Concussion tracking app
 

I would like to use a phone app to track my diet, exercise, herbal supplements & vitamins, concussion symptoms, and mood. I'd like to see what patterns arise. Can anyone recommend a good app for Android?

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bindicator,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

Any Android journaling app should work. With the number of variables you want to track, it will be very difficult to see a pattern. You would need to eliminate some variables to find triggers.

What symptoms are you having that you want to track ?

We can help you understand the many issues with PCS. There is a wide range of experience here.

Please feel free to tell us about your concerns.

Thanks Mark. I've been "lurking" on this forum for 3.5 years, since my concussion. There is a lot of helpful info here. This is my first post.

I was doing well for over 2 years but experienced a relapse in July brought on by too much computer work and an attempt at taking up running.

I followed your vitamin regimen at one time and I want to get back on track with that and with diet.

My most bothersome symptoms right now are noise and ringing in my ears, constant state of fogginess, feeling "derpy" (like my brain is moving about in my skull), and eye strain from reading and too-bright lighting.

I thought it might be useful to track what things influence how I feel. How are you able to know what does and doesn't work?

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My best skill is knowing how to recognize the early signs of pushing my limits. Something as simple as needing to reread a line of text tells me I am pushing too hard. I know that there are some things I don't do. I don't try to read fiction. I can't follow all the characters and get lost with the common overly descriptive terms.

We have a saying. "Is this a driving day ?" This relates to how well I am focusing on a task or thought. It usually relates to how well I sleep.

If you struggled with running, have you done anything to analyze your gait and foot plant ? The pounding from a hard foot plant can be a big problem. Plus, unresolved upper neck injuries can make the pounding a problem.

Without knowing anything more specific about your issues, that's the best I can say.

The app "Symple" allows you to track symptom severity alongside "factors" that you can choose, and then it produces graphs that can help illustrate correlations. I was good with tracking for a while, but my symptoms are reasonably constant and trying to assign numbers to severity (as well as the screentime involved in entering info on the app) was more trouble than I wanted. It seems reasonably well done though. For 3 bucks (if I remember correctly) you can add unlimited symptoms and factors to track.

One should be careful about tracking symptoms. Studies show there is a direct correlation between the effort made to track symptoms and their manifestation. The more one looks for the symptom, the more than symptom will manifest. This is an anxiety inducing effort which will make symptoms worse.

A daily recap would be better than real time journaling.

Blindindicator,
I will make this short. My daughter had a concussion 4.5 yrs ago. All the doctors thought that her symptoms were PCS but we have come to find out through extensive vestibular testing that it is actually migraine related. (A migraine gene was triggered throughout the head injury was how it was explained to us.) The head doctor for the vestibular clinic said that what we thought was PCS was actually a type of migraine. When we thought she was having a relapse, she was actually triggering the headache. We are now working with a doctor at UCSF med. to help find a medication that would prevent the migraine from occurring. (Light sensitivity was really bad for her)

She also benefitted from prism glasses.

Acupuncture has helped stop her migraines although the affects from acupuncture only lasts a few days. It is well worth the price to be headache free for a few days.

But the most beneficial help to date was doing the hyperbaric study in New Orleans with Dr Harch. The treatment was free but we had to pay for the lodging and travel. You can google him and call to see if the study is still going on.

There are many complications from a head injury...neck injuries. eye tracking, etc

Try not to lose hope.

My best,

Thanks for the info. How did you find out it was a migraine gene? What testing was done to get this diagnosis?