Chronic Illness Tracking: Symptoms, Treatments, Exertion & How I Feel

For over 21 years now, I have used a simple system to track important aspects of my chronic illnesses at the end of each day: how I felt, my exertion and stress levels, any unusual symptoms, and stopping/starting/changing treatments. I just take five minutes to jot down a few numbers and a few notes on a calendar before bed. Over the years, this data has helped me to get diagnosed, find patterns in my symptoms (including how much exertion or stress leads to a crash/PEM), and figure out whether or not treatments are helping.

In this brief new video, I explain how and why I do this, so that you can set up your own tracking system that works for you. You can watch it on YouTube or below:

 

My system is still mostly paper-based (other than heart rate tracking and step counting), so if you use apps or other electronic means of tracking, I'd love to hear about it.

How do YOU track symptoms and other aspects of your chronic illness?

Let me know in the comments below.

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.