Headache Impact Test

"A Better Picture of Migraine-Related Disability: The Headache Impact Test (HIT)"
helpful for "assessing the burden and level of disability of chronic migraine sufferers"

read more here:
http://migraine.com/blog/living-with-migraine/a-better-picture-of-migraine-related-disability-the-headache-impact-test-hit/

and here:
http://www.headachetest.com/

I just finally felt well enough to take this test after posting it a couple of days ago. I like it. Other diaries and questionnaires ask me how long my headaches last, and when they started. My headaches never go away - it is just a mater of severity. Also, other tests ask me to rate my pain. Often the pain is not the biggest problem. This allows me to rate the weakness, fatigue, inability to focus and concentrate, and the disassociation which are so debilitating. I scored a 65 which means "severe impact."

I was able to do the HIT-6 test. but I needed to sign up to amihealthy.com if I wanted to do the on line test. I wasn't able to do that.

On the HIT-6 test I scored 54. But I suspect I'm not interpreting the terms never, rarely, sometimes, very often and always in they way the test creator expected.

Here's how I answered the HIT-6 test
1. When you have headaches, how often is the pain severe? Rarely
Because probably less than one attack in 10 is so severe that am unable to say sentences longer than 1 or 2 words.

2. How often do headaches limit your ability to do usual daily activities including household work, work, school, or social activities? Sometimes
Work and social life don't apply at the moment as I don't have either. Housework doesn't really suffer as I schedule tasks around the migraines. But there are some tasks that get put off longer than my wife would like, which is reason for the sometimes answer.

3. When you have a headache, how often do you wish you could lie down? Rarely
I don't like lying down because (a) I tend to become more nauseous, and (b) lying down is like admitting defeat.

4. In the past 4 weeks, how often have you felt too tired to do work or daily activities because of your headaches? Never
I often feel tired after a migraine, but never so tired that I couldn't do anything, and certainly not in the last 4 weeks.

5. In the past 4 weeks, how often have you felt fed up or irritated because of your headaches? Rarely
Sometimes I can't stand human interaction during a migraine, but there's usually something I can find to appreciate even if it's just a cool breeze on my face.

6. In the past 4 weeks, how often did headaches limit your ability to concentrate on work or daily activities? Sometimes
I suppose I'm migraine free 3 or 4 days a week on average, and over the last 4 weeks its probably been closer to 4 or 5 days per week. I'd need to average 5 or 6 migraines per week before I would consider it Very often.

I don't know if I put a too positive interpretation with my answers. But as the questions seem to be about pain, they don't really ask the correct questions for me. Pain is one of my lesser concerns. It's my balance, speech cognitive skills, and memory that affect me more during migraines.

You are right it does ask about "headaches." I really want some way to express to doctors what is going on with me so I guess I interpreted "headache" as migraine attack, I read what I wanted to read as opposed to what was actually written. If I answered the questions considering only headache - then my score would have been lower.

It is interesting that descriptions or definitions of migraine always include the other symptoms - but these tests or questionnaires, from my recollection, just ask about head pain.

This is very much like the MIDAS test and I agree they both do not taken into account the aura part of the illness... when I do my diary I keep a record of the pain AND the aura - I can now scale 1 - 10 how much the other stuff impacts on my life - ie over 7 and I am in bed, under 5 and I can cope...... I have agreement from my doctors that when I complete the MIDAS for them I read the questions as 'migraine' and not headache.... I also work out some %s for them and if I am honest it is these %s which we use to decide if stuff is working for me.... maybe we could come up with a test of our own???