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An AI-Built Headache Diary: Visualizing Headache and Medication Records in an Annual Calendar


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An AI-Built Headache Diary: Visualizing Headache and Medication Records in an Annual Calendar

This is a fully functional web application with multiple screens and features for importing, organizing, analyzing, and displaying headache records. Rather than showing the entire application, this article highlights a selection of representative screens and functions.

Headache records tend to become fragmented across medication dates, clinic visits, preventive injections, travel, and changes in health. Even when daily records exist, it is not always easy to understand long-term patterns or explain them clearly during a short medical appointment.

To address this problem, I used ChatGPT and Codex to build a personal web tool that organizes headache-related records into a single annual calendar.

The project had two main goals:

  • To create a document that could be shown directly to a doctor
  • To make it easier to understand my own headache and medication patterns

Consolidating a Year of Headache Records into One Calendar

The calendar displays all 12 months, from January to December, side by side. Each day displays information such as headache medication use, visits to a headache clinic, preventive injections such as Emgality, and related events including travel or changes in health.

To keep the dense annual layout readable, medication names are shown using short labels:

  • T = Triptan
  • L = Loxoprofen
  • R = Reyvow
  • CL = Headache clinic visit
  • EMG = Emgality

At the bottom of each month, the calendar shows the number of headache days and the number of days on which each medication type was used. If the same medication was taken more than once on the same day, it is still counted as one medication-use day.

In this tool, a “headache day” means a day on which medication for a headache was recorded. Headaches for which no medication was used are not included.


A 2026 annual headache diary calendar created with completely fictional sample data
A full-year calendar created with completely fictional sample data. Headache days, medication use, preventive injections, and multi-day events are organized on a single A4 landscape page. Click or tap the image to enlarge it. This image uses completely fictional data created from scratch for public demonstration. It contains no real medication dates, clinic visits, age, or personal history.

Designed to Be Shown Directly to a Doctor

The most important design objective was not to add as many functions as possible, but to make the record easy to explain during a medical appointment.

Because the entire year can be viewed on one page, it is possible to quickly identify months with more headache days, periods of concentrated medication use, and the timing of preventive injections.

The print layout is designed for a single A4 landscape page. It does not rely on color, so the information remains readable in black and white. Avoiding hidden, truncated, or overlapping text was also treated as an essential requirement.

Using AI as the Input Method Instead of Building a Form

Most headache diary apps include a form for entering symptoms and medication every day. I intentionally chose not to build a conventional input interface.

Record formats vary from person to person, and medication abbreviations or additional notes are rarely consistent. Rather than forcing every record into a fixed form, I found it more efficient to describe the date and content to ChatGPT, review the result, and organize the confirmed information into CSV data.

The current workflow is:

  1. Provide the date, medication use, and related information to the AI
  2. Let the AI structure the record
  3. Review the result manually and correct any mistakes
  4. Save the confirmed data in a CSV file
  5. Use the web application to generate the annual calendar and printable output

In other words, AI acts as the input interface, while the web application is dedicated to display and printing.

Viewing the Most Recent 12 Months in the Same Format

In addition to the standard January-to-December annual view, the tool can display the most recent 12 months, with the current month shown as the final column.

This makes it possible to review a continuous one-year period across calendar years while keeping the same visual structure.


A rolling 12-month headache record calendar created with completely fictional sample data
A rolling 12-month calendar created with completely fictional sample data. Headache days and medication-use patterns can be reviewed across calendar years in the same format. Click or tap the image to enlarge it. This image uses completely fictional data created from scratch for public demonstration. It contains no real medication dates, clinic visits, age, or personal history.

Building a Personal Tool with AI

Rather than adapting my record-keeping method to an existing headache app, I designed the tool by working backward from the output I actually needed.

ChatGPT was used to organize records and refine the specifications. Codex was used to implement the web application, print layout, and validation processes. The PDF output was reviewed repeatedly, with gradual adjustments to typography, grid lines, spacing, monthly summaries, and the presentation of multi-day events.

One of the major advantages of AI-assisted development is the ability to create a small, highly specific tool for a particular problem instead of relying entirely on a general-purpose service.

Possible Future Developments

The current priority is to display headache and medication records accurately.

In the future, the data could potentially be combined with weather, temperature, atmospheric pressure, seasons, travel, and business trips to explore patterns such as:

  • Changes in headache frequency by season or temperature
  • Possible relationships with weather or atmospheric pressure
  • Medication-use patterns during travel or business trips
  • Headache days between one preventive injection and the next clinic visit
  • Long-term patterns specific to the individual

The goal would not be to make broad claims about headache patterns, but to investigate whether long-term personal records reveal patterns unique to the individual.

Summary

This headache calendar was created to organize previously scattered headache, medication, and clinic-visit records into an annual document that can be shown directly to a doctor.

Instead of building a manual input form, the data is structured through conversations with AI, while the web application focuses on clear display and printing.

AI makes it possible to build a practical personal tool around an individual record-keeping method—something that would be difficult to achieve with a standard, general-purpose service.

This tool is intended only to organize and display personal headache and medication records. It does not provide medical diagnosis, treatment decisions, or medication recommendations. All images published on this page use completely fictional sample data.

This is currently a personal tool. If you would be interested in using it, or if you think features like these would be useful, please let me know in the comments. Depending on the response, I may explore how the project could develop in the future. (Contact me by DM on X)

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