The medications that prevent migraines are put into a category called prophylactic treatment. Acute treatment is used to prevent progression and, hopefully, reverse migraines once they have started. The best time to start acute treatment is at the onset of headache pain. The goal of acute treatment is to get individuals to achieve closer to normal functioning. Abortive therapy focuses on stopping the migraine as it progresses.
Symptomatic therapy focuses on treating the symptoms that result from migraines.