A daily Headache Diary is one of the most important tools in managing headache pain and frequency, tracking the characteristics of an individual patient’s headache history, and assisting patients in defining headache triggers.  Headache Diaries improve treatment by identifying the response to abortive and prophylactic medications and overall help your physician plan your treatment protocol.

By using a Headache Diary, patterns can be identified from the diary which may also help in defining the specific headache diagnosis.  As an example, a diary is extremely important in the treatment of menstrual migraine where short term prophylactic medications could be initiated prior to the onset of headache and maintained for several days to abort the headache.  

There are numbers of options available for keeping a headache diary.  Some are as follows:

iPhone and Android APPS such as iHeadache, Migraine Buddy, and Migraine Diary are available

There are computer based diaries as Migraine Diary available

In addition, well known printed diaries are to be found on the National Headache Foundation and American Headache Society websites

Whatever option is used, it is important to maintain the diary to help your physician achieve maximum headache control.