Free Headache Diary (Printable PDF + Online Log)

At most headache appointments you get asked the same questions: How often? How long? What did you take, and did it help? Answering from memory is hard when headaches blur together. A headache diary fixes that.

This page gives you a free headache diary you can print as a PDF or fill in online, and explains what to log, how long to keep going, how to read the patterns, and what to bring to your doctor.

Not medical advice. This article is general information about keeping records. It is not a diagnosis or a treatment plan. Talk to a doctor or other qualified health professional about your symptoms, and seek urgent care for any of the warning signs listed near the end.

Why keep a headache diary?

Headache organisations recommend diaries for a few concrete reasons. The Migraine Trust says a diary can help your doctor make a diagnosis, help you recognise triggers and warning signs, show whether acute or preventive medication is working, and reveal patterns in your attacks (The Migraine Trust). Mayo Clinic's advice for anyone with regular migraine symptoms is to "keep a record of your attacks and how you treated them" and take it to an appointment (Mayo Clinic).

There is also a clinical reason. The International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3), which doctors use to classify headache, notes that characterising frequently recurring headache "generally requires a headache diary to record information on pain and associated symptoms day-by-day for at least one month" (ICHD-3, 1.3 Chronic migraine). A diary is also one of the simplest ways to help a doctor tell headache vs migraine, because the pattern of symptoms matters as much as the pain.

Memory is unreliable here. A review of trigger and warning-sign research concluded that prospective electronic diaries provide the most reliable information (Pavlovic et al., 2014).

How to use the headache diary on this page

You can use the diary in two ways. Both have the same columns, so you can switch between them.

• Printable headache diary (PDF). Choose Print blank sheet, then print it or choose Save as PDF in your browser's print dialog. Keep it somewhere you'll see it, such as by your bed or in your bag. Fill in a row for each headache, and start a fresh sheet each month so monthly totals are easy to count.
• Online headache log. Fill in the same columns on your phone or computer. This is handy if you'd rather not carry paper. Entries stay in this browser and are not sent anywhere. Choose Print my log to print what you've entered, or save it as a PDF, before an appointment.

Whichever you choose, fill it in as soon as you can after a headache starts or ends. Details like start time and what you took fade fast. A row can be short: an example entry might read "Tues, 7am, 6 hours, severe, one side, nausea and light sensitivity, ibuprofen 400mg at 8am, partly helped, poor sleep the night before, left work early".

What to log for every headache

The Migraine Trust's advice is to keep it simple and record the basics (The Migraine Trust). Combining their list with the one from the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), these are the fields worth logging every time:

1. Date and start time. NINDS specifically asks for the time of day. Day of the week matters too, because some people notice weekend or workday patterns.
2. Duration. When it started and when it ended. ICHD-3 notes that if you fall asleep during a migraine attack and wake up without it, the attack is counted until the time you woke (ICHD-3, 1.1).
3. Severity. Mild, moderate or severe, or a 1 to 10 scale where 10 is the worst pain you can imagine. Pick one scale and stick with it.
4. Other symptoms. Nausea or vomiting, sensitivity to light, sound or smells, dizziness or vertigo, and anything that affects movement or sensation such as numbness.
5. Medication. What you took, the dose, the time, and whether you needed a second dose. Include over-the-counter painkillers, not just prescriptions.
6. Whether it helped. A simple "yes, partly, no" is enough. This is the part that lets you and your doctor judge whether a treatment is working.

Useful extras

Once the basics are a habit, NINDS suggests also noting (NINDS):

• The quality and length of the previous night's sleep
• Any stress or strong emotions before symptoms started
• Activity right before the headache began
• Food and drink in the previous 24 hours
• Weather or changes in your daily routine
• Your period, if you menstruate

The Migraine Trust also suggests noting medication side effects, any change in medication, and potential triggers (The Migraine Trust). Two more fields are easy to overlook:

• Pain location. One side or both, front, back, around the eye. Migraine pain is often on one side of the head, though it can be on both (NHS).
• Impact on your day. Did you miss work or school, cancel plans, or get through at half speed? This is what disability questionnaires such as MIDAS ask about.

Aura and early warning signs

Mayo Clinic describes four possible phases of a migraine attack: prodrome, aura, attack and postdrome, noting that not everyone goes through all of them (Mayo Clinic). Prodrome symptoms such as yawning, food cravings, mood changes and neck stiffness can start hours or up to two days before the head pain (NHS). If you get these, log them with a time.

If you get aura, which commonly looks like zigzag lines, flashing lights or blind spots, log it carefully. ICHD-3 notes that people often find aura hard to describe, and that recording symptoms as they happen makes the picture clearer. Common recall mistakes include getting the affected side wrong and misremembering how long it lasted (ICHD-3, 1.2 Migraine with aura). Note what you saw or felt, which side, when it started and ended, and whether a headache followed.

Count headache days and medication days

Two simple monthly numbers come up again and again in headache medicine, and a headache log is the easiest way to get them right.

