Migraines & Headaches Community

This article and the link to the other story was very helpful. However, I cannot seem to find any good migraine trackers out there that are free. I wish you would include a good tracker or something that we can use as a template. Are there any recommendations for apps on smartphones? Searching for trackers is quite frankly overwhelming.

I actually used a small spiral notebook for mine. I wrote down the times and what I ate or drank, when I went to sleep, when I woke up, when I engaged in specific activities and for how long, as well as when a migraine would start and rated it for severity, then made a note whenever the pain changed. I learned that any drink that was too cold made it worse, hot tea made it better, white cheeses were a trigger, artificial sweeteners would lay me low for days, etc., etc. By the time I went to my doctor, I already had a list of triggers and things that helped, and he went through to find a few I'd missed. like interrupted sleep was worse for me than no sleep and all dairy was bad while I had a migraine. He also suggested I not fold my laundry straight out of the dryer, and bring the laundry upstairs to sit on the couch while I folded it. Less bending equalled less pain so quickly I couldn't believe I'd missed that one.

Your doctor can give you a tracker that the drug company provides his office, but it's not really as good as making your own. If you want to use your cell phone to track your headaches, try using a facebook or twitter account you don't make public. Go all-out, the way some folks do the twitter thing, anyway, making notes of every inconsequential moment of your day. However you track your headaches, the more information you have, the better your doctor can identify your triggers.

Thank you- thats really helpful.

Chris,
Thanks for this post. I get migraines at work, home, and anywhere else. It is why I keep the medicine that I know will cut it in my purse, so it is always with me. I know what triggers most of my migraines, but there are still times when I have avoided all those things and still get one so I don't know everything yet.
What I take is Alieve. It removes most of the pain so I can keep going, but the annoyance to sound and light are still there and the nausea is too. Is there anything I can recommend to my doctor to try?

I too use a notebook. I made my own based on a sample one my doctor gave me. I used the information he was looking for which was on the sample tracker and made my own because I can't write small enough to get all that information in those boxes.
I found that one trigger for me is bananas. I don't know why, but I get a migraine about fifteen minutes after eating a banana and it won't go away for at least 12 hours.
I also found that (odd though it is) I get a migraine if I don't have at least a cup of caffeine, but also if I have more than 24 ounces of any type of caffeine in a day's time. There are many food triggers as well as environmental triggers to look for. I have also found that I will get a migraine when a certain factory has their monthly burnout and burns all the coal out of their furnace to put new in. There are like five or six in town and it only happens with this one (but it is the only one who still uses coal burning furnaces and stuff to do their work). My husband has them whenever the pressure changes and they won't go away until it rains.