Preparing for a Doctor's Visit: Know Your Migraines

When it comes to your migraines, there are many pieces of information that you should share with your doctor. To help categorize your headaches as migrainous or non-migrainous, you should be prepared to outline a typical headache from start to finish. You may have symptoms prior to the onset of your headache that let you know that a headache is coming, such as mood changes, upset stomach, visual disturbance, sensory loss, or other symptoms.

What is the distribution of your headache? Your headache may be located on one side of your head (unilateral), across the back of your head and upper neck, across the frontal region (forehead), or in other locations. How intense is your headache? I usually have people rate their headaches on the pain scale, 0 being no pain and 10 being severe pain. Another way to rate headaches is mild, moderate or severe (debilitating). How long does your headache last? And even after your headache has resolved, do other symptoms persist?

These questions, among many others, can be quite helpful to think about and answer prior to going to your doctor. Write these answers down so that you don't forget any details. This information can help the doctor characterize your headache syndrome better.

I also ask other questions about the person’s headache pattern. Are there there factors that seem to act as migraine triggers, such as stress, dehydration, or particular foods or scents? Are there factors that help minimize or prevent migraines, such as rest, caffeine ingestion, medication, or other treatments?

I ask all of my patients to keep a headache log or migraine diary so that I can determine whether the suggestions that I have made have had any impact on the person’s headache pattern. By looking back over the past month at the frequency of headaches, the intensity of headaches, the duration of headaches, and other information that has been collected, I can determine if the medications or other therapies that I have started should be increased, decreased, maintained without change or discontinued.

Don't get me wrong—more information is not always better. I ask my patients to keep a thorough headache diary without providing extraneous details that do not have a real impact on their headaches. Remember—if the doctor spends 10 minutes reading your headache journal, he’ll have 10 fewer minutes of face-to-face time with you.

Always take a list of questions to ask your doctor as well because this interaction is not a one-way street. It is important to ask your doctor questions as well as answer his questions to understand better how to manage your headaches. I feel that the role of the physician is to educate patients about their ailments as well as to treat those ailments. If you walk out of your doctor's office with your questions answered, you will feel more satisfied about your own health care.

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Do you have a migraine question for Dr. Haplea? Send it to feedback@MyMigraineConnection.com or post it on the migraine message boards.