Headache days per month. ICHD-3 defines chronic migraine as headache on 15 or more days a month for more than three months, with migraine features on at least 8 of those days (ICHD-3, 1.3). You don't need to classify yourself; that is your doctor's job. But an accurate count, rather than a guess, makes that conversation much easier.

Days you took acute medication. ICHD-3 describes medication-overuse headache as headache on 15 or more days a month that develops from regular overuse of acute headache medication, on 10 or more or 15 or more days a month depending on the medication, for more than three months (ICHD-3, 8.2). The NHS also flags painkiller frequency as something to watch (NHS). Logging every dose, including over-the-counter ones, gives you an accurate count.

How long should you keep a headache diary?

ICHD-3's guidance of at least one month of day-by-day records is a sensible minimum (ICHD-3, 1.3). Many patterns, such as a link with the menstrual cycle, only show up over two or three cycles, so tracking for around three months before drawing conclusions is reasonable.

The MIDAS questionnaire, a widely used measure of how much migraine affects daily life, asks about the last three months, so a three-month diary lines up neatly with it (Stewart et al., 2001). You can work out your score with our MIDAS calculator.

The American Migraine Foundation adds an important caveat: keeping a diary shouldn't feel overwhelming. If it becomes stressful, ask your doctor which details actually matter for you (American Migraine Foundation).

How to read the patterns in your headache log

After a month or two, step back and look at the whole diary rather than single entries.

• Frequency and timing. Count headache days per month and look for clusters: mornings, weekends, the days around your period.
• Treatment response. How often did your medication help, and how long did it take? Are you reaching for painkillers more often than before?
• Possible triggers. Look at what came before attacks, but also how often the same thing happened on days you were fine. The Migraine Trust notes that early warning signs can be mistaken for triggers: if you eat chocolate to satisfy a craving before an attack, you may wrongly blame the chocolate (The Migraine Trust). Our guide to migraine triggers explains how to test a suspected trigger fairly.
• Weather. If you suspect the weather, note the local barometric pressure alongside each attack. Our guide to barometric pressure headaches explains what to record.

A pattern in your diary is a question to take to your doctor, not proof of a cause.

Paper, spreadsheet or app?

The American Migraine Foundation says there is no wrong way to record migraine symptoms; find a method that works for you and stick with it (American Migraine Foundation).

• Paper. Free and private, but totals and patterns have to be worked out by hand.
• Spreadsheet. Easy to sum up, awkward to fill in during an attack.
• App. Quick to log from your phone, with totals and charts calculated for you. Check what data it collects and where it is stored, since this is health information.

If you use an iPhone or iPad, Mira is a free migraine tracker built around the fields in this guide: severity, duration, pain location, symptoms, triggers, medications, what helped, impact on your day and cycle, plus notes. It works out your MIDAS score, charts how often attacks happen, and exports your history as a PDF or CSV to bring to an appointment. Your data stays on your device and in your private iCloud, with no account needed.

What to bring to your doctor

A diary is most useful when it is easy to read in a short appointment. Before you go:

• Summarise the month. Number of headache days, number of days you took acute medication, and your typical severity.
• Bring the diary itself. The printed pages or an export, so your doctor can check details.
• Note what changed. New medication, dose changes, or anything else that changed since your last visit.
• List your questions. Write them down so they don't get lost.

When not to wait for your diary

A diary is for tracking a pattern over time. It is not for deciding whether a headache is an emergency. The NHS advises calling 999 (or your local emergency number) if you have a headache that came on suddenly and is extremely painful, problems speaking or remembering, loss of vision or double vision, drowsiness or confusion, a seizure, a very high temperature with symptoms of meningitis, weakness on one side of the body or face, or a recent head injury (NHS).

The NHS also advises seeing a GP if migraine attacks are severe, getting worse or lasting longer than usual, or happening more than once a week (NHS).

FAQ

What should I write in a headache diary?

At minimum: the date and time, how long the headache lasted, how severe it was, other symptoms, any medication you took, and whether it helped. These come from The Migraine Trust's and NINDS's recommended fields. Sleep, stress, food, weather and your period are useful extras.

How long should I keep a headache diary before seeing a doctor?

Don't delay seeing a doctor in order to collect data. If you're already planning an appointment, ICHD-3 suggests at least one month of daily records for frequent headache, and about three months lines up with questionnaires like MIDAS.

Should I log days without a headache?

It helps. Knowing which days were headache-free is how headache days per month are counted. You can simply mark each day as a headache day or not.

Is an app better than a printable headache diary?

Neither is better in itself. The American Migraine Foundation says the best method is the one you will keep using. Apps make totals and exports easier, while a printable diary is simple and needs no device.

Can a headache diary tell me what my triggers are?

It can point to possible patterns, but correlation is not proof. Compare how often a suspected trigger happens on headache days and on headache-free days, and discuss what you find with your doctor.

This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. It does not replace a consultation with a qualified health professional.