Tracking Your Days

[freakofnurture]

In January this year I started to track my symptoms in a table that I printed out. In it I mark down:

• mood (really good, good, neutral, low, depressed)
• work (if I wrote nothing, a little bit or a lot)
• chores (like work)
• training (like work)
• sleep (if I fell asleep fast, had any nightmares)
• meds (I just mark down the changes)

I also scribble abbreviations in there when something out of the ordinary happens in any of those categories.

I initially made this table to get some objective information about how bad my depression really is, how long my 'black holes' last etc. (surprise, surprise, it is a lot less bad than it feels subjectively).

But it turned out that the part of this table that actually helps me a lot in everyday life are the lines with work, chores and training; it's a really big help for me to see black on white how much I did when. It prevents me from feeling lazy but also prompts me to throw in a slow day when I've done a lot for some days in a row.

Somehow I feel much more in control now.

Does anyone else track their symptoms this way? Do you find it helpful?

EDIT: I just realised I should have put this thread in Chit Chat, sorry o.o

 

[heidi]

I've tracked everything for a long time. I don't know why I do it. I think I keep looking for thing that help me. Reading back over time it's interesting to read. It gives you a bit of an outsiders perspective.
I haven't grossed any real valuable insight that I can apply to my life. But I think there is something to tracking and I should probably do it in a more dedicated and official manner.

At first it kind of depressed me to keep track because there are so many down days.

 

[maddog]

I guess that's kind of what I try to do by way of my diary, though of course it's not as neat and straightforward as a table format, and so it's not as easy to be objective about what I'm reading back over. I do think it's a good idea though.

I don't know if it's just me, but I often find it difficult to objectively, or at least consistently, rate things such as mood, or even to measure aspects of productivity to do with work, chores, other activities etc. I'm afraid that my ratings vary wildly according to my mood, and hence are manipulated by the very thing they are trying to measure, if that makes any sense. I guess I just doubt my own ability to self report sometimes, and even struggle with this when asked to do the tried and true SUDS rating. I suspect that when I'm distressed I overrate myself, and vice versa when I'm feeling calm. Is it just me? Have i just lost the ability to be objective with myself at all?

Maddog

 

[Ted Moen]

Self-monitoring is an important step in understanding PTSD and recovery. I learned to monitor anger and depression and anxious apprehension as an inpatient at The National Center for PTSD. First I learned to estimate my current levels. Then I learned to pay attention to low levels and specific behaviors that indicated moods were going from a low level to a mid range level. Those behaviors became indicators setting off a big flashing warning sign in my mind: DANGER - BIG MISTAKE ONE MILE AHEAD. By learning to recognize developing moods through bits of behaviors that occur very early in the developing mood I am able to use appropriate coping strategies to process the mood without it resulting in inappropriate behavior in my current situation. The big mistakes don't have to happen, but the moods do have to be processed.

Ted

 

[freakofnurture]

I learned to monitor anger and depression and anxious apprehension as an inpatient at The National Center for PTSD.

I got the idea of tracking from an in-patient programme, too. I was there for four weeks of DBT and we had to fill out diary cards every day where we would mark down our level of tension on an hourly basis.

I found it helped me a lot to become more aware and I identified a lot of signs for the different levels of tension. It was an 'get to know yourself a lot better' experience and it, too, gave me a feeling of control, somehow. Maybe because I wasn't dependent on my fallible memory anymore to find out how I was doing the last few days.

Have i just lost the ability to be objective with myself at all?

The number (or cross or whatever) you write down to represent your mood is subjective and it is supposed to be. You are trying to track how you feel, to get an overview over how often you feel how good or bad.

As for work and chores I have three levels 'a lot', 'a bit' and 'nothing'. 'Nothing' is pretty self-explanatory and 'a lot' is for when I look back on the day and think 'I really did get stuff done today'. Everything in between is 'a bit'.

This is of course not a very fine tuned system but I am really only interested in seeing if I couldn't get my arse up at all, if I was energetic and motivated, or if it was something in between.

For workout I mark down if I rested, did only weights or stretching, or did both in one session.

At first it kind of depressed me to keep track because there are so many down days.

For me it was the opposite. I felt a bit invalidated and like I was being a drama queen when I saw that my depression wasn't quite as bad as I had thought. But then I thought that my overestimation was part of the catastrophising that I sometimes engage in, so that I was actually fighting one of my symptoms by looking at my mood in a more objective way.

 

[piratelady]

My therapist has asked me to monitor my mood and track anything that triggers a change in my mood. I have yet to find an effective way to do this.

 

[freakofnurture]

@piratelady: What have you tried so far?

 

[piratelady]

I have a good I used for a journal. I have a page now where I just try to write down when something triggers me. But it's been like 5 days and I've written down like one thing. My therapist said that triggers are what will cause my mood to go down and we need to identify them. My mood has gone down a lot, but I can't seem to figure out what to write down.

 

[Ted Moen]

Write down whatever comes to mind Piratelady. There is no wrong answer. If you can, identify the feeling (anger, sadness, anxious apprehension, whatever you choose to call it) and rate it on a scale of 1 -10. Also jot down specific things you did and are doing or want to do at the moment. As you practice your personal method of self-monitoring will evolve.

Ted

 

[freakofnurture]

@piratelady: I'm not sure if this addresses your problem, but triggers can be things you do, see, smell, hear, feel and so on, but also thoughts. So it's important to include those into your self-monitoring as well.

 

[piratelady]

Ted and Freakofnurture: Thanks, that does help, I will keep trying :)