What should I bring to a GP or neurology appointment for migraines?

A short summary of the last few weeks: how many attacks, their average severity, how many days you took acute medication, your most frequent triggers, and a list of what you've already tried. One page is plenty. Migrainely's export PDF is built to be exactly that.

How far in advance should I start the diary?

Ideally four to eight weeks before the appointment, so the record captures several attacks and any monthly pattern. If the visit is sooner, bring whatever you have — even two weeks of honest notes is far better than recalling in the room.

Does the diary help with a specialist referral?

It can. In Australia your GP is usually the first stop, and a clear diary helps them decide on treatment or a referral to a neurologist. Attack frequency and acute-medication days inform whether a preventive is worth starting; the diary doesn't diagnose or prescribe.

The headache diary your GP or specialist asked for

In Australia, your GP is usually the first stop for migraine — and often the one who asks you to keep a diary before deciding on treatment or a referral to a specialist. There’s a good chance the consultation will be short, and a clear record is the difference between a rushed conversation and a useful one.

This is a guide to tracking your migraines for that appointment — what to capture, how to keep it light, and how to arrive with one page a GP or neurologist can read in seconds.

Why your GP or specialist wants a diary

A clinician is trying to answer a few questions quickly: how often do the attacks happen, how bad are they, how long do they last, what helps, and is anything making them worse? Your memory can’t answer those reliably a month later. A diary can.

It also surfaces two things that change treatment decisions: attack frequency (which influences whether a daily preventive is worth starting) and acute-medication use (which can quietly tip into medication-overuse headache). healthdirect and Headache Australia both point to a diary as part of understanding and managing migraine.

What to track before your appointment

If you’re new to this, start with keeping a simple headache diary and layer in the appointment-specific detail below.

The essentials of each attack

For every attack: onset (date and time), pain (0–10 at its worst), location, and duration. These four are quick and carry most of the diagnostic weight. Add the symptoms that came with it — aura, nausea, light or sound sensitivity.

Medication — the column they read first

For each attack, log what you took, the dose, the time, and whether it worked. This is the field a clinician scans first. It shows whether your acute treatment is effective and how many days a month you’re relying on it — the early-warning sign of medication overuse.

Triggers and sleep

Note plausible triggers and your sleep. You’re not solving anything in the moment; you’re building the raw material for finding patterns over months. Sleep, heat, and menstrual cycle are worth capturing because they’re among the patterns a clinician will ask about.

How to log without it taking over

The diary only works if you actually keep it, so make each entry cheap. During an attack, log the bare minimum — pain, location, time — and fill in the rest later. A quick-log habit beats a detailed one you abandon by week two.

How long before the appointment

Aim for four to eight weeks of entries. That usually catches several attacks, any weekly rhythm, and a full menstrual cycle if it’s relevant. Booked sooner? Bring what you have.

Turn it into one page

The mistake is arriving with a thick logbook and expecting the clinician to read it. They won’t have time. What helps is a summary: attacks this period, average severity, acute-medication days, most frequent triggers, and preventive adherence if you’re on one.

This is exactly what Migrainely’s specialist-export PDF produces — a clean, single page in plain type, no marketing, generated from your entries so you’re not doing arithmetic in the waiting room.

What to bring — a short checklist

A one-page summary of the last 4–8 weeks.
Your acute-medication days per month.
A list of preventives and acute treatments you’ve already tried, and how they went.
Any questions you want answered, written down before you go in.

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Migrainely is a log, not a diagnostic tool. Speak to a GP or neurologist about your migraines.