Migraine and headache diary template

For migraine, a headache diary is often the most useful thing you can bring to an appointment. This template covers what you'll be asked: duration, aura, other symptoms and the medication you took.

Headache diary

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What to track, and why

Migraine, tension-type headache or something else: frequency, duration and accompanying symptoms are key, and they're exactly what you forget between appointments. Then there's the number of days you take painkillers or migraine medication. That matters because taking them too often can itself cause headaches.

Start time and duration

When did it start and how long did it last? That tells you how many headache days you have a month.

Aura and other symptoms

Visual disturbances before the pain, nausea, sensitivity to light or noise. A quick keyword is enough.

Possible triggers

Sleep, stress, meals, your cycle, the weather. Write down what you notice without guessing. It takes weeks to see if something repeats.

Medication and effect

What, how much, when, and how you felt two hours later. That way you can count the days you take acute medication.

Columns in this template

  • Started time
  • Duration hours
  • Severity 0–10
  • Aura yes / no
  • Other symptoms nausea, light, noise
  • Possible triggers sleep, stress, food …
  • Medication name, dose, time
  • Effect after 2 h better, same, worse
  • Missed out work, plans cancelled?

How to fill it in

  1. Print page 1 once a week, and page 2 once a week for your review.
  2. Write things down close to when they happen, not in the evening from memory.
  3. Stick to one scale: 0 is no pain, 10 is the worst pain you can imagine.
  4. Blank boxes are fine. A short, honest entry beats a perfect one you reconstruct later.

Then what? Making use of your filled-in sheets

Most templates stop at the filling-in part. But the value comes afterwards, when lots of rows turn into a few clear statements.

  1. Sum up each week

    At the weekend, fill in page 2: days with pain, worst score, days you took painkillers. It takes five minutes and saves a lot of page-flipping at the appointment.

  2. Compare after four weeks

    Lay the weekly reviews side by side. Does anything repeat, a weekday, an activity, a trigger? Mark it, but don't jump to conclusions: a pattern isn't proof of a cause.

  3. Three numbers for your appointment

    Before you go, write at the top of the first sheet: how many days a month you had pain, how strong it was on average, and what you couldn't do because of it. Those three lines make a good opening.

  4. Take the sheets, keep a copy

    Bring the originals and take a photo first. After any change in treatment, comparing old and new sheets shows whether anything has changed.

When paper gets too much

Paper is a good start. The tedious part is the analysis: adding up weeks, looking for patterns, sorting sheets. That's exactly what PainTrack does for you.

  • Log an entry in seconds on your own scale: 0–10, yes/no or mild/moderate/severe
  • Add circumstances, body location and medication to an entry, with reminders
  • Your trend chart and weekly trends update by themselves
  • With Pro: trigger analysis and a ready-made PDF report for your doctor
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Free for iPhone and Android, no account needed. Your data stays on your device.

This template helps you document your symptoms. It doesn't diagnose anything and is not a substitute for medical advice. If you have new, very severe or unusual symptoms, contact a doctor, or call your local emergency number in an emergency.

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External pages from health services, medical societies and patient organisations. We are not affiliated with any of them.

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