Life Insurance With Migraines
Headaches are universal and migraine is not, and the two get the same word in conversation.
Migraine has recognisable features, specific treatments and, in one form, a recognised association that affects medical advice elsewhere.
This page is about declaring which you have, and the two details that carry weight.
The short answer
Migraine is not just a bad headache: it is a neurological condition with its own features. Two details matter on an application. Whether you get aura, the visual or sensory disturbance before an attack, because that has real implications including for the combined contraceptive pill. And whether you have ever been scanned, because persistent or changing headaches are often imaged.
What it is
Migraine is a neurological condition producing attacks of moderate to severe headache, often one-sided and throbbing, with nausea and sensitivity to light and sound, typically lasting hours to days.
Around a third of people with migraine get aura: visual disturbance such as zigzag lines or blind spots, or sensory symptoms like tingling, usually before the headache. Treatment includes painkillers, anti-sickness medication and triptans for attacks, and preventive medication such as propranolol, topiramate, amitriptyline or newer injected treatments where attacks are frequent.
Why it comes up on an application
- Aura is the detail worth stating specifically. Migraine with aura carries a recognised association with ischaemic stroke, and it is the reason the combined contraceptive pill is generally avoided in women who have it.
- That means an application asking about the pill, or about stroke, is asking something genuinely relevant if you have aura.
- Preventive medication is a continuing prescription and belongs in a medication answer. Several of those drugs are also used for other conditions, so saying what it was prescribed for is useful context.
- Imaging is common. Persistent, changing or unusual headaches are often investigated with a CT or MRI, and that is an investigation whatever it showed.
- Frequency is the useful measure: how many days a month, and whether it is getting more or less frequent.
- Where migraine has caused regular absence, that is a direct question on an application.
- Medication overuse headache is a recognised thing and worth mentioning if you have been told you had it.
What we would ask you
- How often you get attacks, and roughly when they started
- Whether you get aura before or during them
- What you take, both for attacks and as prevention
- Whether you have ever had a CT or MRI scan of your head, and what it showed
- Whether it has caused time off work
- Whether you are currently off work or working reduced hours because of an accident, injury or illness
- Whether you are waiting on any medical tests, appointments or treatment
- Whether you have been diagnosed with or treated for cancer in the last five years
- Whether a parent, brother or sister was diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or a stroke before 65
- Any medication you take
- Whether you smoke, and your date of birth
Aura Is The Detail Worth Getting Right
If you take one thing from this page, it is to say whether you get aura, because it is the feature with consequences beyond the headache.
Aura is the visual or sensory disturbance that comes before or with an attack: zigzags, flickering lights, a blind spot, or tingling spreading up an arm. Around a third of people with migraine get it. Migraine with aura carries a recognised association with ischaemic stroke, which is precisely why the combined contraceptive pill is generally avoided in women who have it.
So this is not a technicality. An application asking about stroke or about the pill is asking a relevant question, and knowing whether you get aura lets you answer it properly. If you are not sure whether what you experience counts, describe it and let us put it in front of somebody who can tell.
If You Were Scanned, Say So
This is the other entry, and it is the one most often omitted because the result was reassuring.
Headaches that are persistent, changing in pattern, or accompanied by anything unusual are frequently investigated with a CT or MRI of the head. That is a significant test and it is in your record. Most are normal, which is exactly why people forget them.
A normal brain scan is genuinely good information to be able to give. Leaving it out because nothing was found makes an application incomplete, and a question about investigations is asking whether they happened rather than what they concluded.
Which cover is relevant
Genuinely relevant. Frequent migraine causes recurring absence for some people, and it is one of the commoner reasons for repeated short periods off work.
The usual starting point. Where there is aura, the stroke association and any scan sit in the picture, which is an argument for a proper conversation.
Pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition. Migraine is not one, and stroke generally is, so the definitions are worth reading properly.
Common questions
What is migraine with aura and why does it matter?+
Aura is visual or sensory disturbance before or during an attack, such as zigzag lines, a blind spot or tingling. Migraine with aura carries a recognised association with ischaemic stroke, which is why the combined contraceptive pill is generally avoided in women who have it. It is worth stating specifically.
Do I need to declare migraines?+
Answer what you are asked. The useful detail is how often you get them, whether you have aura, what you take, and whether you have ever been scanned. Frequency and aura carry more information than the word migraine.
I had an MRI and it was normal. Should I mention it?+
Yes, and it is useful information. A question about investigations asks whether they happened, and a normal brain scan is reassuring rather than something to leave out. This is the entry people most often forget on this page.
I take propranolol for prevention. Does that count?+
Yes, and say what it was prescribed for. Several migraine preventives are also used for other conditions, including blood pressure and anxiety, so the reason is useful context alongside the drug name.
Will migraine affect my income protection?+
It is worth asking rather than assuming, and anything in your records will come up. Honestly, frequent migraine is one of the commoner causes of repeated short absences, which makes it a realistic consideration.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.