Migraine JournalBlog
Writing for the people around a migraine
Most migraine advice is written for the person in the dark room. A lot of this is written for whoever is standing outside it — plus how to track attacks properly and what to take to an appointment.
Everything else
Alcohol and Migraines: The Same Night or the Next Morning
Red wine is the most-blamed drink and works less than one time in ten. The onset timing is what separates a real trigger from an ordinary hangover.
Exercise and Migraine: Prevention or Trigger?
Both, and the difference is timing. Aerobic exercise reduces migraine days in trials, while exertion during an attack makes it worse — two different things.
Screens and Migraines: It's Probably Not the Blue Light
Flicker and glare have better evidence behind them than blue light does — and unlike blue light, both are things you can change and then test in a fortnight.
Driving With a Migraine: When to Stop, and What to Tell DVLA
Having migraine doesn't stop you driving. Driving through an attack is a different question, and aura is the part where the answer is clearest.
Printable Migraine Trigger Test Tracker (Free, 6 Weeks)
One variable, six weeks, one page. Built around the two columns that stop a trigger test producing a confident wrong answer — and a verdict box at the end.
PIP for Migraines: What Your Diary Has to Show
The assessment turns on what you can do on more than half the days. Why attack counts lose, and the two columns that make a fluctuating condition legible.
Free Printable Migraine Appointment Prep Sheet (PDF)
One page, filled in the night before. The four figures a clinician asks for first, your treatment history, and a box for what was decided before you leave.
What Happens at a First Neurology Appointment for Migraine
The history takes most of it, the examination is shorter than you expect, and imaging usually isn't ordered. What each part is for, in the order it happens.
Vestibular Migraine: Dizziness Without the Headache
Episodes of vertigo with no head pain still count. The criteria ask for five episodes, a duration range, and migraine features in half of them.
Perimenopause Migraines: Why They Get Worse First
Attacks often intensify years before periods stop, then settle. Why the usual menstrual counting method breaks in perimenopause, and what to record instead.
How Long Before a Migraine Preventive Works?
Eight weeks at the target dose for tablets, three months for monthly injections. The trial only means something if you took a baseline count before day one.
Migraine or Tension Headache? You Need Two Weeks, Not One
The two definitions side by side, as six things to record. Why one headache can't answer it, and why most people asking turn out to have both kinds.
Migraine Warning Signs Before It Starts: Find Your Own
Tiredness, a stiff neck, trouble concentrating. In one diary study these predicted a full attack 72% of the time — here's how to find which ones work for you.
How to Get Referred to a Headache Specialist
The referral is decided in a ten-minute GP appointment. What to say, the reasons a GP can act on, and the record that turns a request into a routine letter.
Your Neurologist Asked for a Headache Diary. Record This
Six fields, and what a clinician does with each one at the next appointment — plus the four things people record diligently for months that never get used.
Migraine Aura Without Headache: What It Is and Why to Log It
Yes — aura can arrive with no headache at all. It's a recognised migraine subtype, and silent attacks belong in your record: they change what a doctor sees.
Migraine Aura or Stroke? A Timing Test for the Person Watching
Migraine aura or stroke? You usually can't tell by looking. The tie-breaker is timing: aura spreads over minutes, stroke lands at once. Unsure means call.
FMLA for Migraines: What the Certification Form Actually Asks
FMLA for migraines runs through one form, WH-380-E. What its fields ask — episode frequency, duration, treatment dates — and the diary numbers that fill them.
Migraine Postdrome: Why the Day After Still Counts
Migraine postdrome is the documented day-after phase of the attack, not weakness — what it feels like, how long it lasts, and why to log it.
What to Text Someone With a Migraine (Copy-Paste Ready)
What to text someone with a migraine, phase by phase: copy-paste messages for mid-attack and the day after, and why a text that needs no reply helps most.
Barometric Pressure Migraine App: When the Reading Is Taken
A barometric pressure migraine app is decided by one thing: whether it stamps the pressure change as you log, or looks the weather up afterwards.
The Best Migraine Tracking App Is the One You Still Use
Written by someone who makes one, so read it accordingly. The four questions that decide whether a migraine tracking app survives to month three.
Calling In Sick With a Migraine: The Exact Message to Send
The two-sentence message to send at 7am, why naming migraine beats 'not feeling well', and what to do when calling in sick with a migraine keeps happening.
CGRP Prior Authorization: What Your Diary Has to Show
Many US plans still ask for step therapy the American Headache Society dropped in 2024. The diary fields a prior authorization needs, and the renewal trap.
Reading this for someone else?
Migraine Journal takes under a minute to log an attack, records the pressure change automatically, and prints a summary they can hand to their neurologist.