Keeping track of your chronic illness helps you to understand the triggers that cause your chronic illness flares. Join me as I take you through my health tracker journal diary. If you would like to see more of how to set up and complete your journal on a daily basis, join my newsletters and I will send you the address to see a my video series.

My Choice of Health Tracker Journal Diary

I spend about $35.00 on my journal.  A large pocket on the back cover attracted me. It holds all the little important papers, and has an elastic that helps to keep my book closed and easier to carry with you. It can have 125 to 400 pages depending on my choice. My pages can be lined, graph or dots to form rows and columns. Or, you can pick one with that has plain pages.

On the front cover I write my name and the date.

The Set-Up of My Health Tracker Journal Diary

Set aside the first 15 pages for your set up and start by numbering all pages. It only takes me a few minutes to do and now you can add an index to reference important parts at the beginning of my journal. Leave about 3 pages for the index because you will fill it in as you go along.

Then I begin to add pages for:

• Phone numbers, mostly emergency, but it’s still nice to have often used numbers in written form.
• When did I last?….. do things like change the smoke alarm batteries. furnace filters, cleaned the frig or taken a course.
• Doctors appointments. Current and past. My doctor always asks, “when did you last see Dr. so and so…..”
• Medications list with a column for start date of and date I stopped taking
• Books on my reading list.
• Movies on my movie list.
• Birthdays and anniversaries,
• Goals, weekly, monthly or yearly.

Its my choice what I want to keep track of.

Sunday Morning, Setting Up My Health Tracker Journal Diary

My week starts on Sunday and so that’s when I have a long look in my journal. Every week needs to be set up, with columns and rows. My rule is NO ruler. I draw lines for columns and rows without a worry if they are straight or not. I customize my set up for the week ahead with space for what I did or felt that day.

Weight First

Checking my weight every morning,  if I gain a few pounds overnight I know I am beginning to retain water and something is up. Along with my weight I also measure my ankles and girth because I retain water in my abdomen.

 Exercise Next

Tracking my exercise regiment on a daily basis keeps me honest with exercise. Keeping in mind the things that will matter like steps, distance and amount of time I have exercised. Next, on to tracking my BORG or shortness of breath because that is a great way to tell if I am keeping up or getting slower which could mean getting sick.

Then the Weather

Weather affects my symptoms so I track the daily weather, humidity, wind speed and dust and dander for allergies. Then on to the barometer to measure atmospheric pressure. Next I take a check of my BreezoMeter for air quality. Setting it  up according to my area, it tells me if people with lung issues should stay in, go out or beware of exposure to air pollutants.

Finally, My Health Tracker Journal Diary is Ready

My journal takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to complete every morning. It is a record of what is happening and how well I am doing, it is a reminder of what I have accomplished and how I have failed. It is my record and my diary and my choice.

The doctor believes me when I tell him what happened because I have charted and documented it in a way that they understand.