Better, or worse?
May 11, 2021 6:05 AM Subscribe
How do you track symptoms that change very subtly over time?
I'm currently attempting to track both some subjective physical symptoms and mood over time as I work through various treatment strategies for both, but I'm finding myself at a loss for how to meaningfully assign values to those things on a given day. I had been trying a color code system that in theory could capture subtle changes in one day to the next, but when I actually ask myself "do I feel better today than yesterday?" I don't really have an answer and will always say 'about the same.' I do suspect the situation is changing over time, just very slowly, but I'm not capturing meaningful information about that change if I just assign every day the same shade of red because it doesn't feel different than yesterday.
Similarly, when I ask myself how I'm doing on, say, a 1-10 rating scale, I always feel like the answer is '5' or 'medium' because I've already somehow recalibrated to whatever I happen to be feeling that day as 'normal, but not great.'
Judging all my symptoms "medium, about the same as yesterday" every day is not helpful when, for example, want to know if a new allergy med I'm taking with potential negative mood symptoms could be making me feel worse emotionally but helping with postnasal drip. The general experience reminds me of being at the eye doctor and having them try two new lenses and ask you which is better and that feeling of "I don't... know?!"
Has anyone developed strategies (or better yet, discovered tracking tools) that help you more concretely assess and track subjective symptoms?
I'm currently attempting to track both some subjective physical symptoms and mood over time as I work through various treatment strategies for both, but I'm finding myself at a loss for how to meaningfully assign values to those things on a given day. I had been trying a color code system that in theory could capture subtle changes in one day to the next, but when I actually ask myself "do I feel better today than yesterday?" I don't really have an answer and will always say 'about the same.' I do suspect the situation is changing over time, just very slowly, but I'm not capturing meaningful information about that change if I just assign every day the same shade of red because it doesn't feel different than yesterday.
Similarly, when I ask myself how I'm doing on, say, a 1-10 rating scale, I always feel like the answer is '5' or 'medium' because I've already somehow recalibrated to whatever I happen to be feeling that day as 'normal, but not great.'
Judging all my symptoms "medium, about the same as yesterday" every day is not helpful when, for example, want to know if a new allergy med I'm taking with potential negative mood symptoms could be making me feel worse emotionally but helping with postnasal drip. The general experience reminds me of being at the eye doctor and having them try two new lenses and ask you which is better and that feeling of "I don't... know?!"
Has anyone developed strategies (or better yet, discovered tracking tools) that help you more concretely assess and track subjective symptoms?
Oh and as to the how do you do it bit, when I needed to do this it was before cell phones, so I just made a quick grid in excel and printed it out and kept it in my pocket. These days I would probably whip up a quick google form and save it as a bookmark.
posted by phunniemee at 6:12 AM on May 11, 2021
posted by phunniemee at 6:12 AM on May 11, 2021
Response by poster: Just a quick addendum, I simplified for my initial question, but for physical symptoms I already am trying to track things on a granular, symptom-specific level, but still coming out with "idk, not fixed yet, not the worst it's ever been, medium I guess?" when I ask myself about any given symptom.
That said, breaking down the mood piece into more specific metrics could be useful, but more suggestions on what those granular sub-metrics or questions to ask myself might be (like the "did getting out of bed suck?" prompt could be helpful).
But I feel like I also need to know things like how to even answer the question of "how severe was" say, postnasal drip, or difficulty swallowing on a given day, when my brain always seems to return "idk, not GREAT?" as the complete answer.
posted by space snail at 6:18 AM on May 11, 2021
That said, breaking down the mood piece into more specific metrics could be useful, but more suggestions on what those granular sub-metrics or questions to ask myself might be (like the "did getting out of bed suck?" prompt could be helpful).
But I feel like I also need to know things like how to even answer the question of "how severe was" say, postnasal drip, or difficulty swallowing on a given day, when my brain always seems to return "idk, not GREAT?" as the complete answer.
posted by space snail at 6:18 AM on May 11, 2021
Could you perhaps track how many times you're bothered by something? I'm thinking of those manual clickers people use for counting, where every time you notice X symptom, you click, and if it's genuinely getting better, you'll have fewer clicks per day. If it's too much hassle to click literally every time, you could approximate with (for example) "how many times did it bother you this morning?" where you have to fill in a number, not pick from a list.
posted by teremala at 6:25 AM on May 11, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by teremala at 6:25 AM on May 11, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have chronic daily headache, and have struggled at various times with the challenges of the subjectivity of pain scales and the link. I found the switch to a functional pain scale really helpful. In my part of the headache world we use a five-point scale that is like this:
1. Mild pain. Low-level pain that only enters awareness when you think of it—you can ignore it but it's still there if you think about it.
2. Moderate pain: Sometimes can be ignored, sometimes makes itself felt. You can still do you activities without too much trouble.
3. Severe pain: You can still function with difficulty; pain makes itself known at all times.
4. Very severe pain: Difficult to think but you can still do simple, essential tasks.
5: Extremely severe pain: all-consuming. Intense and incapacitating. Unable to read, think, or do simple tasks.
I have difficulty swallowing, too! It's connected to not producing enough saliva. I haven't done a swallowing scale, but off the top of my head I could think of steps on the scale like:
1. Least trouble: I can eat a whole sandwich without needing to drink anything.
2. More trouble: I need to intersperse drinks with food to comfortably swallow the food.
3. Most trouble: It feels like I literally cannot swallow a bite of food unless I wash it down with water.
One of the goals of keeping logs can be to help you figure out and notice the difference between yesterday's post-nasal drip and today's. If you pick a method and jump in, you will figure out what works and what doesn't. I know it's overwhelming and hard. Good luck.
posted by Orlop at 6:52 AM on May 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
1. Mild pain. Low-level pain that only enters awareness when you think of it—you can ignore it but it's still there if you think about it.
2. Moderate pain: Sometimes can be ignored, sometimes makes itself felt. You can still do you activities without too much trouble.
3. Severe pain: You can still function with difficulty; pain makes itself known at all times.
4. Very severe pain: Difficult to think but you can still do simple, essential tasks.
5: Extremely severe pain: all-consuming. Intense and incapacitating. Unable to read, think, or do simple tasks.
I have difficulty swallowing, too! It's connected to not producing enough saliva. I haven't done a swallowing scale, but off the top of my head I could think of steps on the scale like:
1. Least trouble: I can eat a whole sandwich without needing to drink anything.
2. More trouble: I need to intersperse drinks with food to comfortably swallow the food.
3. Most trouble: It feels like I literally cannot swallow a bite of food unless I wash it down with water.
One of the goals of keeping logs can be to help you figure out and notice the difference between yesterday's post-nasal drip and today's. If you pick a method and jump in, you will figure out what works and what doesn't. I know it's overwhelming and hard. Good luck.
posted by Orlop at 6:52 AM on May 11, 2021 [4 favorites]
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Scale of one to five.
-Did getting out of bed suck today
-Was I able to concentrate on [activity]
-Did I have an appropriate appetite for meals
-How strong was [specific symptom]
-Did my energy dip throughout the day
Etc. Choose several specific questions that are appropriate to you & your situation. One feeling about one whole day is too big of a question.
posted by phunniemee at 6:10 AM on May 11, 2021 [3 favorites]