So, I've been giving this a lot of thought. I decided I am going to make a binder with printed templates (date/time/KIP/notes)
I thought a brainstorm with some people might be helpful to the community as a whole.
but I'm wondering what else I might do to more thoroughly document all of the circumstances around my headaches. I'd like to have a formula or list of criteria to record instead of recording willy-nilly. For instance, (for those of you with experience, I suppose, or just good insight, )

1. The location, duration, and respective intensity of the pain
It is generally the same, but at least for me, it varies. Sometimes my maxilla/zygomatic bones hurt real bad, once it was my teeth. Frequently, but not always, I have intense pain in my inner-ear. The intensity of the 'eye' pain can vary, and the 'boring' pain is generally the worse for me. I am wondering how important this data might actually be.

2.foods and drinks consumed, along with ingredients of interest
the goal would be to possibly identify common ingredients or foods that might be a trigger. Or, just to document if eating in general is relevant.

3.amount of water consumed
This is self-explanatory. Documenting the amount of water consumed in a day (and what kind, for those of us who drink polar seltzer, which I can't get enough of. Beats soda any day!) It's my understanding that this can have an impact on the headaches.

4. sleep
Sleep hygiene, I suspect, is also relevant. Also, waking up during an attack is worth noting, right?

5. Medications used to try and abort the headache.
This would include the dosage, ROA, TOA, and effect. FOr those of you who use O2, this would include duration and volume.

Have I covered the major areas? Is there anything to remove or add?

Hey Lucy, Seems like a good start. And, it appears that you are dedicating yourself to find the "right" answers and doing the right things to ameliorate your attacks.

Journals are excellent learning materials. Your anecdotal evidence compiled with other journals can help to establish a justification for further study.

In addition to what you have mentioned, some other daily events you might keep track of are

Weather related events, ie; temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, (did it rain, snow hail?).

Solar and Lunar cycles. It begins to sound like voodoo medicine when we include such things in the modern approach to treatments, but by god it's a fact that all living things ARE affected by these cycles. Get an almanac or better yet access the NASA website and refer to their solunar tables. I think they can provide data for any location world wide. (I have some interesting theories concerning this but haven't been able to get to them due to constructing other arguments).

Monitor your weight. This should be done at the same time each day. First thing in the morning, after your first bowel movement, or mid afternoon are usually best because the body is in a somewhat fasted state. You mentioned what foods. Don't forget to include an approximation of how much and time of day consumed as this really affects our "biological clock".

ANYTHING that you think might be a trigger should be noted, no matter how bizarre.

Make note of your overall sense of well being. This may give some insight into how you cycle into or out of an episode.

Keeping a useful informative personal journal can be a time consuming exercise in observational and organizational skills. But remember, you are performing an epidemiological experiment, n=1

Who knows, you may find the pump handle that helps to save others like ourselves (Reference to John Snow).


Peace Of Mind