Tracking symptoms is essential for healthcare teams to provide patient-centred care. By capturing all your day-to-day symptoms, they can gain a comprehensive picture of your condition and effectively plan and modify treatments to best suit you.
Keep a journal or use an electronic health record to track your symptoms. Be sure to share your results with your healthcare team.
Identify Triggers
When a person is “triggered,” they have a strong emotional response to something that reminds them of or worsens their mental health symptoms. The reaction can be a panic attack, self-harm, relapse, or other unhealthy behavior. Identifying triggers can help with long term recovery and treatment.
Triggers are unique to each individual and strongly influenced by past experiences. They can be external or internal and involve the senses such as sounds, smells, and sights. For example, the smell of cologne worn by someone who passed away could be a trigger for grief, while the sound of firecrackers might be a trauma trigger for veterans of war.
Symptom tracking can help people identify potential triggers. Write down anything that causes your symptoms to flare up, and try to connect it to a specific event or behavior. For example, a person who is anxious or nervous may be triggered by a stressful encounter with a co-worker or an argument with their partner. They can use their symptom tracker to identify and record these triggers, as well as how the triggering behavior made them feel.
This information can then be shared with a therapist who can offer treatment options that address the cause of the triggers and improve coping mechanisms. Certain types of therapy have been proven effective for addressing triggers, including exposure therapy and EMDR. The goal is to eventually be able to deal with triggers without having an overly negative response.
Identify Patterns
The more you track your symptoms, the more likely it is that you will begin to notice trends. This can help you and your doctor identify triggers or lifestyle changes that can help alleviate them. For example, you might notice that your symptoms tend to flare around certain times of day or after you eat a specific food. You might also notice that your symptoms improve after you start taking medication.
Another helpful thing to do is rate the severity of your symptoms on a scale of 1-10. This can help you and your doctor see if your symptoms are improving or getting worse over time. It can also be helpful to track how often your symptoms occur, such as daily, weekly, or monthly.
While it is best to begin tracking your symptoms before you receive a diagnosis, many people have found that it is beneficial even after they have received one. Regardless of the timing, you should make sure that your doctor has all of the relevant information about your health history when discussing treatment options.
It is important to note that noticing patterns can be a symptom of mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression. Professional guidance, mindfulness practices, and active distraction can all help prevent seeing patterns from becoming intrusive or overwhelming.
Identify Changes
When you log your symptoms, make sure to include qualitative data, as well as quantitative (the amount of time your symptom lasted). You should also note what triggers or makes the symptom better/worse, and any other factors that affect it (like stress levels, energy level, etc.). This rounded view of your symptoms will help you and your doctor better understand them and identify treatment options.
A symptom is something that you or other people notice, like a rash, cough, or pain. It’s a noticeable change in your normal state that other people can recognize, unlike a sign which is objective and can only be detected by medical equipment, such as a sphygmomanometer or an oximeter.
Identify Treatment Options
For many conditions, symptom tracking is an essential component of treatment. Whether it’s for diabetes, arthritis, depression, fibromyalgia, heart disease, high blood pressure or menopause, keeping track of your symptoms can help you and your doctor determine what triggers and worsens them, which in turn may allow you to better manage the condition.
A symptom tracker is designed to collect longitudinal data, allowing you and your doctor to identify trends and patterns over time. It differs from a symptom checker, which provides immediate, preliminary medical advice based on the inputted symptoms and suggests potential conditions you might have.
Depending on the severity of your symptoms, your doctor can prescribe various medications, dietary supplements or even suggest lifestyle changes to alleviate them. Keeping a symptom journal can help your health care team find the best treatment options for you and monitor the effectiveness of those treatments. The app to track symptoms makes it easy for a person to recognize if they are doing well or not.
Identify Lifestyle Changes
Keeping a symptom diary or patient log is an important tool to help patients get a better understanding of their symptoms. Whether it is used for menstrual symptoms or chronic conditions, keeping consistent records over time can be a great way to identify patterns and triggers that lead to improved health outcomes.
Using a symptom tracker is an effective and convenient tool for both patients and healthcare professionals alike. Unlike paper diaries, digital symptom tracking tools can work anywhere and can be updated quickly. They also offer more flexibility for analyzing information and provide users with insights and correlations that can be difficult to obtain from traditional methods.
The process of logging symptoms can also help individuals identify areas for improvement in their lifestyle and diet. For example, an individual may find that their symptom symptoms are triggered by stress or alcohol intake, and a simple habit change like cutting back on those habits can make a big difference.
Identify Your Needs
Having a comprehensive understanding of your symptoms and how they change can make a huge difference in the type of care you receive. It can help your medical team identify the underlying causes and improve your treatment, which can lead to less discomfort and increased quality of life.
While symptom tracking isn’t necessarily easy, it is well worth the effort. There are many ways to track your symptoms, including using a physical journal, word-processing software or spreadsheets or a symptom tracking app. Choose a method that is easy to use and will work for your individual situation.
For example, a symptom tracker that allows you to enter a date and time, record your symptoms and their severity and note any triggers is ideal for those with fibromyalgia, chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or migraines. It can also be used for other conditions, such as kidney disease, diabetes, chronic fatigue or thyroid disorders.
Regardless of the method you choose, it is important to be consistent with your symptom tracking. A few months of consistent tracking can provide valuable information that can help your doctor identify patterns and determine if further testing or medication is needed. This can prevent symptoms from becoming worse or causing unnecessary suffering for yourself and your family. It can also reduce stress and anxiety associated with your condition and make it easier to comply with your treatment plan.
