A while ago I got an email from Claire at Living Being Doing with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, she asked me the following question:
I’m investigating ways that people manage their fatigue, both as a record (for doctors/insurance, to measure efficacy of new treatments) and management – to make sure you don’t do too much on one day, to look at why you are more tired on certain days of the week/month/times of the day.
Do you have a chart, or diary, or list you could share with us? What format do you use?
I’d like to apologise to Claire for taking so long to reply! I’ve had other projects taking all my energetic times lately, but I’ve finally got to this…
How do I mange and track my fatigue levels to be able to see any change and/or report to my doctors?
I have a spreadsheet I use that has evolved over the past 7 months to be something manageable enough for me to keep up with and provide a reasonable level of data. This spreadsheet not only records my fatigue levels, but my pain levels and “other symptoms” levels as well.
I track my Muscle Pain, Fatigue, and “Other Symptoms” levels (on a scale of 1 – 10) three times a day; when I wake up, at lunch time, and just before bed. I also rate my overall day. I’ve set the spreadsheet up so it automatically calculates the daily averages.
Rating Scales
Symptoms Scale |
|
| 0 | No Symptoms |
| 1 | |
| 2 | Some symptoms/can be ignored |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Uncomfortable symptoms/ interferes with tasks |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Need relief now/interferes with concentration |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Things are getting really bad now/unbearable |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Worst possible situation/death imminent |
Day ratings based on how I feel |
|
| crash | can’t do anything above surviving/low level |
| bad | minimal functionality/struggling |
| ok | fairly functional |
| good | functional/manageable issues |
| great | functional/no issues |
To start with I was also recording my activity levels every 30 minutes, but I found that was taking up way to much of my energy during the day. Now, I pay attention to how my days are going and modify my daily activities based on my check-ins during the day.
So that’s it… That is how I currently manage, track and report on my health issues.
Do you have a way of managing, tracking and reporting on your health?
What tools do you use to do this?