Trigger lists on the internet are endless: chocolate, wind, fluorescent lights, “the full moon.” A trigger diary that tries to catch all of them dies in a week.
Log a small set. Treat tags as hypotheses you will review in clinic, not as guilt.
A starter set that people actually tap
- Sleep (too little, too much, or a shift)
- Stress (or the crash after a deadline)
- Hormones / menstrual week, if that applies
- Weather / pressure, if you also store a number
- Caffeine change (more, less, or none)
- Alcohol
- Skipped meal or dehydration
- Screens, if a long session clearly preceded the attack
- Perfume or a strong smell
- Travel
If a tag is never true for you, hide it in your head and stop looking at it. You do not need a custom taxonomy on day one.
One or two tags, not twelve
An attack can have a stack of possible contributors. Mark the ones you noticed that day. If you mark everything, the histogram at the end of the month is a portrait of your anxiety, not of your month.
“I have no idea” is a valid state. Leave triggers empty.
Food is a trap
Unless a clinician asked for an elimination experiment, do not itemize lunch. “Food” as a single tag is enough if you already know a specific meal is a repeat. A 90-day photo log of plates is a different project and usually not the one that survives an attack.
Triggers are not moral failures
Sleeping badly is not a character flaw. Logging it should feel like checking a box, not like writing a confession. If the diary makes you dread opening it, shorten the form.
Review monthly, not hourly
Once a month, look at the top three tags. Ask: did I only apply this tag when I already believed it? Did I travel more this month? Did I start a new job?
Bring that sentence to clinic. Do not bring a theory that the app “found your root cause.” Apps do not find root causes. They count taps.
What Auralis does with this
Auralis stores the chips you select on each episode and can chart the most common ones for 30 days for free, or longer with Reports. It will not tell you to cut caffeine or start a supplement. That conversation belongs with a human who has your history.
If you want a migraine tracker that stays a diary, keep the trigger list boring on purpose.