Appointments

How to prepare a migraine diary for a neurologist

M
Migrelle Editorial
Updated 23 Sep 20266 min read
Informational, not medical advice. This article helps you understand and track patterns. It doesn't diagnose or treat any condition — always consult your doctor about your migraines.

A neurologist can ask better follow-up questions when your history has dates and a short summary. The American Migraine Foundation recommends a headache diary and a list of current medicines and medical history for a first specialist visit. You do not need a perfect record: label estimates and gaps honestly.

Bring the pattern, not every detail

For each recent month, note roughly how many days involved headache or migraine, how long attacks lasted, how severe they felt and whether work, study or everyday tasks were affected. Mention symptoms that matter to you, such as aura, nausea or light sensitivity. If the pattern has changed, tell the clinician when the change began. A simple migraine diary can make this easier to reconstruct.

Write down your medication history

List medicines and supplements you use, including dose when known, which days you used acute medication and any side effects you want to discuss. Count days with use as well as doses: two doses on one day are still one medication day. Do not change a prescribed plan based on an app counter. Bring your list to the appointment and ask how your clinician wants to interpret it.

Track this in Migrelle
Quick attack logging and on-device pattern summaries for recorded attack tags.

Prepare questions

Useful prompts include: “What might explain a change in my headache pattern?”, “Which symptoms should make me seek urgent help?”, “How should I assess whether my current plan is working?” and “Which information should I keep recording?” Add your own priority at the top so it is not lost when time is short.

Share a report with its limits

Migrelle's doctor report summarizes the most recent 90 days on your device, including migraine days, medication days and common tags. It is a record for discussion, not a clinical score or diagnosis. Migrelle does not calculate MIDAS or HIT-6. Tell your clinician if entries are missing or if the 90-day window omits an important earlier event.

Sources

  1. American Migraine Foundation — First visit to a headache specialist
  2. The Migraine Trust — Keeping a headache diary

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