I have had quite a few attempts at a headache/migraine diary in the short time since my headaches became serious and frequent.

First, of course, was the old 'write down on random bits of paper' attempt. I was by pretty much all the credible websites I could find that I should be recording all these different things like writing down what I ate, the medicines I took and how I was feeling in great detail.

This was a bit too much for me, a teenager that had just started my second last year at school with two subjects being accelerated, so from the last year of school. I thought it would be a bit much for many people. And who wants to think about how they're feeling in too much depth when they feel bad most of the time? I didn't.

Second attempt was an online version. It looked promising. Daily emails reminding me followed by a quick questionnaire. I also promised an analysis of patterns after a couple of months.

I stuck with this one for around 6 months. This method's downfall was that it was completely unsuitable for my situation. It promised an analysis when a pattern emerged, but the problem was that my migraines seem to have no particular pattern. The data was not presented in a particularly helpful way for me to look at it either. There was a calendar which was marked with a bit too much red to be helpful and a very long list of data that was not sorted too well. I concluded that this program was created for people with less frequent migraines than me.

I took a break from recording migraine information for the exam period in November and for my exchange trip in France. But in the meantime I had an idea for something small, compact, and with the dates all written on it...

A mini planner!

I bought it a few weeks ago and created a plan for what to write in it, and it seems to work fine for me.

Something like this:
 (Date already written)  woke:            bedtime:            
morning:        afternoon:        evening:        
breakfast:                    | (medicine written here with time taken)
lunch:                           |
dinner:                         |    <= (supposed to be a ruled line straight down)
snacks:                         | 

It is small and simple, and while it probably is lacking in some areas, I can always work that out for next years'.

And the most important thing... It looks pretty :)

It has been new year for almost a month now, so I suppose it is about time to put my resolutions in writing.

This year, I resolve, putting it simply, to take care of myself.

It's funny that such a simple idea can have so many angles, and be so hard to carry out. I find that while I can listen to my body if I try, things I want to do like having fun without thinking of the consequences get in the way. Now while there is nothing wrong with having fun, having fun at the expense of my health is usually not even worth it in the short term.

When I really think about it, I don't find these fun things all that fun anymore. So why do I do them? Because it's what everyone else is doing I suppose. All my friends are staying up late on the internet so I want to keep them company and chat on the internet. I get invited to an event that involves a bit more exercise than I can handle, but I don't say anything because I want to pretend that I feel completely fine. It is really all about people's ideas of what is normal for a girl my age and I am beginning to realise that the best thing i could possibly do for myself is stop caring about what someone might think, and do what I have to do to feel ok.

The next thing I've been trying to work out is how to make 'doing what I have to do' as easy as possible. Here is a list of a few ideas:
- carry a drink bottle around, even around the house.
- buy a pocket sized planner to make into a headache and migraine diary.
- get organised and work on never procrastinating.

My reasoning is that as I always forget to get a drink even when I'm at home, a drink bottle will remind me, and that to turn a ready made planner into a headache and migraine diary would be more convenient than having lots of sheets of paper. Getting organised is always desirable, and I really don't have enough time to procrastinate!

These resolutions are really works in progress; ideas that may change as I think about them more. But in my opinion this is more a good thing than a bad thing. Maybe a resolution that is a bit more fluid will last the year, instead of being given up on a month or two later.