I've referenced in other posts before that I like to keep a daily chart of my symptoms. I think this is important for anyone with a chronic health condition, not just meniere's disease. I know some people like to keep journals or a diary, but that never really worked for me. I had trouble keeping up with it every day, and I think I felt like I had to write out everything and not just leave simple notes. Plus, it was a pain to go back and quickly reference how I was doing over several days or months. With my charting system, I'm able to just mark my symptoms every day and I can see how I'm doing over a month time frame all at once. Here is a sample of the chart I've developed specifically for meniere's symptoms. I've filled it out to give you an idea on how I like to keep my daily notes, but it's just a sample. Luckily this is NOT how my August went. :)
Everything in red is an example of how I like to fill out my chart. Of course, the "name" and "month" are self explanatory. The "cycle #" is a place for women to chart their cycle day to see if any of their symptoms seem to correlate. The "symptoms" list is a sampling of several common meniere's symptoms. It may not be complete and everyone is different with different symptoms so there is plenty of space below to add your own symptoms.
Next, you will notice several random red boxes. Here is how they work: Every morning while I'm eating my breakfast I fill out my chart for the day before. For each symptom that I experienced I would fill in the box. I like to take it a step further and fill in each box with how severe the symptom was. I fill out a 1/4 of the box if the symptom was mild, 1/2 the box if it was moderate, 3/4 of the box if it was severe and the whole box if it was debilitating. So let's say I had a bad vertigo attack the day before with some nausea but my hearing and tinnitus were okay. I would probably fill in a whole box for the vertigo attack, 1/2 a box for the nausea, and 1/4 of the box for the hearing loss and tinnitus. After several days and months it's easy for me to look back and see what days were bad and I can start to notice trends. For example, since I've started charting I've noticed that my neck aches are usually a sign that I will be having a dizzy episode soon and if I ignore them I will eventually have a full blown vertigo attack and maybe even drop attacks. Once I realized this I started paying special attention to how my neck feels, especially while I'm on the computer or painting or doing some other immobile activity. I started doing daily yoga and stretching exercises for my neck several times a day. I don't spend several hours on the computer like I used to and I try to take breaks while I'm painting. It's all helped and it's all because I started charting my symptoms.
Finally, at the bottom of the chart you'll notice a medications box column. Here is a place to note specific medications taken on certain days. So in the example scenario given above I probably would have taken Diazepam for the vertigo and possible something for the nausea. I would then note in the box that I took medication that day and then fill out the medication list below it with what I took. The same goes for the Vitamins and Supplements list.
It's really easy to do, and like I said it really helps to get an overall look at how your condition is effecting you every day, and if there is anything you can do to make it better. I recommend you give it a try. Here is a blank chart for you to download and print for yourself. I'd appreciate any feedback you have and feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I hope it helps!
Much Love,
Shanon
