Migraine Toolkit

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Helaine Bader

HealthyWomen's Vice President of Education

Helaine Bader is a passionate public health advocate and the vice president of education for HealthyWomen. She has spent the last 20 years in the fields of health education, communications and advocacy — helping people understand how to stay healthy and prevent disease; working with grassroots organizations to address health disparities and health literacy in communities throughout the U.S.; and bringing multidisciplinary organizations, experts, and institutions together to tackle issues through collective action.

Early in her career, Helaine conducted epidemiological research in the perinatology department at a hospital and worked as a fellow in the breast cancer division of the National Cancer Institute. She later managed the global communications strategy for a Center of Excellence in Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline. From 2004 to 2010, Helaine worked for Digene (later QIAGEN), directing the global advocacy efforts in cervical cancer. She has consulted with numerous organizations over the years, helping create and implement culturally appropriate educational and awareness campaigns to address disparities in health. Helaine is also co-author of "New Dimensions in Women's Health," now in its eighth edition. Helaine has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master in public health degree for the University of Pittsburgh.

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If you or someone close to you has migraine disease, you may already know that it’s more than “just a headache.”

Many people think of migraine as a severe headache, but migraine is actually a neurological condition with many different symptoms. Yes, the most common symptom of a migraine attack is head pain, which can be severe or moderate and long-lasting. But there are many other symptoms as well.

Migraine symptoms can include:

Sensitivity to light, sound and smells
Eye pain
Vision problems like tunnel vision, blurry vision or seeing flashing lights
Nausea
Dizziness, numbness and tingling
Sweating
Increased urination
Fatigue
Frequent yawning
Constipation

And migraine may come with or without aura, which is a warning that a migraine headache is coming on.

There’s a wide variety of ways to experience migraine and a wide variety of treatments available as well.

Migraine toolkit

We’ve put together a migraine toolkit to help you navigate this complicated disease or care for someone who’s living with it.

Here, you’ll find a journal to help track triggers and symptoms so you and your healthcare provider (HCP) can try to find patterns that will help get the disease under better control, a migraine action plan you can put together with your HCP, a checklist to help support dialogue with an HCP, and a list of resources where you can learn more about the disease and find support. We’ve also included a migraine health plan for school and a pediatric migraine action plan you can use if you’re caring for a child with migraine.

And finally, we’ve included some screening quizzes you can take if you think you may be living with migraine disease. If you are experiencing migraine, it’s important to talk to an HCP about managing your condition.

Migraine Journal

HealthyWomen Migraine Journal

Migraine Action Plans

American Headache Society Pediatric Migraine Action Plan

American Headache Society Migraine Action Plan

Migraine at School Health Plan

Healthcare Provider Dialogue Checklist

Migraine Dialogue Checklist

Screening Quizzes

Migraine Again

National Headache Foundation Screener