One of the best ways to learn what is good for you is to keep track of your own symptoms. What makes them worse? What makes them better? How do medications, foods, activities, people, and stresses affect you?  

Keeping track of your health is called “self-monitoring.” Self-monitoring can also show you how the different things your doctor orders or that you do for yourself are working.  

You can record symptoms you are tracking (such as pain, fatigue, insomnia, nausea) on a “symptom log" Write down the date and time, the symptom, and rate how bad it is on a scale of 1 – 10, with 10 being the worst. There should be another column where you can note anything you think may have contributed – medications, foods, events, anything. You can keep track of more than one symptom on the same form. 

You can and should also keep track of numbers that affect your condition, like blood pressure or glucose readings. Bring your logs to appointments and share them with your professionals and with family if you want.