What you use to keep track of your health (appt., results etc.)?

August 2, 2024 10:56 AM

I'm currently using Google docs and a whole lot of portals to various results. While I'm generally healthy, I find I'm drowning in remembering who to follow up with and when. Is there an app that I can use to be more proactive and organized?

I'd love to find an app that can help me be more organized with my health. Currently I have one large Google doc broken down by system/doc and I've now just got an overwhelming amount of info and no easy way to not only track appointments, meds, results, but also tie in preventative measures (exercise etc.). I have pages hyperlinked to one another but this isn't a system. Sadly ZocDoc was my default for a while, but that's not really a great solution either, and having multiple insurances has made this more complicated too. I doubt Apple or Android apps do this but curious what people use. I'd love it if I could host it locally too. In the Web 2.0 days this might be called 'health information management', but I'm hoping somebody has figured this out.

posted by rmm to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Have you ever heard of the program/app Notion? It's sort of like a OneNote or Evernote, but has some features that might be useful for this. It's free, too, for personal use.

I did a quick search for a health info template, and this was the top result. I assume if I scrolled, I would find others. These templates may or may not be free; they're often made by individuals. But you don't need to get a premade one. Once you get used to Notion, you can just create your own to suit your needs.
posted by Leontine at 12:22 PM on August 2 [1 favorite]

Asking with kindness, can you stop drowning in this information by keeping track of less of it (and using your existing systems to manage tasks and appointments)? For example, would it work fine to leave the results in their relevant portals, track appointments and exercise planning on your existing calendar, set alarms on your phone for any medication doses, and add any to-do items to your to-do list?

I ask because for me, having a separate system for a specific topic almost always is worse than figuring out ways to get tasks and information into my existing systems and having that system manage everything.

(And if I’m totally off-base, saying “things are complicated and I really need a separate system because of X” may help people here help you find the right system for you).
posted by moosetracks at 12:56 PM on August 2 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I don't want to leave results in a portal - I can't track progress over time. I want a dashboard that will track my tasks in the same place as my health info and allow me to see trends ('stopped eating this, saw reduced cholesterol'). Basically how doctors have Epic I wish patients had an equivalent. I already have calendars and task lists which have my work and personal life - I just wish there was a repository for my health data that has a dashboard, not 10 portals of health data.
posted by rmm at 4:58 PM on August 2

Got it. So, Apple Health will allow you to sync data across your MyChart / health systems (in other words, you can get every system your health information is currently living in dumping into one place). (I assume Google phones have a similar option). That will at least get everything centralized for you. It will generate graphs showing how your results are tracking, as well. It also has nutrition tracking features, but I do not use them, so I cannot comment on whether they're any good. But: for getting the records centralized and for spotting trends, it's really handy. That way, you can just make note that you stopped eating red meat (or whatever) in February in your Google Doc, and then when you're curious, you can pull up your lab results graphs and see if it's had any impact.

I'm looking at mine right now, and I can see the impact a medication is having on one of my levels. It's a neat graph.

(This assumes that you're comfortable with the privacy considerations -- I am, other people may not be, etc., etc.)
posted by moosetracks at 5:57 PM on August 2

The patient equivalent to Epic is Mychart - if all of your providers use Mychart you should be able link your accounts and see vitals, meds, appointments etc in one place.
posted by fox problems at 5:58 PM on August 2 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Ok, I might have found a slight answer and am trying out Fasten Health (https://docs.fastenhealth.com/) which will need customization but is an interesting thing to explore.
posted by rmm at 12:51 PM on August 3

The patient equivalent to Epic is Mychart -

I agree, I know I've had MyChart in the past and may still have that app somewhere now -- but the current Epic interface for my hospital system (NY Pres, Columbia Drs, Weill-Cornell) is MyConnect. It gives the information items mentioned above by fox problems.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:13 AM on August 4

I gave up on apps and starting using a 2-year pocket calendar book back in April, and it is truthfully so much easier than trying to enter things and synchronize and set alarms and whatever. Everything goes in the book, and everything’s easily accessible if I need to see it.
posted by MexicanYenta at 3:04 PM on August 5 [1 favorite]