What is a headache diary/journal?

To avoid recall bias when trying to remember what happened over the last 90 days, a monthly headache diary keeps patients true to their actual experience. A headache diary is a continuous way for patients to track their symptoms in an organized and simple fashion to better understand the frequency of attacks, headache severity, effectiveness of medications used to treat attacks (abortive therapies); and other data such as days of menstruation and headache triggers (if applicable). Through simple tracking, patients can gain a better understanding of their headaches and empower themselves over their headache condition. 

From a treatment perspective, the headache diary provides helpful data for providers to make clinical decisions such as starting a preventive therapy, increasing a preventive therapy, adding a different abortive therapy, or timing therapies for different situations that may be at higher risk for a headache attack.