Your First Visit To The Doctor

As you prepare for your first doctor's visit to be diagnosed with migraines or to seek treatment it will be helpful if you have been keeping a migraine journal. A migraine journal details each...

As you prepare for your first doctor’s visit to be diagnosed with migraines or to seek treatment it will be helpful if you have been keeping a migraine journal. A migraine journal details each migraine and the events or circumstances that preceded them.

Things you should write down in your migraine journal:

The date of each headache

The time of day/night that the headache started

If a female were you experiencing a menstrual cycle when the headache hit?

Describe the type of pain and the intensity of the pain. Was it aching, dull, piercing, excruciating, throbbing, or squeezing in nature?

Record any other symptoms you experienced at the time of the headache such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, head or neck muscles that were tense or that were tender, and were your hearing, eyesight or touch affected in any way?

Describe the location of the pain. Was it one sided, on both sides of your head, in the back of your head or in the front of your head? Was it over one or both eyes? Did you feel it behind one or both eyes?

How long did the headache last? Did it last for one hour, a few hours, or a couple of days?

Were you taking any medications at the time of your headache?

Have you taken any headache medications, either over-the-counter or prescription?

Have you taken any natural remedies for the headaches?

Have any drugs or remedies worked?

Where were you when the headaches started? Were you at home, at work, school, outside?

Do you get headaches during sexual activity?

Were you experiencing stress or an emotional situation before or during the headache?

What was the weather like when the headache started? Was it stormy, dry, hot, cold?

Do you recall if you were exposed to odors like strong cooking odors, perfume, chemicals, or smoke?

Did you skip a meal or had you just eaten? If you have eaten, what did you eat?

Had you been exercising or straining in any way physically?

Did you suffer any head trauma such as a fall, bump of any kind?

Record all food and drink 24 hours prior to the headache.

Record if any other family members have ever been diagnosed with migraines.

Tests your doctor may order:

Your doctor will need to see any records of past headache history, diagnostic studies that were performed by other medical professionals, and your general medical history.

Your doctor may schedule blood chemistry and urinalysis tests that will determine if you have any other medical conditions, rule out thyroid problems or infections, which may be the cause of your headaches.

You may be asked to undergo a CT scan, which is a computerized tomography. You may also have to have a MRI, which is a magnetic resonance imaging scan. These scans will be able to tell if you have a sinus problem, or if you have a tumor or have had a stroke. These scans can also show any skull fractures, malignant diseases, concussions, hematomas and other causes of headaches.

Your doctor may order a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), sinus X-ray, or neurological and ophthalmology tests.

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