See a doctor for headaches and you’ll likely be asked to take the MIDAS or HIT tests to assess how your migraines or headaches affect your quality of life. You may find your results even more helpful than your doctor does.
Assessing Your Quality of Life
The Daily Headache
May 6, 2006Whether you have them every day or every three months, headaches definitely affect your quality of life. MIDAS and HIT are two questionnaires to assess the extent of the impact.
Before I recognized how seriously I was affected, a doctor gave me the MIDAS test. The highest score on the test, which indicates severe disability, is 21+. My score was above 100. Needless to say, the results floored me.
This was what it took to see just how bad my headaches were. In the ensuing months, and years, I would recite MIDAS every time I questioned the realness of my illness. Every time I blamed myself, I repeated my mantra. This made a huge difference in how I perceived and dealt with my headaches.
If you question how real your headaches are, these tests are invaluable. They can also help you assess your pain from one time period to the next.
In addition, you can show the results to people who are close to you, but don’t really accept what you’re going through. As they remember the last one to three months, the pieces may slowly fall into place.