What should I bring to a neurologist appointment?
The single most useful thing to bring is a dated record of your migraine days — how often they happen, how severe they are, your symptoms, how many days a month you use acute medication, and any triggers you've noticed. Add a short written list of your questions and a note of what you've already tried, and you'll cover most of what a neurologist wants to know.
Your headache history, in numbers
Neurology appointments are short, and memory is a poor witness for something as variable as migraine. A dated diary lets you answer the questions that shape the visit: how many headache days a month, how many of those are full migraines, how long attacks last, and — importantly — how many days a month you take acute medication, since that bears on medication-overuse headache. Trends over several months are more valuable than a snapshot, so bring the history, not just last week.
Medications, triggers and impact
List everything you take for migraine — acute and preventive — including doses and how often, plus anything you've tried before and stopped. Note any patterns or possible triggers you've spotted, framed as associations rather than certainties. It also helps to describe the real-world impact: days of work or life lost, effects on mood and sleep. This is the context that helps a neurologist judge severity and options.
Questions, and how tracking helps
Write your questions down beforehand — it's easy to forget them in the moment. Good ones include what type of headache this looks like, what the options are, what to expect from any treatment, and when to seek urgent help. Arriving with a dated record makes every one of these easier to answer well. Temple can export your history so you walk in with facts, not a rushed recollection — it organises your record and isn't medical advice. Temple is a tracking tool, not medical advice — for anything specific to you, consult a healthcare professional.
Temple exports a dated summary of your migraine days, symptoms and medication use, so you walk into a neurology appointment with facts instead of a rushed recollection.
Common questions
- What's the most important thing to bring to a headache appointment?
- A dated record of your migraine days: frequency, severity, symptoms, how long attacks last, and how many days a month you use acute medication. That history answers the questions a neurologist relies on far better than trying to remember on the spot.
- Should I write down my questions in advance?
- Yes. Appointments move quickly and it's easy to forget what you meant to ask. A short written list — about diagnosis, options, what to expect and when to seek urgent help — makes sure the visit covers what matters to you.