Symptom diary
A few lines a day. One appointment sees one day; a diary sees the pattern — and the pattern is usually what the question turns on.
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Keeping a diary that is actually worth reading
- Three lines kept for months beat a full page abandoned in a week. Set the bar low enough that you keep going on a bad day, because the bad days are the ones worth having.
- Write what you could not do, not just how bad it felt. "Level 7" means nothing to anyone else. "Could not carry the shopping up one flight" means something to everyone.
- Record the good days too. A diary with only bad days shows a straight line, and a straight line hides the pattern you were trying to find.
- Note what was different that day. Six weeks later nobody remembers it was the week of the move. The context line is what turns a number into something explainable.
- Bring the whole diary, not the worst week. Showing only the worst stretch gives half a picture and usually earns another month of keeping the diary.
- This page does not interpret anything. It records and it draws. What the pattern means is read by the person examining you, alongside everything else they know.
Kept in this browser only, never sent anywhere. Clearing browser data clears the diary — export the CSV now and then if months of entries matter to you.