MyChart
Headache Diary
Overview
Keeping a headache diary may help you understand what types of headaches you get and what treatment works best for you. You also may be able to find out what your headache triggers are, such as certain foods, stress, sleep problems, or physical activity. Take your headache diary to your doctor. Together you can look at your headache history and look for patterns to your headaches.
Headache days
Record each day that you get a headache. Use a pain rating scale from 0 to 10 (where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain you can imagine) to identify how bad the headache is. Put the number for how bad the headache is in the time of day when it happened. For each day you have a headache, also record how much disability you had on a scale from 0 to 3 (where 0 means you were able to continue to do your normal activities well and 3 means you had to either miss work or school at least part of the day or had to go to bed for part of the day). An example of a monthly chart follows.
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Day of the month |
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How bad is your headache? |
Morning |
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Afternoon |
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Night |
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Disability for the day |
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Day of the month |
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How bad is your headache? |
Morning |
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Afternoon |
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Night |
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Disability for the day |
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Medicines to stop a headache
List the medicines that you take to STOP a headache (such as pain medicine or triptans). For each medicine, note how much of the medicine you took on the day you had a headache and how much relief the medicine gave you. Rate your relief from 0 to 3 (where 0 is no relief and 3 is complete relief). An example of a monthly chart follows.
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Day of the month |
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Medicine 1:___________ |
Dose |
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How much relief? |
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Day of the month |
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25 |
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30 |
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Medicine 1:____________ |
Dose |
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How much relief? |
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Day of the month |
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Medicine 2:___________ |
Dose |
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How much relief? |
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Day of the month |
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Medicine 2:____________ |
Dose |
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How much relief? |
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Day of the month |
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Medicine 3:___________ |
Dose |
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How much relief? |
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Day of the month |
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Medicine 3:____________ |
Dose |
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How much relief? |
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Medicines to prevent headaches
List the medicines, if any, that you take to prevent headaches (such as a beta-blocker or anticonvulsant). For each medicine, note every day that you took it. An example of a monthly chart follows.
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Day of the month |
1 |
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4 |
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Medicine 1:___________ |
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Day of the month |
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28 |
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30 |
31 |
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Medicine 1:____________ |
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Day of the month |
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Medicine 2:___________ |
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Day of the month |
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Medicine 2:____________ |
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Other treatments
List any other treatments that you use for your headaches. This may include massage, relaxation therapy, vitamins, herbs, and other natural health products.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Menstrual period
For women, note the days you had your menstrual period. An example of a monthly chart follows.
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Day of the month |
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Menstrual period |
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Day of the month |
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Menstrual period |
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Triggers
List your four most common triggers. Then, for each day you get a headache, write in the number of the trigger that you think may have caused your headache.
- Trigger 1:
- Trigger 2:
- Trigger 3:
- Trigger 4:
An example of a monthly chart follows.
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Day of the month |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
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Triggers |
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Day of the month |
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31 |
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Triggers |
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Health care visits
Record when you went to the doctor or to the emergency room, when you were hospitalized, or when you saw any other health care providers (such as a massage therapist, acupuncturist, or chiropractor).
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Date |
Who/Where |
Date |
Who/Where |
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Related Information
Credits
Current as of: April 30, 2023
Author:
Healthwise Staff
Clinical Review Board
All Healthwise education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.
Current as of: April 30, 2023
Author: Healthwise Staff
Clinical Review Board
All Healthwise education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.
