of migraine, there is no lab test – various types of migraine are diagnosed by symptoms.  Migraine may increase your risk for stroke and heart disease. Migraine is not normal, but it is much much more common than symptomatic cerebral aneurysm.	Other notes:  Symptoms may come and go, or they may come to stay.  Headache may be severe and sudden, in which case you should waste no time getting to the EMERGENCY ROOM.  Brain aneurysm may lead to stroke, so stroke symptoms may indicate an aneurysm.  Tests for aneurysm are discussed below. Between 1.5 and 5% of the population will develop a cerebral aneurysm at some time in their life, but only a small percentage of those will ever develop significant symptoms.

The symptom that should be taken the most seriously if you go to the emergency room is a sudden, severe, worst-ever headache.  Common tests include a computerized tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid test, and cerebral angiogram.

Read more about brain aneurysm and its treatment here.
Also see:  Aneurysm and Headache: 9 Ways to Know if I’m in Danger