Migraine

This is a bit of a different kind of recommendation:

I love the Mayo Clinic Headache Tracker. I got it through the "migraine management" program I was in through my health insurance, and when I filled it up, they were nice enough to send me another one. The Mayo Clinic does have it for sale, but you'll have to call them; I couldn't locate it on their web site.

I lost a couple of headache diaries on individual sheets; this is easier to keep track of, even when I have a migraine, since it's "bound." I can keep all of the information about my migraine and its treatment in one place. Makes it very easy when I want to talk about changing patterns with the doctor.

Did you know we have a Migraine diary too?

Yes, I was aware of yours and several other headache diaries available online. In fact, that's how I initially got a diary that I took to my first appointment with my neurologist. However, the bound one is easier for me to hang on to. As I said, I lost a couple of them that were on individual sheets.

What exactly do you write into these diaries? Because I find it very hard to tell exactly when the headaches stop, or how hard they are. Do you fill in at what time you take the medication and what you eat with it as well?

My migraine diary is pretty detailed.

I have start-end times, warning symptoms, location/type/intensity of pain, other symptoms (ie nausea, light/sound sensitivty), what meds I took, the effect of meds, what I have eaten, how much stress I am under, and anything else I think might possibly be worth writing down....

I have a little chart where I enter it all in when I am having a mig, then I transcribe it into my "proper" migraine diary. My handwriting is pretty illegible when I am having a mig, and I like things to be tidy.

I also have graphs where I chart intensity, duration, and how much sleep I am getting. I find graphs make it easier to see patterns.

My neurologist thinks is cute how borderline OCD I am

*lol* I see.
I think I'm going to try that, too, but I also tried to do a usual diary quite some time ago and absolutely failed, because I always forgot or didn't find the time to write in.

Kat--

I really like the idea of putting info on a graph. I think I'll try to develop a graph along the perimeters you've stated. Do you graph only intensity, duration, and sleep cycle? Do you also graph medication use on its own separate line?

Fascinating!!! If I can get my copy to be a practical useful tool, I'd really like to talk to you more about it.

Great idea!

Tracie

On the link Nancy gives, it has three different headache diaries that Teri has made. Depending on how you want to go, I'm sure there is something there for everyone.

I like the landscape one with time of attack, intesnity, impact, what mediations you took, amnt of meds, triggers and extra notes. Oh, and time of relief.

I am a little obsessive over my headache diary. I try to always remember to write everything down because I know my doctor likes to look it over. It is a really great tool to have when going to your doctor and discussing frequency.

Well, I have a different graph for each thing. My sleep is just a daily chart, and I highlight the days I get migraines. I'm trying to see if there is a relationship between how much I get and if I get migs. No relationship so far, except when I get way too little or way too much.

For intensity and duration, each graph has every day along the bottom and then intensity 1-10 or duration 1hr through over 12 hrs on the other line.

I decided to put every day (not just migraine ones) along the bottom to show the gaps where I am pain free. The hope is someday the gaps will get bigger

It should be useful when I go to my neuro, because my durations are getting much longer than they used to be, but intensity is roughly the same. That is a pattern I might not have picked up w/o a visual represenation.

I also have a calendar where I highlight every migraine day in blue. That is a useful tool because my neuro can take one look at it and see how "blue" my month has been.

It is also useful b/c when DBF saw the calendar he shook his head and said "How do you cope with this? I would lose my mind" He's always been very understanding, but I don't think it really hit him till he saw that May was a big blur of blue days.

quote:

Originally posted by tracieB:
Kat--

I really like the idea of putting info on a graph. I think I'll try to develop a graph along the perimeters you've stated. Do you graph only intensity, duration, and sleep cycle? Do you also graph medication use on its own separate line?

Fascinating!!! If I can get my copy to be a practical useful tool, I'd really like to talk to you more about it.

Great idea!

Tracie

I know it's almost a year later here, but when I started seeing my doc regularly this past fall, I was keeping a haphazard diary on paper. I was using the NHF diary b/c I liked it's simpleness.

http://www.headaches.org/pdf/headache_diary.pdf

He suggested that I keep it in an excel file - that's how his wife does it. At first I balked since I wrote it down at night before I went to bed and I did both the next visit. Once I figured out that I can write as much as I want b/c the box expands, I was hooked. I'm not limited to the tiny box. I can also add/change my headings if needed, though I haven't done that yet. I can also just free type between lines when I start new meds, or when life events are happening that might affect me or my thoughts on current meds. I'm not a pro at excel. I use it for a few other simple things for my mom's group (membership file already set up when I inherited the job) and just other charts for alignment that I used to do in word. I had to buy a book just to understand the basics but if a dummy like me can do it, anyone can!

For even simpler overall picture, I also have a "calendar" so to speak with days across the top and months down the side. Also in excel. In these boxes, I just put H=headache/Migraine (I have chronic daily headaches too), N=nausea (or vomiting), I=Imitrex, P=period (actually, I use B (bleeding) out of habit b/c P = BCP and my periods were coming halfway thru the cycle of real pills, not during dummy pills until I stopped them altogether). I also highlight in Yellow for Imitrex days on both charts, Pink for period, and blue for new med or free type. Just to separate. Unfortunately we don't have a color printer, but I have highlighters to use when I print it out to take to MD.

When I have an appointment, I only print out the recent diary stuff since last visit (i'm going every 4-8 weeks, and the whole calander. It's working for me. Just have to get on the computer and remember to log stuff in!

Diane