Do you track your symptoms, diet, meds?
Yes - 47.4% - 9 votes
No - 15.8% - 3 votes
Not anymore - 15.8% - 3 votes
I should start! - 0.0% - 0 votes
Yes - 5.3% - 1 votes
No - 5.3% - 1 votes
Not anymore - 10.5% - 2 votes
I should start! - 0.0% - 0 votes
mkl11
Veteran Member
Joined : Jul 2007
Posts : 530
Posted 9/7/2011 9:33 PM (GMT 0)
Just curious about this and thought it might start an interesting discussion...
Do any of you track your symptoms (BMs, blood, pain, etc) or diet or stress levels?
If so, what sort of tools do you use? Websites, mobile apps, excel? Do you find it useful? Do you ever show what you track to your GI?
If you don't track anything, why not?
Personally, I use Patientslikeme.com and GI Monitor (a mobile app) to track symptoms, BMs, and meds. I haven't found anything good for tracking food that isn't terribly time consuming. I've found some interesting patterns, but nothing that's made a huge difference or caused any behavior change.
Posted 9/7/2011 9:36 PM (GMT 0)
When I was sick I was much more conscious of my symptoms. Now that I feel fine, I eat whatever I want and don't notice having any symptoms worth tracking. If I have a bad day, I tend to think "what did I eat yesterday?" but in reality, I know that's probably unrelated to the bad day.
Posted 9/7/2011 9:42 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, I use an app called, myIBD. Not quite sure if it's out there in the android market.
The app is pretty cool and there are list of things you can jot down on daily basis in different categories.(has stool, food, pain, mood, meds taken, etc sections)
Download it if you have an ipad or iphone. It can be useful.
mkl11
Veteran Member
Joined : Jul 2007
Posts : 530
Posted 9/7/2011 9:45 PM (GMT 0)
CollegeStudent,
Cool! Hadn't seen that one. Have you ever shown stuff you've tracked to your GI?
Posted 9/7/2011 9:56 PM (GMT 0)
Yea, I told him about it but he wasn't really interested. He just said, the app maker really knows the medications.
In the med list of the app, it basically has a list of all the IBD meds including Humira.
He's with his smart phone all the time when he is with patients.
I remember when he looked up LDN with his phone lol when I told him about it during the appointment.
And I sent a few other studies to him and he was reading with his smart phone right away.
Sara14
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 7914
Posted 9/7/2011 10:22 PM (GMT 0)
I used to with good ol' pen and paper.
InSoFla
Veteran Member
Joined : Jan 2011
Posts : 4691
Posted 9/7/2011 11:03 PM (GMT 0)
mkl11,
I've been using an Excel spread sheet - with columns for various symptoms, and then additional
space to notate what foods I've had, and if there's any stress, etc...
I've found it very useful. It has enabled me to decipher correlations between eating certain foods (grain fed chicken and beef) to great increase in bone, joint, muscles pains.
Ellie10
New Member
Joined : Sep 2011
Posts : 15
Posted 9/8/2011 1:00 AM (GMT 0)
I am hoping to get pregnant in the next year and having been using an app called Woman Log that tracks everything girly related. I have been using it double duty to keep up with days that I am stuck in the bathroom bc you can make notes on each dates. After hearing about a few of the other apps, I may try one of those....
wodin
Veteran Member
Joined : Jul 2009
Posts : 530
Posted 9/8/2011 1:24 AM (GMT 0)
I use GI Monitor, it's pretty good except on weekends and days off when I graze rather than having set meal times. If I had to log a meal every time I ate a hand full of chips or a donut I'd be logging a lot of meals.
Sibby
Veteran Member
Joined : Apr 2010
Posts : 1366
Posted 9/8/2011 1:43 AM (GMT 0)
I have a good ole system my doc likes to call a pop journal. If I ate anything new I'd write it down in my notebook.
Old Hat
Veteran Member
Joined : Feb 2007
Posts : 6012
Posted 9/8/2011 2:38 AM (GMT 0)
Like Sara14, I made my notes on paper when flaring-- basically about med dosing. In remission I mainly write myself reminders to get med refills & note any unusual symptoms (e.g., pain anywhere) if/when they occur. I'm not too keen on computerized health records with lots of hacking out in the world. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
subdued
Veteran Member
Joined : Dec 2008
Posts : 3231
Posted 9/8/2011 5:49 AM (GMT 0)
Now that I know what foods bother me, I take a note of it in my head. I don't write it down anymore.
quincy
Elite Member
Joined : May 2003
Posts : 33769
Posted 9/8/2011 8:30 AM (GMT 0)
I did for 2 years before diagnosis.
q
hekela
Veteran Member
Joined : Nov 2006
Posts : 731
Posted 9/8/2011 4:59 PM (GMT 0)
I kept track of everything in a calendar/planner during my first flare (which was long and horrible). I continued to track things as I progressively got better and started to notice what foods were irritating.
Now that things are stable I just keep mental notes (if I'm feeling off I can remember what I ate and deal with it). But for the most part I really stick to the foods that work and stay away from stuff I know will irritate me so I don't really have a need to track it any more. I do go back to tracking if I start flaring so I know how many times I've had BMs in a day, how bad I was feeling, how much blood etc.
Tillie
Regular Member
Joined : Oct 2010
Posts : 34
Posted 9/8/2011 6:41 PM (GMT 0)
I have been using the MyIBD app. It helped me realize how many time I was having BM's before it was even noon - that was eye opening for me.
I like knowing that the data is stored, but I don't tend to go look back over it.
It does help me monitor my food intake, stool output per day b/c I wouldn't think about any of that as much if I wasn't logging the info.
Levi
Veteran Member
Joined : Nov 2009
Posts : 1714
Posted 9/8/2011 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
I use Excel also for symptoms and medication history. I sometimes do afood journal.