Track Your Headache Triggers
A Headache Diary for Women
Find Headache Relief
Headaches take various forms, but the one that hurts
the most is the one you have right now. Headaches are
disabling—they affect the quality of your life, from
family pleasure, to restful sleep at night, to concentration
at work.
Headaches are common for millions of Americans, yet
many continue to suffer when relief is available.
Take The First Step
The first step to relief is to recognize the pattern
of your headaches. This diary will help you track your
headaches and detect the lifestyle or environmental
markers that coincide with the onset of a headache.
The next step may be a consultation with your physician
to analyze obvious and not so obvious triggers which
lead to headaches.
Headache Triggers
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Hormones
1. Menses
2. Ovulation
3. Hormone Replacement (Progesterone)
Diet
4. Alcohol
5. Chocolate
6. Aged Cheese
7. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
8. Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
9. Caffeine
10. Nuts
11. Nitrites, Nitrates
12. Other
Changes
13. Weather
14. Seasons
15. Travel (Crossing Time Zones)
16. Altitude
17. Schedule Changes
18. Sleeping Patterns
19. Diet
20. Skipping Meals
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Sensory Stimuli
21. Strong Light
22. Flickering Lights
23. Odors
Stress
24. Let Down Periods
25. Times of Intense Activity
26. Loss (Death, Separation, Divorce)
27. Moving
28. Job Loss/Change
29. Crisis
30. Other
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How to Use Your Headache Diary
Track your headaches over a three Month period to
determine your headache patterns and whether lifestyle
changes help you feel better.
To chart your headaches in the most effective way,
use these easy codes:
- Rate the severity of your headache on a scale of
1 to 5, with 5 being most severe.
- Indicate the day and time your headache began.
- What was going on around the time your headache started?
Record your headache triggers from the list of headache
triggers. Insert number(s) into the Triggers column.
- Note how long your headache lasted.
- Use a symbol to indicate the pain relief remedies
you tried. For example:
- M= Medicine I= Ice
- S= Sleep O= Other
- Add + if it helped or - if it did not.
The Road to Relief
Consistent use of this chart will help you determine
the pattern of your headaches and recognize the triggers
that bring on headache pain. These insights may enable
you to make effective diet or lifestyle changes which
will prevent headaches.
This completed Diary will also provide valuable information
for your physician as you work together to relieve your
headache pain.
To print out your headache diary, go to the next
page.
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