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If you live with chronic pain or a chronic illness you may have been requested by your physician to keep a diary of when you are feeling your best and worst. It may also be recommended that you write down your activities, your sleep patterns, and even your diet.
Anyone who has ever tried to do this can find it overwhelming. However, it can be extremely helpful to both you and your doctor when you have an increase in inflammation or in a extreme flare. What caused the increase in pain? The weather? Something you ate? A new medication? A stressful event?
It is somewhat ironic that while we may find it a burdensome task to record what we are eating, who we are with, how much we slept, and how we are feeling, millions of people are doing this daily on Twitter. They write what they ate for lunch, if they have a migraine, and if they are up at 2 a.m. working. . . and they call it fun!
Now is the time for those of us who have a chronic illness to let Twitter worked for us! This social networking tool has been used to help people with dieting, exercise, and even encouragement to stop smoking. But it may best benefit those of us with illness, who need to record enough of our life to figure out what is causing an increase in pain.
Here are 5 steps to use Twitter to understand the causes your pain:
[1] Set up a Twitter account just for your chronic pain diary. If you already have a Twitter account, set up a new one that will remain private. When you open it you have the option under "settings" to make it private, meaning you have to approve any followers. Since this is your pain diary, you likely won't wish to approve any followers. It can seem strange to not want any followers if you are already a Twitterer typically seek to increase your followers.
[2] You are now ready to start writing your posts. You cannot write more than 140 characters, however, this keeps it a simple task and not too overwhelming. Feel free to use it in any way necessary, for example, submitting more than one post to describe a special circumstance. You can send posts from your cell phone, not just from the computer, so set up this option in your account to make the most of it.
[3] Remember to post at the very least any major events that are not part of your typical day and your body's response to them. For example a post may include how you woke up feeling, major weather influences, if you took extra medication, or if you are active or solitary during the day. You can post whatever information may be of value to you at some point.
[4] Before your doctor's appointment log on to Twitter and print out the pages if your doctor would like a copy of them. Highlight any major activities that could have created ups and downs in your pain level.
[5] if you already use Twitter for personal or business use, consider using a service that can post a message to more than one Twitter account simultaneously. This way your regular tweets that include where you are or what you are doing are automatically posted to your pain diary that resides on Twitter as well.
The market for Twitter applications will continue to grow and there is no doubt that's those considering medical Web 2.0 tools will come up with some fancy (and complicated) ways to record your pain levels. But for now you can have a thorough log of your chronic illness and pain levels in just minutes at no cost. You can't beat that!
Anyone who has ever tried to do this can find it overwhelming. However, it can be extremely helpful to both you and your doctor when you have an increase in inflammation or in a extreme flare. What caused the increase in pain? The weather? Something you ate? A new medication? A stressful event?
It is somewhat ironic that while we may find it a burdensome task to record what we are eating, who we are with, how much we slept, and how we are feeling, millions of people are doing this daily on Twitter. They write what they ate for lunch, if they have a migraine, and if they are up at 2 a.m. working. . . and they call it fun!
Now is the time for those of us who have a chronic illness to let Twitter worked for us! This social networking tool has been used to help people with dieting, exercise, and even encouragement to stop smoking. But it may best benefit those of us with illness, who need to record enough of our life to figure out what is causing an increase in pain.
Here are 5 steps to use Twitter to understand the causes your pain:
[1] Set up a Twitter account just for your chronic pain diary. If you already have a Twitter account, set up a new one that will remain private. When you open it you have the option under "settings" to make it private, meaning you have to approve any followers. Since this is your pain diary, you likely won't wish to approve any followers. It can seem strange to not want any followers if you are already a Twitterer typically seek to increase your followers.
[2] You are now ready to start writing your posts. You cannot write more than 140 characters, however, this keeps it a simple task and not too overwhelming. Feel free to use it in any way necessary, for example, submitting more than one post to describe a special circumstance. You can send posts from your cell phone, not just from the computer, so set up this option in your account to make the most of it.
[3] Remember to post at the very least any major events that are not part of your typical day and your body's response to them. For example a post may include how you woke up feeling, major weather influences, if you took extra medication, or if you are active or solitary during the day. You can post whatever information may be of value to you at some point.
[4] Before your doctor's appointment log on to Twitter and print out the pages if your doctor would like a copy of them. Highlight any major activities that could have created ups and downs in your pain level.
[5] if you already use Twitter for personal or business use, consider using a service that can post a message to more than one Twitter account simultaneously. This way your regular tweets that include where you are or what you are doing are automatically posted to your pain diary that resides on Twitter as well.
The market for Twitter applications will continue to grow and there is no doubt that's those considering medical Web 2.0 tools will come up with some fancy (and complicated) ways to record your pain levels. But for now you can have a thorough log of your chronic illness and pain levels in just minutes at no cost. You can't beat that!
About the Author:
Lisa Copen is the founder of Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week held annually in Sept and featuring a free 5-day virtual conference online. Follow Invisible Illness Week on Twitter for prizes and info. Blog about invisible illness on your site, be a featured guest blogger, meet others, read articles and lots more. Make a impact today!
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