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Glossary

The working vocabulary of vestibular migraine. Inline dotted terms throughout the chapter link here.

Aura: Fully reversible neurological symptoms — most often visual (shimmering scotoma, fortification spectra) — that precede or accompany a migraine. Visual aura can itself satisfy criterion C.
Bárány Society: The international society for neuro-otology that, jointly with the International Headache Society, authored the consensus diagnostic criteria for vestibular migraine (2012; updated 2022).
Central sensitisation: Heightened responsiveness of central nociceptive and vestibular neurons, proposed to link the migraine and vestibular networks and produce motion sensitivity between attacks.
CGRP · calcitonin gene-related peptide: Calcitonin gene-related peptide — a neuropeptide central to migraine pathophysiology and the target of modern monoclonal-antibody and gepant therapies.
Cortical spreading depression: A slowly propagating wave of neuronal and glial depolarisation followed by suppression, thought to underlie migraine aura and to activate the trigeminovascular system.
Cutaneous allodynia: Pain or discomfort from a normally non-painful stimulus (e.g. brushing hair), reflecting central sensitisation during a migraine attack.
ICHD-3 · International Classification of Headache Disorders: The International Classification of Headache Disorders (3rd edition) — the reference standard for diagnosing migraine, which criterion B of vestibular migraine relies on.
Interictal: The period between attacks. Many VM patients have subtle interictal imbalance or visually-induced dizziness.
Ménière's disease: An inner-ear disorder of episodic vertigo (20 min – 12 h) with fluctuating low-frequency sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus and aural fullness — the key audiovestibular differential of VM, and a frequent comorbidity.
Motion sensitivity: Susceptibility to motion sickness and discomfort with self- or surround-motion. Lifelong motion sickness is a common, supportive (not diagnostic) feature of VM.
Phonophobia: Abnormal sensitivity to sound during an attack — distinct from the loudness discomfort of recruitment in cochlear disease.
Photophobia: Abnormal sensitivity to light. With phonophobia, it is one of the migrainous features that can satisfy criterion C.
Photophobia and phonophobia: The combination of light and sound sensitivity during a vestibular episode; together they count as one migrainous feature.
Probable vestibular migraine: The Bárány category for patients who have the vestibular episodes and one — but not both — of the migraine criteria (a migraine history, or migrainous features during attacks). A legitimate working diagnosis, often re-classified over time.
Prophylaxis (preventive treatment): Daily treatment aimed at reducing attack frequency and severity — lifestyle/trigger management plus, where needed, agents such as propranolol, amitriptyline, topiramate or flunarizine.
Trigeminovascular system: The trigeminal sensory innervation of cranial blood vessels. Its activation and the release of neuropeptides (including CGRP) drive migraine pain and can modulate central vestibular pathways.
Vestibular migraine (VM) · migrainous vertigo · migraine-associated vertigo: Recurrent episodes of vestibular symptoms in a person with a current or past history of migraine, with migrainous features during the attacks. The commonest cause of recurrent spontaneous vertigo.
Vestibular symptoms: The Bárány-classified symptoms that qualify for VM: spontaneous, positional, visually-induced or head-motion-induced vertigo, and head-motion-induced dizziness with nausea.