This week’s blog post topic will be another migraine App called Migraine Buddy. It is one of the first results in the App Store of this category and rated with 4.8 Stars from 5.
I chose this app since I had never used it before and due to my curiosity because of the high rating.
The first entry screen asks the user to add an entry for their last migraine attack.
dashboard focuses on the positive painfree days but I fear it could be hard to read for migraineurs with a high frequency rate to see a number that is just very small and therefore not positive for them.
Benefits
This app offers a great variety of features:
One feature that I noticed was the adaptility for indivual preferences due to the “adapt homescreen button”. This button ensures that users can adapt the screen to their liking and show the information that is useful to them.
I believe that from a user experience point of view this is a great feature to help migraineurs decide what aspect they want to focus on since the app provides a lot of information which could be overwhelming or uninteresting for some users.
Migraine also offers a sleep track feature which caught my attention as well. Since a good sleep quality is an important part of migraine prevention it seems plausible as why users could also track their sleep with the app. They need to give the app access to their notifications and gps.
The options screen below shows more helpful features
- export feature of data
- questionnaires to receive more tips
- a personal migraine impact Report
- survey about migraine treatment to participate voluntarily
I noticed an error since the migraine impact error is displayed twice (one in spanish since it was my system’s default language before and one in german). This seems to be a bug that needs to be fixed.
Besides, users can also add more data concerning their health such as menstruation, other diseases and treatments, etc.
As I have mentioned before in previous blog posts, migraine is considered a complex neurological disorder that is difficult to generalize since every experience is different for each migraineur. Therefore adding more entry options in an organized way can be helpful to get a better understanding of one’s disease.
Cons
One feature I came across made me question if it is suitable for migraineurs. It is the report feature which is meant to give users helpful insights into their attacks, support and medication (see image below)
But the insights are not visible yet and it says “track 9 more attacks to see more”. My immediate impression was negative and that the wording seems insensitive to the target group’s suffering. Migraineurs that suffer from migraine attacks once or twice a month (aka episodic migraine) would have to wait several months to receive helpful information and I can only imagine how frustrating that must feel. Personally, if i would have to wait 9 months to track 9 migraine attacks to finally receive more information I wouldn’t use this app anymore. If you downloaded an app to track your migraine you are probably doing it to proactively get help or find solutions for your chronic neurological disorder.
Therefore, an option where users could still receive general information and education about lifestyle or sleep changes could be an idea to avoid the negative thought of “I have to suffer first to unlock more insights”. The information provided then could change once the user has tracked their triggers and attacks consistently and adapt to the individual person.
Conclusion
All in all, migraine buddy also offers entry options for migraine attacks and calendar overview and export option for appointments with neurologists like the Migräne App by the pain clinic Kiel from the previous blog post.
However, migraine buddy offers a more appealing design and visuals. The dark mode design probably was selected to consider light sensibility of the users and therefore more suitable.
It offers a great variety of interesting features but I see a lack of communciation of one important aspect of tracking. The consequence of tracking everything and using an app to enter data consistently about every single detail of your day could be negative for users. What are the downsides of tracking everything? Could it have a negative impact on the mental health of migraineurs to focus so much on stress and lifestyle management?
Personally, I have made the experience of trying to optimize my lifestyle by analyzing everything using an app and focusing on
- exercise – but not too much as it could cause an attack due to exhaustion. But also not too less since exercise is reported to help to reduce the frequency of attacks
- weather – seeing weather changes in an app that you know are likely to cause an attack can cause internal stress days before the day even starts
- sleep – you are supposed to sleep well and consistently but also not too much as some people experience migraine when they relax as well
- diet – don’t skip meals, eat regularily but what if you travel and you didn’t get to prepare a meal beforehand? Yes, even then you stress about it
These are just examples of my thoughts were taken over by overanalyzing thoughts due to apps I used. Since I suffer from episodic migraine I can tell you how awful it feels to live a “perfect” routine but still get a heavy attack at the end of the day. I ended up asking myself “what have I done wrong? Is it my fault?”. The answer is no. The cause for migraine lies in the genetics of a person and their brain and since there still is no cure migraineurs can only aim to live a balanced live to reduce attacks but getting rid of the attacks is not possible yet.
Need for scientific proof as a next step
Although I would interview more migraineurs about their opinions to prove if they have had a similar experience I still believe that an important information should be given to users during the use of the app. The app is meant to help identify patterns but it should be done carerfully with reminders of taking care of their mental health regurarily or seek professional help from a therapist if needed.
