Expert Tips on Choosing a Migraine App
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Like it or not, our smartphones have become crucial tools for managing many aspects of our lives. Calls and text messages aside, we often rely on phone apps to keep track of meetings, school calendars, breaking news, bills, daily steps, favorite photos, and more.
Most U.S. adults are also using apps to manage their health, although not as many as in 2020 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to EMarketer, a company that provides analytics and insight into digital marketing, nearly 2 out of 3 survey respondents reported using a health or fitness app in the past 12 months in two surveys conducted in December 2022 and January 2023. Out of those who used a health or fitness app, nearly 6 out of 10 reported doing so daily.
Migraine Apps’ Capabilities Are Evolving
If you’re searching for an app to help you manage migraine disease, it pays to do a little homework before jumping in. Even if the app is free, it will require some effort and input on your part.
The capabilities of apps have evolved over time, says Mia T. Minen, MD, MPH, a neurologist and researcher who specializes in headache medicine at NYU Langone Health in New York City.
“Patients are able to track their headaches, medications, various symptoms, menstrual cycles, sleep, and mood. There are some apps that even offer treatment interventions,” Dr. Minen says.
When selecting an app, it’s important to be aware of what information will be useful to your doctor in treating your migraine. “There is a lot of ongoing research examining the different ways to integrate apps into clinical care,” says Minen.
It’s also a good idea to check out the privacy policy of any app before you start using it, she says. “Some of the apps may sell your data. It may be aggregated data, but that’s just something that consumers should be aware of,” she says.
Whether you’re wondering if your current migraine app is worth your time, or if you’re just beginning your search, keep reading for expert advice on what features are important in managing your headaches.
Tracking Headache Days and Medication Can Help
“One thing that’s really important for headache management is to understand how many headache days a patient is having in a given month and how much of their medication they are taking. This can help determine things like whether they qualify for preventive medication, whether we should be changing the dose of medication they are currently taking, and so on,” says Minen.
Tracking headache days can be useful to see if there is a link to your menstrual cycle, she adds.
Recording what kind and what dose of any medications you are taking — both over-the-counter and prescription drugs — is also a way that your doctor can monitor whether you are at risk for medication-overuse headache.
Focusing Too Much on Migraine Triggers May Not Be Helpful
Many migraine phone apps are focused on identifying possible triggers that bring on an attack, says Minen.
“There are certain well-known triggers such as dehydration, poor sleep hygiene, and stress, but I think many patients wind up spending a lot of time trying to figure out additional triggers,” she says, adding that there are a few potential problems with this.
“We know from migraine studies that it’s oftentimes not just one trigger but a multitude of triggers combined, some of which may have occurred more than 24 hours prior to the start of the attack,” Minen notes. “Triggers that happen a day or more before the headache may not even be on the patient’s — or the app’s — radar.”
There are also situations in which it’s unclear what the association is, she says. For example, if someone consumes caffeine close to the time of a migraine attack, was the headache caused by caffeine withdrawal or was the caffeine potentially being used to try to treat the migraine? (Minen adds that caffeine is not the recommended treatment for migraine.)
Minen points to chocolate as another example. “People think chocolate is a trigger for their headaches based on their tracking, but it could be that chocolate was just a premonitory craving prior to the migraine. They could crave chocolate before a migraine, and that wasn’t the trigger,” she says.
Because you don’t know the methods behind an app’s development, be careful when trying to draw conclusions based on data that you’re putting in, says Minen.
“I’m not sure that focusing the majority of your time and attention on all of the potential triggers is the best way to utilize these headache diaries and apps,” she says.
Look for Apps That Offer Evidence-Based Interventions
Minen is interested in apps and wearables that have integrated evidence-based information about managing migraine into their app. “Some of these apps aren’t necessarily designed for migraine, but they may address issues that are known migraine triggers, such as sleep problems or stress management,” she says.
Apps that use evidence-based treatment strategies for these and other migraine-related issues are good options for many patients because of their accessibility, she adds.
For example, biofeedback has good evidence for treating migraine, says Minen, noting that there are apps and wearables that let you do biofeedback virtually.
There is usually an upfront cost for wearable health-tracking devices, which can run from $100 to $300. These devices can monitor metrics like your heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV, or the variation in time between each heartbeat), and respiratory rate, which are all indicators of stress — a common trigger for migraine.
Heart rate is a measure of how many times your heart beats per minute, while HRV measures the amount of time between beats. Unlike heart rate, a higher HRV is generally desirable and considered an indicator of health and cardiovascular fitness, as well as a person’s ability to adapt to stress and environmental demands. Respiratory rate is the number of breaths you take each minute.
One wearable device that uses biofeedback is the HeartMath Inner Balance sensor, says Minen. You put the sensor on an earlobe, and it collects information to determine the level of stress you are under, then uses that data to direct you how to breathe.
The breathing exercises, along with an intentional shift toward a positive emotional state, aim to help users reduce stress, which can benefit many aspects of health, including the management of migraine.
