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Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffYou're likely to start by seeing your family doctor. However, you may be referred to a neurologist, a doctor who specializes in treating nervous system disorders, such as headache.
Because appointments can be brief and there's often a lot of ground to cover, it's a good idea to be well prepared for your appointment. Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment, and what to expect from your doctor.
What you can do
- Write down any symptoms you're experiencing, including any that may seem unrelated to the reason for which you scheduled the appointment.
- Write down key personal information, including any major stresses or recent life changes.
- Make a list of all medications, as well as any vitamins or supplements, that you're taking, and share this information with your doctor.
- Write down questions to ask your doctor.
Your time with your doctor is limited, so preparing a list of questions may help you make the most of your time together. List your questions from most important to least important in case time runs out. For tension headaches, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:
- What type of headache do you think I'm experiencing?
- What kinds of tests do I need? What will these tests rule out?
- Is my condition likely temporary or chronic?
- What treatments are available? Which do you recommend?
- What are the alternatives to the primary approach that you're suggesting?
- I have other health conditions. How can I best manage them together?
- Are there any restrictions that I need to follow?
- Do I need to see a specialist?
- Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing me?
- What are common side effects to the medications you're prescribing?
- Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take home? What websites do you recommend?
In addition to the questions that you've prepared to ask your doctor, don't hesitate to ask questions during your appointment.
What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor will likely ask you a number of questions. Being ready to answer them may reserve time to go over any points you want to spend more time on. Your doctor may ask:
- When did you first begin experiencing symptoms?
- Have you noticed any common triggers, such as a stressful situation or when you've missed a meal?
- Have your symptoms been continuous, or occasional?
- How severe are your symptoms?
- How long does each headache last?
- How often do you have headaches?
- What, if anything, seems to improve your symptoms?
- What, if anything, appears to worsen your symptoms?
What you can do in the meantime
While you're waiting to see your doctor, you can take an over-the-counter painkiller, such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) to temporarily relieve the pain.
Keep a headache diary. One of the most helpful things you can do is keep a headache diary. Each time you get a headache, jot down these details that may help your doctor diagnose your particular kind of headache and discover possible headache triggers.
- Date. Charting the date and time of each headache can help you recognize patterns.
- Duration. How long did your headache last?
- Intensity. Rate your headache pain on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most severe.
- Triggers. List possible triggers that may have caused your headache, such as certain foods, physical activities, noise, stress, smoke, bright lights, a menstrual cycle, changes in temperature or altitude, strong odors, or oversleeping.
- Symptoms. Did you experience any preceding symptoms?
- Medications. What medications have you taken? List any, including dosage, even if they're unrelated to your headache.
- Relief. Have you experienced any pain relief, from complete to moderate to none?
- Tension-type headache. National Headache Foundation. http://www.headaches.org/education/Headache_Topic_Sheets/Tension-Type_Headache. Accessed Nov. 24, 2010.
- Ropper AH, et al. Headache and other craniofacial pains. In: Ropper AH, et al. Adam's and Victor's Principles of Neurology. 9th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies. 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3631051&searchStr=cluster+headache. Accessed Nov. 24, 2010.
- Crystal SC, et al. Epidemiology of tension-type headache. Current Pain and Headache Report. 2010;14:449.
- Headache: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/headache/detail_headache.htm. Accessed Nov. 29, 2010.
- Monteith TS. Tension type headache in adolescence and childhood: Where are we now? Current Pain and Headache Report. 2010;14:424.
- Taylor FR. Tension-type headache in adults: Pathophysiology, clinical features and diagnosis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 24, 2010.
- Lenaerts ME. Epidemiology of tension-type headache (TTH). Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy. 2009;10:1261.
- Headache diary. National Headache Foundation. http://www.headaches.org/pdf/Headache_Diary.pdf. Accessed Nov. 30, 2010.
- Taylor FR. Tension-type headache in adults: Acute treatment. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 24, 2010.
- Taylor FR. Tension-type headache in adults: Preventive treatment. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 24, 2010.
- Holroyd AH, et al. Tricyclic antidepressants for migraine and tension-type headaches. British Medical Journal. 2010;341:841.
- Linde K, et al. Acupuncture for tension-type headache. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2009:CD007587.
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