Health Trackers for Android
May 12, 2016 10:24 PM   Subscribe

Please recommend some health tracker apps for Android that are not focused on dieting and weight loss!

Short Version: I have some chronic illnesses and I’m interested in using a health tracking app, but I don't know exactly how to search for what I want or how to use the apps I already have to best advantage. I don’t want to use an app like MyFitnessPal or other dieting-focused apps because they negatively impact my mental health.

Long Version:
I'm interested in an app or apps to track:
-time I take my meds and dose
-symptoms of medical problems and side effects from meds
-water and caffeine
-food
-maybe sleep?

Ideally I would enter what I eat or drink, my meds, and my symptoms, and at the end of the week, I could look back at a graph or list and see, like, “Huh, I didn’t eat breakfast three days this week, no wonder I recorded ‘angry at everything’ as a symptom.” Or “I had two Diet Cokes with dinner every single night, that’s probably why I couldn’t sleep.” I’m actively uninterested in calorie counting or dieting; I just want to make sure I don’t live on Diet Coke and M&Ms and eat a piece of fruit once in a while. It would be nice to have some real data to share with my doctor, too, as opposed to my current strategy of saying, “I think I’m doing better…?”

I've tried:
-The stock S Health app on my phone. I didn't think I would be interested in how many steps I take or how many minutes I walk, but I do pay a little attention and it prompted me to work on my resting heart rate. I tried using it to track my water intake, but it's pretty basic- the units are in glasses, not ounces. If there’s a way for it to track caffeine, I haven’t figured it out yet. The food and eating features seemed really diet-focused, which I know stresses me out, so I’ve avoided those.

-The most popular caffeine tracker (called "Caffeine Tracker") in the Play Store, but it seems designed to tell you when to drink more caffeine rather than just telling you how much caffeine you drink each day and when, which is what I want.

-ADDA Storylines. Closest to what I want, but no caffeine tracker and the food diary has a built-in symptom tracker that asks me about bloody diarrhea after EVERY ENTRY. So...not ideal.

Basically:
-what is the right app or combination of apps to do this?
-Should I be looking at apps designed for, IDK, diabetics, rather than generic “wellness” apps?
-Is there a way to do the things I want with the apps I already have? I assume I’m not using them very efficiently and that there are features I don’t understand/know how to use.
-How much will this cost? I am willing to pay some money. Closer to $5 than $50.
posted by Snarl Furillo to Health & Fitness (3 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
This sounds like it would be mostly covered by some of the bipolar/depression apps I've tried in the past. The DBSA Wellness Tracker covered sleep, medications and side effects, symptoms, and mood. (And a ton of other stuff.. exercise, caffeine, alcohol, significant life events, drugs, heart rate, menstruation, etc.) I don't recall anything having to do with nutrition or water, but it's been a minute since I used it. So that's another space you might investigate in your search.
posted by xyzzy at 1:23 AM on May 13, 2016


Though it is primarily used to track menstrual cycles, Clue might work for what you want to track.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:36 AM on May 13, 2016


(I just checked, and you can add any tracking categories it doesn't have built-in by using your own tags.)
posted by ocherdraco at 5:39 AM on May 13, 2016


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