Minen was part of a study that looked at the app’s effectiveness in people with migraine. “We found that patients who utilized it had improvements in their migraine quality of life,” she says.
There are also apps that offer interventions to improve sleep problems, which are associated with migraine attacks, says Minen. One study found that digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in women with chronic migraine showed potential benefit and should be studied further.
8 Apps to Help You Manage Migraine
It’s a good idea to check in with your doctor if you’re considering trying a migraine app, especially if you’re planning on sharing any data with that doctor.
One tool that can help you find an app is MIND (M-Health Index & Navigation Database) by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The site has filters to help you search for apps that fit your values, needs, and preferences.
Here are eight apps with tools to track your symptoms, triggers, headache days, and medications. It’s important to note that although all the apps are free, you may have to pay a subscription fee to access all the features.
1. Migraine Buddy
Price Free (premium features available for extra charge)
Migraine Buddy, designed by data scientists and neurologists, has everything you need to track, understand, and help prevent migraine attacks. Its features include a questionnaire to help pinpoint what could have triggered an attack, along with a diagram that allows you to note exactly where the pain is located.
The app records the information you put in and produces detailed reports about your migraine disease, including number of attacks, when and where they occurred, pain intensity, and more.
Migraine Buddy also offers a sleep tracker, which correlates your sleeping patterns with the onset of your migraine attacks. And the app allows you to connect with your loved ones so they can check in on how you’re feeling.
2. Juva for Migraine
Price Free one-year trial for a limited time
Juva offers doctor-developed biofeedback sessions designed to train your nervous system in a way that reduces migraine attack frequency and severity. Exercises included in the app include breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery. In addition to the practice sessions, the app includes both audio and visual games designed to help calm your nervous system.
Most sessions take about 20 minutes or less to complete, and Juva recommends doing them five times a week. The app uses your phone’s camera to monitor vital signs like your heartbeat and breathing, and provides feedback following each session to let you know how you did.
3. Migraine Monitor
Price Free
Migraine Monitor is one of two apps that are recommended by the National Headache Foundation. It offers tools to track headache days, headache duration, and migraine severity. And it provides weather data for people whose migraine attacks may be brought on by changes in the weather.
There’s also a way to generate reports to share with your doctor, and the app provides daily tips and news related to migraine and headaches.
4. HeadApp
Price Free
HeadApp allows you to record your pain duration, intensity, and type of migraine, potentially taking the place of a paper headache diary. You can keep track of your related symptoms, medications, and possible triggers. There’s a sleep diary, too.
The app uses the information you provide to create charts and reports that you can share with your doctor. You can also export your headache and sleep logs to Apple’s Health app, or import sleep data from other apps that are compatible with Health.
5. N1-Headache
Price Free (premium features available for extra charge)
The second of two apps recommended by the National Headache Foundation, N1-Headache is designed to help you sort through what factors may be migraine triggers for you, what factors may help protect you against migraine attacks, and what factors are probably not linked to migraine.
The app features a daily diary where you track your activities, moods, sleep habits, and more. You can build a customized list of factors that you suspect may be linked to your migraine and disable factors that don’t apply to you. Other features include migraine medication tracking, easy-to-read graphic summaries of your data, and the ability to generate a report on your migraine activity over time in PDF format.
6. MigraineManager
Price Free
MigraineManager allows you to track your headaches and headache-related events, and provides personalized summaries based on the information you provide.
The app also provides tools to help manage migraine, such as medication reminders and personalized tips.
7. Bezzy Migraine
Price Free
Unlike all the other apps in this list, Bezzy Migraine is a social networking app designed to connect you with other people with migraine. Like most social networks, the app features a main activity feed where you’ll see relevant posts from other users. Other features include forums for discussions, live group chats, and one-to-one messaging. There are also articles and stories about living with migraine that can offers tips, another perspective, or inspiration.
8. Barometer and Altimeter
Price Free
Several migraine apps have a built-in feature that lets you track aspects of the weather, including atmospheric pressure. But if you’d rather track or verify this on your own, Barometer and Altimeter uses your device’s built-in GPS to check the atmospheric pressure and altitude wherever you are. The app also shows recent changes in atmospheric pressure, along with outside temperature, wind speed, humidity, and more.
The Future of Migraine Apps: Integrating Them Into Clinical Care
The next step in the evolution of migraine apps is integrating them into clinical care, says Minen. “People with migraine not only want to track information around their attacks but they also want to be able to download and share that information with their provider through an email or printout,” she says.
Minen and colleagues are researching the development of an app with remote monitoring capability.
“With this technology, the provider can actually monitor the data that’s going into the app in real time. In the future, the information from the remote monitoring could be used in making medical decisions in terms of medication, titration, changing medication type, or offering behavioral therapies,” she says.
This app is still being developed and is not yet available to the public.
Additional reporting by Quinn Phillips.
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