Chronic Migraine 15 or More Days a Month
If your headaches now fill half the month or more, you have probably passed the point of treating each one as a separate event.
The most useful habit to start now is a calendar of headache days. Diagnosis stays with your clinician.
How the definition reads
Wikipedia says chronic migraine is defined as headaches occurring on at least 15 days per month for more than three months, with at least eight days per month fulfilling criteria for migraine.
Two things stand out. The definition counts days, and it counts them over months. That is why the habit worth building is a calendar, not a memory.
Count the days
Mark every headache day on a calendar and note whether it felt like your usual migraine or something different. At the end of each month, add up both. If you want broader background on why pain lingers, a general overview of chronic pain causes is one place to look. It is not specific to migraine.
Track what you do, not just what you feel
Beside each day, write what you took and when, and anything that seemed to bring relief. Over a few months this shows a clinician what has already been tried and what the pattern looks like.
The change that signals the next stage
Raise these with a clinician in Clifton or wherever you are seen:
- The monthly count moving up or down from your usual range
- A new kind of headache that does not match your usual ones
- New symptoms alongside the pain, such as weakness or changes in vision
- Relief that used to come and no longer does
Another option is a general headache overview if you want to compare the words you use with the words a clinician might use.
What to ask at the visit
- Based on my calendar, where do you see me on the timeline?
- Which of the days I marked would you count toward the definition?
- What should I record differently over the next three months?
Reading beyond headache
People who live with long-term pain often read about other conditions too. A page on fibromyalgia is one example. Reading it does not mean it relates to your migraines.
Planning ahead
Keep the calendar going between visits and bring the last three months each time. The trend across months gives a clinician something to work with.
One question to take to your appointment
Ask this: which change in my monthly count would make you want to revisit the plan? Some readers also look at complementary approaches to chronic pain before the visit so they can ask about them directly.