When diagnosing a migraine headache, a physician or health care provider will assess the patient for certain definitive signs, symptoms, and characteristics to determine whether in fact the individual is truly experiencing a migraine headache. This may include intense throbbing pain often associated on one side of the head (for example behind the eye), nausea, and sensitivity to light, sound, or smell. However, as most migraine headache sufferers will tell you, a migraine can be as individual as their personality as well as the triggers that cause them.
One of the most effective ways to manage or treat migraine headaches isn’t to immediately reach for the pill bottle. It is in fact to identify what triggers them, and then make lifestyle changes to reduce, or eliminate the cause. Using a simple tool such as the old fashioned pen and paper to create a headache diary is an easy and inexpensive way to start. For the more computer savvy individual, setting up a web journal that you could link to your smart phone would be an easy way to record information. This could then provide a printable document for your health care provider to review, before recommending treatment options.
A simple way to document what triggers a migraine is to separate information into individual categories. Give headings or titles to the category and then leave space to write in what you learn. Here are some examples:
Food
Pay careful attention to what you eat and drink throughout the day and record any food or beverage that precede a headache. Also record if consumption of anything helps reduce or eliminate symptoms.
Environment
Watch the daily weather forecast, make a note of changing weather conditions, pressure systems, pollen counts, air quality. Record if central heating or air conditioning is being used. Lighting changes such as florescent, prolonged exposure to computer screen glare. Smells, for example smoke, perfumes, chemicals or foods. Excessive noise or certain pitch of a sound.
Stress
This heading can be easily subdivided in to work, home, financial and personal.
Hormonal
For women, this could be another category. Monitoring and tracking headaches in correlation to your menstrual cycle could be very helpful to your health care provider when prescribing a treatment plan.
Using a simple tool like this to identify what triggers your migraines could have a dramatic impact on your headaches and overall quality of life.
Tags: Environment, headache, menstrual cycle could, migraine headaches, migraine treatment, migraine triggers, nausea, stress, treating migraines, triggers
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