So what are our options for symptom trackers? How can we also promote self-management from the patient’s side to take more charge of their health? In the past, we have relied on pen, paper, and a good memory. The timeline of these symptoms can be analysed together with new treatment regimens or lifestyle modifications to gain valuable insight into a patient’s response. Doctors will frequently ask their patients to keep a diary for recent health events, such as pain, fatigue and quality of life over the last 24 hours, the previous week, or the last month. The use of patient diaries, or symptom trackers, can offer valuable insight into any range of symptoms and assist in making more informed decisions about a diagnosis or treatment based or recognise symptom fluctuations accompanying a new drug.ĭepending on the clinicians or the research, self-reported questions on symptom tracking can vary immensely both in detail and time. Knowing how a patient is feeling, what their symptoms are, and if they experienced any changes is often essential information to healthcare professions and clinicians alike. “How satisfied are you with your physical health in the past four weeks?”. Mainly, the digital food diary could help collect the evidence that I was not the elephant in the room, but rather that the elephant in the room was my denied eating disorder. It would have also made the task of writing a food diary less momentous by transforming my journaling into micro-journaling by allowing me to enter one bite at a time rather than the whole day's worth of meals at once. Further, a digital food diary study platform with push notifications would have served as a constant reminder to log in my food entries as I constantly check my phone. But at the same time, I wanted to know that the information I provided in a digital diary would be as safe and private as it would have been as my handwritten diary locked in my bedroom cabinet. As a millennial, I wanted to feel like journaling was as easy as Tweeting or posting a picture on Instagram. Whilst I used a physical diary (paper and pen), a mobile diary study app would have helped my nutritionist and me reach a common ground (and to be on the same page) sooner rather than later. My therapist then suggested to my nutritionist and me to transition to a mobile diary study. I confessed to my therapist my deliberate dishonesty in completing the physical food diary and why I had been reluctant to participate in the exercise. The usage of multiple media sources would have allowed my nutritionist to observe my behaviour in real-time and gain a holistic view of my physical and emotional needs. I also did not have the visual flexibility to express myself through using photos, videos, voice recordings, and screen recordings. However, by using a paper and pen, I often forgot (or intentionally did not enter my food entries) as I felt guilty reading what I had eaten or that I had eaten at all. No other methodology would have allowed my nutritionist to capture so much contextual and behavioural information on my eating patterns other than a daily detailed food diary. Keeping a meal diary was a powerful and non-invasive way for my nutritionist to walk in my shoes for a specific time and understand my eating (and thinking) habits. By recording all my meals, drinks, and snacks, I was able to see what I was eating versus what I was supposed to be eating. This was a clever way for my nutritionist and me to be on the same page. He then made the simple but revolutionary suggestion to keep a food diary to track what I was eating. I felt like the elephant in the room- both literally and figuratively. I felt he was speaking about a different person than the person I saw in the mirror. Upon visiting my nutritionist, he conducted an in-body scan and told me my body weight was dangerously low. I wanted a solution without having to address my issues. I did not understand what she was saying as I was in denial I had a problem, to begin with. She also told me that this condition was associated with other anxiety disorders and eating disorders. She explained this as a mental health condition where a person is apprehensive about their appearance and suggested I visit a nutritionist. I told my therapist that I thought I was fat. Yet, when I see my reflection, I see somebody who is much larger than reality. I have weighed the same since I was 12 years old, and I am currently nearing my 25th birthday. The fear is unjustified as I was never overweight. I am afraid to eat and afraid I will gain weight. Dear Diary, I have been struggling with an eating disorder for the past few years.
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