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 :)
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 :)
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