Many people who get headaches after a crash reach for a pain reliever on the first bad day and keep reaching for it for weeks. The medicine works in the moment, which is exactly why it is easy to lose track of how often it has been taken. A plain count gives you a record you can read back, and it shows the pattern in your own week.
This note is educational only. It does not name a cause for your headache, and it is not a diagnosis. It is a record of what you did and when, written so you can describe it accurately to a licensed clinician who can examine you.
What to write down
Use a notebook, a note on your phone, or a paper calendar. Each day, write one short line with the date, whether you had a headache, the exact name of any medicine you took, the amount, and the time. Use the product name printed on the box, since some combination products contain more than one active ingredient.
Add one more column in your own words: whether the medicine helped and for how long. A line like took it at lunch and the dull ache eased by mid-afternoon is more useful than a grade from one to ten.
Include other products too. Sleep aids, cold remedies, and caffeine-containing drinks or tablets can all be part of the picture, so write them down even when you do not think of them as medicine.
Keep the box nearby when you write. Labels change over time, and your memory of the dose is less reliable than the printed directions.
Why the count matters
Taking pain relievers on many days can, for some people, go along with headaches that return more often. Whether that applies to you is a question for a clinician who can review your log in person. Do not stop, change, or start any medicine based on this note. Ask the person who prescribed it, or your examiner, what to do.
A count also shows whether the headaches themselves are changing. If the days with headache are rising while the days with medicine are rising too, that pattern is worth describing out loud at your visit, even if you feel you are coping.
Bringing it to the visit
Bring the log to your appointment and offer it at the start, before the examiner asks. Say which days you reached for medicine and which days you did not need it. If a headache kept you from working, driving, or sleeping on a given day, write that down too, since those details show the examiner how the problem affects daily life.
Expect questions about the first headache after the crash, what you took then, and how the pattern has shifted since. A short, honest log answers many of these faster than memory will, especially on the days when you were not sure what you had taken.
If you are in the St. Louis metro and want to be seen this week, call ahead and say you have a written log of headache days and medicine use. Ask what the office needs from you before the visit, and whether you should keep the log going until you are seen.
When not to wait
Some headache symptoms need emergency care rather than a log. A sudden, severe headache, or one that comes with weakness, confusion, trouble speaking, vision changes, or a stiff neck with fever, should be treated as urgent. Do not spend days recording these. Get emergency help now.
The log is a tool, not a verdict. It gives your examiner a clearer picture to work from and gives you a record you can keep adding to after each visit.