Preparing to Discuss Chronic Headaches with your Doctor
When scheduling an appointment with your doctor
to discuss chronic headaches, it can be helpful to prepare for
the following questions:
-
Timing:
a. When did they start?
b. How often do they occur?
c. How long do they last?
-
Impact:
a. How disabling are they?
b. What do they prevent you from doing?
-
Warning signs:
a. Do you have any signals that your headaches will occur soon,
such as visual zigzag lines, dark spots in your vision,
etc.?
-
Associated Symptoms:
a. Do you experience nausea/vomiting, light/sound/odor
sensitivity with your headaches?
-
Family history:
a. Do other members of your family get similar
disabling headaches?
-
Past efforts:
a. Have you ever been evaluated and/or treated
for your headaches?
b. What was done?
c. What helped
d. What didn’t help?
-
Previous tests:
a. Have you ever had a brain CT or MRI?
b. When was it done?
c. What were the results?
-
Medications:
a. What medications do you use or have
you used for headache and other
conditions?
b. What worked?
c. What didn’t?
d. What were the dosages used
and how long did you take each?
Prior to your appointment, you may also consider
taking a headache disability quiz. You can find the Migraine
Disability
Assessment
(MIDAS)
test
on the ACHE website
at http://www.achenet.org/tools/migraine/index.asp. This information,
along with answers to the eight questions, will help give your
doctor a clearer idea of what type of headaches you suffer
from and how much they affect your daily activities.
lead to an external site |