From the article: How To Keep a Symptom Diary
Keeping an IBS symptom diary is an easy way to get more information about what factors may be contributing to your intestinal problems. Have you kept an IBS symptom diary? What did the diary reveal to you regarding patterns and triggers? Please share with us what you found out. If you haven't yet tried a symptom diary, you may find that reading about the experience of others might serve to motivate you. Share Your Experience!
ANY ADVISE
- I AM NOW TAKING MU XING SHUN QI WAN I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG. JUST SOME ONE SAY THAT WHAT THEY ARE DOING HAS HELPED THEM AND SHARE IT WITH ME OR ALL OF US PLEASE..
- —Guest ROMAN
CAN'T MAKE SENSE OUT OF THIS
- HOW DO I UNDERSTAND THIS WHEN I CAN'T MAKE SENSE OUT OF IT. I AM SO TIRED OF THE STOMACH ACHES. PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME HOW TO STOP THEM. I AM TAKING CHARCOAL, PEPPERMINT, SHEN LING BAI ZHU PIAN AND THEY ONLY HELP FOR AWHILE. I AM SO TIRED I CAN'T SLEEP I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ANY SUGGESTIONS?
- —Guest ROMAN
THAT I AM NOT ALONE
- LEARNED THAT THERE ARE 1000'S OF PEOPLE SUFFERING OUT THERE WITH IBS. WOULD SURE LIKE TO KNOW IF ANYONE HAS BEEN HELPED AND WITH WHAT.
- —Guest ROMAN
I have a blog, but not a diary!
- I really should try harder to keep a diary of my personal symptoms. While I like to track developments in the digestive health world with my blog (DigestionBlog.com), I am terrible at keeping track of my own symptoms. I think part of the problem is that I don't like to focus too deeply on them. I have a pet theory that the weather plays a role in how I am feeling sometimes. I've thought about tracking things like barometric pressure, temperature, etc... along with my diet & how I felt that I day. Although I wouldn't want to get in a rut where I feel I start thinking "oh, it's sunny out, going to have a bad day" or "barometric pressure is low, going to be a good day", then it turns out it's not a good day at all. It still would be interesting to see if there is a connection though. Perhaps someday I'll do it & then I can write about it on my blog ;).
- —Guest Gabriel
Symptoms Made Worse
- This is not what anyone probably expects (and neither did I!), but keeping a symptom diary made my symptoms worse. We all know that stress can make episodes more severe, and I think that's what did it. If I would eat a food that I knew (because of the symptom diary) caused a reaction, I would end up worse off than the first time I had eaten it. I was never more sick than when I kept my diary. And I kid you not- just a few weeks after I stopped keeping one, I improved SO much. My advice is to avoid foods that are blatant triggers for you, but to try not to think too much about others that are in that gray area. However, if you're newly diagnosed with IBS, a symptom diary is a good thing so you can see what types of foods cause symptoms. Just don't think about it too much!
- —rkormanik
Mornings are the Worst
- Once I really kept track of my symptoms, I found out that most of my problems happen in the morning. My stomach might still be funky throughout the day, but at least I am not running to the bathroom. Now that I know this, I try to schedule things for the afternoon whenever possible.
- —jodie333
