Four Weeks of Monitoring My Health-Helpful Experience?

Do you monitor the symptoms of your chronic illness? Can you predict when your health will be affected by external factors? I was intrigued to know if there was any sort of pattern to my energy levels but also what I might be able to do to improve them. I decided to monitor for the month of September. Here’s how I got on.

I mentioned in previous blog posts, that I’m frustrated that I have drops in my energy levels. Yes of course I know I have a chronic illness, but are there things I could be doing to level out my energy levels and symptoms. I am reluctant to make plans that mean I have to drive somewhere, as I don’t know if I’ll be able to and I haven’t been able to get back into an exercise routine. Is it that I really don’t have the energy? Or have I created a barrier for myself? Well I wasn’t quite sure, which is why I decided to monitor various things for the month of September.

What did I monitor?

I recorded food, daily step count, sleep pattern and any other useful notes. If I had a low mood, even if I wasn’t sure why. If I ate a piece of cake or had a less than healthy dinner-this went down too. I used my FitBit to record my steps and sleep. I know both can be a little all of the place. How much of this I can have an influence over-I was interested to see.

So what did I learn from monitoring my health?

Well not as much as I thought I would!

• The journal I used has daily pages for Mon-Sat with a review of Sunday. I do understand that a weekly review is important, but for what I was doing, I really needed a journal that was 7 days a week.
• There are so many factors that can affect energy levels. I have mentioned in previous blog posts, that September was a really busy month for me and my family. There has been additional things to do and stress that went with them.
• The ritual of noting certain things in a journal did make me more mindful of what I was eating.
• When, for example, my step count was low, I didn’t always write an explanation. So looking back on it now, I wasn’t able to see a pattern.

So in conclusion, I’m not sure how helpful the monitoring was! I would definitely like to monitor and evaluate symptoms and health levels-but I need a better format.

What do you use to monitor your symptoms? Can you predict how your energy levels will be? I would love to hear from you in the comments.