Self Help

A migraine journal is a tool that will help you and your doctor become more attuned to your headaches. Your migraine journal will enable you to track your own patterns and be your own detective in determining what your headache triggers may be.

Make it a habit to write down entries in your migraine journal every day for at least four weeks, preferably for two to three months. Why so long? You need to collect accurate and sufficient data because your migraine patterns may not be immediately apparent.

When you are under stress or if you are in contact with something that triggers migraine for you, your brain doesn’t always react right away. Sometimes the migraine can take hours, even days, to occur. Occasionally, the delay is even longer. Tracking your responses over time in your migraine journal can help you identify these patterns.

There are common factors in women who experience migraines, including hours of sleep, regularity of meals, possible food and drink triggers, stress and mood changes, weather changes, and other factors. If you are still in a child bearing age, note the date your period starts and stops. Track when your headaches occur, how long they last, how bad they are, and what is going on at the time.

Write down what foods you ate that might have served as triggers. Note whether you skipped a meal, slept poorly, were under stress, or whether strong winds came gusting in that night. It may take a while to identify a pattern, but once you discover that a migraine occurs every time you eat a spicy food, it will be relatively easy to avoid that trigger.

You may discover that you get a migraine whenever the weather changes, or when you skip a meal. Perhaps red wine is a major headache trigger for you, or maybe migraine is a problem because you slept only for five hours, as opposed to your usual eight. Whatever the case, the migraine journal should help you figure out your particular problems and patterns.

Once you identify your own headache patterns, you will be greatly empowered. Bring the journal with you to your next doctor’s appointment, so you can go over the chart with your physician. He may see patterns and be able to make recommendations that help control the number of migraines you experience.

The information that you write down on your migraine journal is a useful tool to controlling your headache. Try to record your information on the day it happens. It’s too easy to forget what happened yesterday and, consequently, to miss important and useful information that can help you discern patterns in your own headache care.