Are You at Risk for Chronic Migraine?
Chronic migraine builds up over time, so the useful moment to ask about risk is before it settles in. In the sequence of a first visit, this question belongs after you start a headache record and before you describe your medicines to a clinician.
The short answer: how often you take pain medicine counts
On the progression to chronic migraine, Wikipedia states that overuse of acute pain medications may hasten this, and is a risk factor in developing medication overuse headache. Medicine use is a habit you can track, not a verdict about you.
Building a record of your medicine use
A written record is the most practical step here. Do it in this order:
- List every medicine you take when a headache starts.
- Mark the dates you took each one for a month.
- Note which headaches those doses were for.
- Bring the record, along with the names on the bottles, to your appointment.
Do not stop or change a medicine on your own. Ask a clinician before you adjust anything.
Reading and asking next
For a broader look at migraine types and symptoms, the migraine overview and symptom guide is a good second read. General pain background is in the MedlinePlus pain topic page. To see how professionals in the field present themselves, visit a pain medicine society. If you are in Bloomfield, ask the office what they want to see from your record.
Other risk factors
Other risk factors may exist, and your clinician is the person to ask about them.