Those close to me know that I have been suffering from Cluster Headache Migraines since Mid-October 2011.  By they time I was released from a 4 day vacation in the local Hospital Resort and Spa, it became utterly obvious to me that these things were going to hang around for a while, and I needed to start tracking them.  

I didn’t come to this conclusion by my self, every doctor and nurse I saw during a 6 week cycle of doctor’s appointments, ER Visits, and my Hospital stay asked me if I was keeping a .  My answer was always, “No, I know I won’t maintain a paper diary that I have to carry with me everywhere.”

Being the “App Junkie” that I am, i am always playing around in the App store searching by relevant key words to see what pops up.  So after the hospital stay, I played around in the app store by searching by the keyword “Migraine”.  Lo and behold, there were several apps that came up!  Two caught my eye.  The first was “Headache Relief Diary”, which was a nice app, but it just didn’t suit my needs.  The second was this one, “iHeadache - Free Headache & Migraine Diary”.  After playing with both I decided to stick to the second one. And after a few days of use, I chose to pay for the add free version.

What I like about iHeadache is that it has a built in database that allows you to select yes or no to a list of symptoms.  The app uses the true definition of a migraine to determine by symptoms what type of headache you have.  I was able to input all of my medications and their doses so that when I have a migraine I can track what medications I took.  With each new headache I can track symptoms, duration, intensity, medications, triggers, and notes. 

This app earned its keep when I went to a follow up appointment with my doctor.  He asked how many days I had had headaches since my hospital stay.  I opened iHeadache, went to the report section, entered the date I was released from the hospital as the “From” and that day’s date in the “To field”.  I chose “Yes” to all of the info I wanted, and touched, “Show Report”.  In mere seconds I was able to tell my doctor how many headaches I had had, what type they were, etc.  Wala!  Amazing!  

It takes only about a minute to log a headache, and since I do it on a back-lit display device, I can even enter info in the dark which is where I usually am when a Migraine hits me.  No notebook carrying required!  I find a am very consistent about using this “app”.  Just another way Apps have made my life easier!

I chose to share this app early on in my blogging quest because I know so many people who suffer from migraines.  Not everyone is cursed to suffer from these oh-so-lovely cluster headaches, but any headache stinks, and I have found that logging them has helped me to find my triggers as well as nearly predict when I am going to have them the worst.