Migraine App Can Track Data While Sufferer Sleeps and Report Symptoms to Doctor

Doctors and migraine sufferers have had the same conversations for years: keeping track of symptoms and potential triggers is the best way to find relief from the debilitating headaches.

But when a migraine attack is at it's peak, the patient may not even want to open their eyes, let alone write down how they feel, what ate recently or where it hurts. So, a Singapore-based tech start-up created an app that gives patients and doctors a way to gather better data on migraine -- both by letting the sufferer input notes and by tracking physiological inputs via sensors.

(Image source: Healint)

Migraines aren't merely complex headache, as TechCrunch notes. They are a neurological condition that often come with cluster of syndromes before and after pain starts, called prodromes. These signs can warn some sufferers when a migraine is coming, and postdromes, or “migraine hangovers” can leave patients feeling drained.

Healint created the app to be much more than a fancy version of a pen and paper (which most other migraine apps often amount to). Migraine Buddy is an "advanced migraine tracking and reporting app designed by neurologists and data scientists," the app description page explains.

But an important feature that sets this app apart from other migraine trackers: the program collects movement and sleep data through wearable smartphone sensors, so data can be gathered even if patients forget to enter other timely triggers.

This is especially helpful, because most doctors say sleep deprivation and rigorous physical activity are popular migraine culprits.

Currently the app is only available via Android with an access code from a doctor. But iPhone and lite versions  -- which can be used without a code from a physician -- are in the works and Healint expects to release them by the end of this year, according to Tech Crunch.

--

(H/T: Mashable)

Follow Elizabeth Kreft (@elizabethakreft) on Twitter.