To find out whether headaches happen every day or most days, mark each calendar date as headache, no headache, or unsure, and keep unrecorded dates visible. Count days with head pain, not the number of attacks; even a short or mild ache belongs in the day count. This record can help you explain your symptoms at a depression appointment, but it cannot establish what caused them.
This method is for adults preparing a symptom history, including people who have low mood alongside head pain. Start now and bring whatever you have to your appointment, even if only a few dates are filled. Four weeks is a convenient recording window, not a reason to postpone care.
Why “every day” is hard to recall
“Every day for months” may be an honest description of how burdensome pain feels, yet it leaves the actual dates unclear. Several difficult days can dominate the story while a painless afternoon or a forgotten weekend disappears from it. A calendar gives those gaps a place instead of requiring you to reconstruct everything in the waiting room.
The useful distinction is between what you observed and what you are estimating. A same-evening mark is an observation; a later reconstruction should say that it was reconstructed and whether you are uncertain. Neither is a test of how seriously you take your symptoms, and an imperfect record is still worth bringing.
How to log whether headaches are every day or most days
Choose a regular evening moment and check that date, rather than filling a whole week from memory. Use four columns: date, head-pain mark, timing or continuity note, and a separate optional mood note. A calendar day runs from midnight to midnight in your local time; keep that convention consistent throughout the sheet.
- Headache: you had head pain at some point on that date, even briefly or mildly.
- No headache: you checked and can say there was no head pain on that date.
- Unsure: you checked later but cannot reliably remember whether pain happened.
- Unrecorded: no entry was made. Leave it visibly unrecorded until you can make an honest mark.
This is an operational rule for this home calendar, not a universal clinical definition of a migraine day. If your clinician has given you a specific diary or counting rule, follow that instruction and tell them how you recorded earlier dates. Keep the brief routine manageable enough that you can continue it without writing a long narrative every evening.
What counts as a headache day
A headache day records the presence of head pain, so a ten-minute ache and several hours of pain both receive one mark for that date. Several episodes on one date still make one headache day. Add duration or impact in the notes if useful, because equal day counts do not mean equal experiences.
Do not require a painkiller, missed work, or severe pain before marking headache. Those details answer different questions and can be noted separately. Harvard’s headache-diary guidance illustrates useful extra fields such as onset, resolution, intensity, associated symptoms, and medicines taken.
How to mark no headache and unsure
A blank cell does not establish that there was no pain, and it does not establish that there was pain either. “No headache” is a checked observation, whereas “unsure” admits that the observation is unavailable. Keeping both separate prevents a tidy-looking sheet from becoming a misleading one.
If you miss several evenings, fill only the dates you can genuinely recall. A dated message saying “headache started after dinner” may support a headache mark, but a busy workday alone does not support either answer. Add “recalled later” when you reconstruct an entry, and keep the remaining dates unsure or unrecorded.
| Situation | Calendar entry | What the count means |
|---|---|---|
| Mild pain for part of one day | Headache on that date; note the approximate time. | One headache day, irrespective of severity. |
| Two episodes on the same date | One headache mark; note both time ranges. | One headache day; the notes can describe two episodes. |
| Checked and no head pain | No headache. | A confirmed date without head pain. |
| Cannot remember yesterday | Unsure; note that the entry was made later. | An unknown date, not a no-headache date. |
| No entry made | Unrecorded. | A missing observation that must stay visible. |
A headache that never fully stops
When pain continues across several dates, mark headache on each date with head pain and describe it as one continuous stretch. Write the remembered start date and time, whether pain ever completely stopped, and any uncertainty about onset. Do not turn ten dates of continuous pain into ten separate attacks.
A clearly remembered onset is clinically useful information, but it is not enough to name the condition yourself. The ICHD-3 description of new daily persistent headache considers onset, continuity, duration, and other diagnostic requirements. Bring a new or persistent pattern to a clinician instead of waiting for the calendar to supply a label.
A pain that crosses midnight
If head pain begins at 11:30 p.m. on one date and ends at 1:00 a.m. the next, mark both dates as headache under this calendar rule. Write “11:30 p.m.–1:00 a.m.; same episode” beside those dates. This records two calendar days touched by pain without claiming two attacks.
Use dates as well as clock times when an episode spans more than one midnight. If the ending time is uncertain, say so rather than choosing a neat estimate. A clinician can then read the day count alongside the duration instead of having to guess why consecutive dates were marked.
