Are you serious about your migraines? Do you really want to figure out what causes them? Do you really want to impress your doctor? Try a headache diary.

When I made the decision a couple years back that I was going to see a doctor about my headaches, I decided, unbidden, to start keeping a log about my headaches. At the time, I didn’t realize that these were called “headache diaries.” I just knew that I needed empirical evidence of how often these headaches were occurring.

Even before I got to the doctor, the information that I saw on the sheet was invaluable. I could see the number of times that I was experiencing aura without migraine. The number of days that I had multiple headaches, and the few number of days (at the time) that I was headache free. I also used the sheet to keep track of the amount of Ibuprofen and Maxalt I was using to treat the headaches. The diary gave me insight into my own head.

When I went into the Neurologist, I was then able to take this information along with me, and use it as fodder for our discussion around what we should do, whether a preventative was right for me, and, more importantly later on, whether the preventative was working.

There are a lot of pre-made diaries out there on the Internet. You can take a look at some of the migraine drug manufacturers (last I looked, Maxalt had one that you could download). Another option is the American Council for Headache Education (http://www.achenet.org), who has a printable diary. As an alternative, if you’re a bit savvy with a word processor or spreadsheet, you can make one up in five or ten minutes and be done with it.

Once you have one to fill out comes the hard part: keeping it. You need to make the commitment to keep the diary filled out, and it can be a hard commitment to keep. Half the time, you’ll forget to have the diary with you, and when you have it with you, you’ll probably be in the middle of a migraine.

I think the biggest stumbling block is trying to keep perfect accuracy. You start missing a little here and there, and pretty soon you figure you might as well give up. Don’t do it! Perfect accuracy isn’t the goal. Who cares if the severity is exactly right, or if you miss one day out of ten? As long as you get most days and you get the patterns, you’re doing fine.

It’s not much of a time investment, and you have a lot to gain. I highly recommend it, particularly if you’re just now starting on the course of your migraine journey.

Do you have any tips on keeping a migraine diary? Talk about it in the message boards.