[Migrainology learned from patients]

While interest in headache research started early in Japan, headache cares did not develop until recently. Patients with migraine did not visit doctors for headache, and physicians were unaware of the prevalence and disability of migraine in Japan for a long time. Studies in Japan on migraine epidemiology revealed that the prevalence of migraine was 8.4% of the population, demonstrating 8.4 million people are suffering from migraine. These results gave impact to young scientists in Japan and encouraged them to do clinical and experimental studies on headache. One of the barriers for studying headache was a difficulty in communication to obtain enough information by the physicians. Patients usually suffered in silence. New medication for migraine, triptan, increased the number of patients visiting physicians. Physicians also developed such communication tools as headache diary, migraine screening tools helping physicians to obtain good amount of information on headache. The purpose of this communication is to present the author's experience in the study of mechanism and treatment of headache based on headache diary. The importance for future progress of migrainology was emphasized.