A filled four-week example
The following record is illustrative, not a patient history: H means headache, N means no headache, and U means unsure. Every position is one consecutive calendar date, with seven dates per row. Days 3–5 are a single continuous stretch, while days 12–13 show one episode crossing midnight.
| Week and dates | Daily marks | Timing or continuity note |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1: days 1–7 | H · H · H · H · H · N · U | Days 3–5: pain did not completely stop; onset remembered as day 3 at 9 a.m. |
| Week 2: days 8–14 | H · N · H · H · H · H · N | Day 12 at 11:30 p.m. to day 13 at 1 a.m.: one episode across midnight. |
| Week 3: days 15–21 | H · H · N · H · U · H · N | Day 19: unsure after a missed evening check. |
| Week 4: days 22–28 | H · N · N · H · H · U · H | Day 27: unsure; no reliable recollection. |
The totals are 18 headache days, 7 no-headache days, and 3 unsure days. A useful appointment sentence is: “I recorded head pain on 18 of 28 dates; 7 dates had no pain and 3 are uncertain, including one continuous stretch and one overnight episode.” That is more precise than “every day,” because the record includes confirmed dates without head pain.
| Record | Accurate wording |
|---|---|
| 28 headache; 0 no headache; 0 unsure | Head pain was recorded on every date in this 28-day window. This describes days, not separate attacks. |
| 18 headache; 7 no headache; 3 unsure | Head pain was confirmed on more than half the dates, with 3 unknown dates. It was not recorded every day. |
| 6 headache; 2 no headache; 20 unsure | The record is too incomplete to describe the full pattern. Report the 6 confirmed dates and 20 unknown dates. |
Create your headache-day record
Headache Day Record keeps the marks and the missing dates visible while you prepare a short visit summary. It counts calendar dates only and does not score depression, predict a headache, or recommend medicine. Try the clearly labeled illustrative example, then clear it before entering your own record.
Bring dates, not guesses
Headache Day Record
Separate head pain, pain-free dates and missing observations before a visit.
Entries stay in this page’s memory. This experience does not automatically save or send your entries. Download a private backup before leaving and upload it here to continue. Keep health files private on shared devices.
Any head pain on a date counts once, even if mild. “No headache” means checked and none. “Unsure” means cannot recall. Unrecorded dates stay separate. Future dates cannot be marked.
Your dated observations
Change any mark as needed. Timing notes describe continuity; the day count is not an attack count. Timing notes allow 26 characters; mood notes allow 20. Longer context belongs in the visit note.
Download files include your health entries. The A4 record preserves all 28 date marks and short notes. Future dates are listed as future, not as missed entries.
A count cannot diagnose depression, chronic daily headache or migraine; four weeks is not a calendar month or a three-month clinical history. Discuss frequent, new or changing head pain with a clinician and bring a partial record if your appointment is sooner.
Your entries remain in the current page unless you choose to download a backup or report. Keep downloaded health records private, particularly on a shared computer, and use the backup download before leaving the page if you want to continue later. You can bring an unfinished record to an appointment; completion is not a prerequisite for care.
What to bring to the depression visit
Bring the dates, the confirmed count, and the number of unsure or unrecorded dates, together with any start times and continuous stretches you noted. Describe low mood in its own column or sentence, rather than writing that it caused the pain. Also bring your medicine list and any separate medication record your clinician asked you to keep.
For a different recording question, the migraine mood diary focuses on when mood changes occurred relative to head pain. The related depression and headache page discusses depression screening, which is a separate task from counting headache days. Neither topic changes an unsure date into a confirmed observation.
What this count cannot decide
Four weeks can provide a practical snapshot, but it is not interchangeable with a calendar month or a three-month clinical history. The ICHD-3 chronic-migraine criteria and chronic tension-type criteria use frequency and duration alongside other requirements. Reaching 15 marked dates on this sheet does not establish either diagnosis.
The sheet also cannot establish that depression caused head pain or choose a treatment for either symptom. Do not use the older therapies of depression headaches page as instructions to start, stop, or select treatment; take medicine questions to your clinician. Counting, assessing causes, and making treatment decisions are different jobs, and a date record serves only the first.
Frequently asked questions
Can depression cause headaches every day?
Having low mood and head pain together does not establish that depression caused the pain. A calendar can record when head pain happened, including dates without pain, but cannot determine the cause. Discuss frequent, new, or changing headaches with a clinician rather than assigning them to depression yourself.
Does a mild ache count as a headache day?
For this home record, any head pain on a calendar date counts, including a mild or brief ache. Mark that date once and add duration or severity separately if useful. Follow a different counting rule if your clinician has supplied one.
How many days should I track before the appointment?
Start when you can and bring the dates available by your appointment. Four weeks is a practical layout for this calendar, not a required waiting period or a diagnostic interval. Do not delay assessment or urgent help to finish it.
What if I forgot several days?
Mark a date unsure if you cannot reliably recall whether head pain occurred. Keep a date unrecorded if you have not made an entry, and do not silently treat blanks as no headache. Tell the clinician how many dates are unknown and which entries were reconstructed later.
Is a headache that never stops the same as 15 separate attacks?
No: days with pain and separate attacks are different counts. Pain continuing across 15 calendar dates produces 15 headache-day marks under this method, while the notes may describe one continuous stretch. Record the onset and any genuine pain-free interval for your clinician.
Should I write that depression caused the pain?
Report the observations you can support, such as the dates with head pain and the dates or times with low mood. You can also write that you are concerned they may be related. Leave the cause question open for a clinical assessment rather than stating it as a fact.
Before your appointment
- Make one honest evening mark and leave uncertain dates visible.
- Note one continuous stretch as continuous, even when it touches several dates.
- Bring the counts, timing notes, separate mood observations, and medicine list.
- Seek care when needed; the record cannot determine urgency or replace a clinician.
