How can I track my health problem and potential lifestyle triggers?
May 13, 2017 2:28 AM Subscribe
I have a recurring health problem. I would like to find an easy way to keep a daily health diary (logging food, sleep, exercise etc) which will let me visually see a month or two of data on a graph, to sleuth out symptom triggers. I have tried some iOS apps (Flaredown/Symple) but haven't found one I liked. I am open to non iOS options (Android/web/paper). Do you have a health log that you like?
My three desires are that it be easy to input data, that it allow for daily data entry (including on days without symptoms), and that it allow for visualizing that data, including the data of months past.
(Semi-relatedly, I don't have IBS, but if you do, there are some GREAT looking apps for that. Migraneurs and people with chronic pain, there are some cool looking tracking apps for you too.)
My three desires are that it be easy to input data, that it allow for daily data entry (including on days without symptoms), and that it allow for visualizing that data, including the data of months past.
(Semi-relatedly, I don't have IBS, but if you do, there are some GREAT looking apps for that. Migraneurs and people with chronic pain, there are some cool looking tracking apps for you too.)
Alternately, Google sheets would do the same thing and would be more mobile.
posted by purplesludge at 5:33 AM on May 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by purplesludge at 5:33 AM on May 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
Similarly, I doubt you're going to find an application that does exactly what you're looking for.
As far as recommendations go, how about your digital calendar?
I use google calendar to track my heartburn occurrences (have GERD).
I organize my heartburn log as follows:
There's a calendar called "Heartburn Log" separate from my normal day-to-day events.
Every time I get heartburn I enter it into the calendar, including:
How severe it is (in the title), what probably caused it (also in the title, so that when I go to collect this information it's easy to read), and the length of time I had heartburn (the length of the event).
For you, I'd make a separate calendar for each of the things you'd like to track.
One for food, sleep, exercise, and incidences of your illness.
Every time you have one of those things, put it in the calendar along with some descriptive information.
Later, when you'd like to investigate or compile some info for your doctor, you can look back at your calendar in week view (month view doesn't relate time as the size of events) and see the general trends.
posted by lalunamel at 6:03 AM on May 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
As far as recommendations go, how about your digital calendar?
I use google calendar to track my heartburn occurrences (have GERD).
I organize my heartburn log as follows:
There's a calendar called "Heartburn Log" separate from my normal day-to-day events.
Every time I get heartburn I enter it into the calendar, including:
How severe it is (in the title), what probably caused it (also in the title, so that when I go to collect this information it's easy to read), and the length of time I had heartburn (the length of the event).
For you, I'd make a separate calendar for each of the things you'd like to track.
One for food, sleep, exercise, and incidences of your illness.
Every time you have one of those things, put it in the calendar along with some descriptive information.
Later, when you'd like to investigate or compile some info for your doctor, you can look back at your calendar in week view (month view doesn't relate time as the size of events) and see the general trends.
posted by lalunamel at 6:03 AM on May 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
My FitBit Flex 2 has all those features, except the symptom tracking, of course. It's waterproof so I wear it all the time except when it's charging and it automatically tracks my sleep and exercise, but not heart rate. Others styles do that, have Lcd screens, etc. You can turn off any and all notifications.
It's super easy to track water, and while I don't track my food I did play with it at first, and it's like most other food tracking things I've seen. The database seems to have everything in it already, including my store-brand string cheese sticks. The only thing I had to manually enter so far was a brand new product.
Even though you'd have to track symptoms separately, I can't imagine an easier or more accurate way to track the other things, especially sleep. Hoo-boy, the sleep tracker is eye-opening!
The app can also generate monthly (and weekly?) reports but I don't use that feature.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:24 AM on May 13, 2017
It's super easy to track water, and while I don't track my food I did play with it at first, and it's like most other food tracking things I've seen. The database seems to have everything in it already, including my store-brand string cheese sticks. The only thing I had to manually enter so far was a brand new product.
Even though you'd have to track symptoms separately, I can't imagine an easier or more accurate way to track the other things, especially sleep. Hoo-boy, the sleep tracker is eye-opening!
The app can also generate monthly (and weekly?) reports but I don't use that feature.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:24 AM on May 13, 2017
I've found the MySymptoms app really useful for this kind of thing. I use the Android version, but I believe it's also available for iOS these days. The blurb emphasises the food tracking aspect, but the app neatly captures basically anything you want it to, and generates intuitive and useful visualizations.
posted by thetarium at 7:57 AM on May 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by thetarium at 7:57 AM on May 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
I am a huge proponet of [paper] Bullet Journaling, and there are a lot of ways you can adapt it to health tracking - and lay it out exactly as you want. The mindfulness required by entering by hand also promotes more reflection and awareness of change, at least for me.
Bullet Journal Health and Fitness Tracking
29 Bullet Journal Layouts for Anyone Trying to be Healthy
Ideas for Tracking Your Health and Fitness in Your Bullet Journal
posted by Miko at 8:35 AM on May 13, 2017 [3 favorites]
Bullet Journal Health and Fitness Tracking
29 Bullet Journal Layouts for Anyone Trying to be Healthy
Ideas for Tracking Your Health and Fitness in Your Bullet Journal
posted by Miko at 8:35 AM on May 13, 2017 [3 favorites]
I was going to suggest a Fitbit too, especially since they track sleep, which I find is really important for my own health. With that, you could use any number of other apps, such as Day One for adding quick entries when you experience a symptom. Day One allows tags, geolocation, weather, and other metadata, so, for example, when you get heartburn, you could use the tag "heartburn" which would then be easy to search.
But really, any note-taking app combined with an activity tracker that specifically tracks sleep.
posted by Brittanie at 9:04 AM on May 13, 2017
But really, any note-taking app combined with an activity tracker that specifically tracks sleep.
posted by Brittanie at 9:04 AM on May 13, 2017
One thing about using the Fitbit to track sleep is that it tracks the quality of your sleep. If I had to track it manually, I might have noted that last night I slept for six hours, got up for 45 minutes, and went back to sleep for an hour, when in fact I was restless six times and actually awake twice. Good sleep is important for my health issues, and now I'll be able to report a much more accurate story to my doctor.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:45 AM on May 13, 2017
posted by Room 641-A at 9:45 AM on May 13, 2017
Not sure if this would fit your needs, but there are a lot of period-tracking and fertility apps that allow you to put in lots of daily data, including moods, food, sleep, exercise, medications, symptoms (generally a very wide range related to periods/pregnancy but also customizable), etc. (And of course your period and sex life and cervical position, if that's relevant for you).
posted by stillmoving at 11:47 AM on May 13, 2017
posted by stillmoving at 11:47 AM on May 13, 2017
Someone I know, who has chronic fatigue, was involved in the creation of Nanolume. I ultimately decided I didn't need to track things anymore, but one thing I like about it is the amount of control that you have and the many possible symptoms to track.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:44 PM on May 13, 2017
posted by hydropsyche at 2:44 PM on May 13, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
It's not as whizbang as some apps, but it does the job.
posted by purplesludge at 5:32 AM on May 13, 2017