| Q: |
Why should I keep a migraine diary?
| | A: |
Keeping a diary will help you avoid migraine triggers and
maintain a consistent treatment program. Tracking your activities and
noting when you have a migraine attack enables you to identify triggers,
such as missed meals, traveling, stressful situations, or certain
foods, and to avoid them as much as possible in future. Your diary also
allows you to plan times for relaxation or stress management techniques
as well as for exercise, and will help you stay dedicated to your
treatment program.
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| Q: |
How will the diary help me control the migraine attacks?
| | A: |
A diary will give you an accurate assessment of how well you are
controlling your migraine. Most people experience periods of time when
they get more frequent attacks, which can be very discouraging. It is
very easy to give up during difficult times if you cannot see signs of
immediate improvement. Looking back on times of better migraine control
provides perspective and encourages you to persist with your treatment
program, especially with changes in your lifestyle.
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| Q: |
How can changing my lifestyle help my migraine?
| | A: |
Living a “migraine-friendly” lifestyle by avoiding triggers will
not only lessen the frequency of attacks but may reduce and often
eliminate the need for daily preventive medication. Most preventive
medications are more effective if combined with lifestyle changes. As
with many chronic conditions, lifestyle changes are at the heart of how
well you manage the condition. It is important to understand that you
must reduce triggers to prevent future migraine attacks, and not simply
to avoid a single attack.
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| Q: |
What if I am convinced my migraine is simply caused by stress?
| | A: |
Blaming only stress without seeing how the other triggers
contribute to the frequency of your migraine attacks can make your
migraine more difficult to treat successfully. You will come to view
migraine attacks as inevitable during times of stress and may fail to
take action that could prevent the attacks. During periods of stress,
you can often eliminate or control other triggers and therefore prevent
the attack while you are dealing with the stressful situation. Moreover,
the migraine attack may be making you more prone to feeling stressed
rather than the other way around and may have actually been triggered by
something else.
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| Q: |
I am reluctant to change my lifestyle. Do I really have to?
| | A: |
Many people with migraine feel the same as you. In the beginning,
it is hard to believe that your migraine has anything to do with your
diet or lifestyle. However, patients who take a comprehensive approach
to their migraine treatment by avoiding as many triggers as possible
usually find that the reduction in the frequency of their attacks is
well worth all the hard work.
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| Q: |
Why is it helpful to write down what I am eating or drinking?
| | A: |
Dietary changes for the successful treatment of migraine can be
one of the most difficult challenges you will face. Some people may have
more difficulty with dietary changes than others. Keeping track of what
you are eating will help you alter your eating habits. Many people with
migraine do not realize how many triggers are in the food they eat
until they start writing down what they are eating. Unless you write
down a list of what you eat and how you are eating, such as whether you
miss meals, it can be difficult to see how your eating habits influence
the frequency of the migraine attacks.
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