How to Track Chronic Pain in a Bullet Journal

Tracking chronic pain and health in a bullet journal can help you be aware of your own body, predict patterns, and communicate with your doctor more effectively.

I’ve suffered from chronic migraines and only recently found a medicine that changed my daily headaches and number of migraines per month. I’ve also had trouble with pain and irregular cycles ever since I had an ovarian cyst rupture.

Tracking these symptoms is incredibly telling, especially in conjuncture with sleep, medication/vitamins, and other factors. Keep reading to see how I track chronic pain in my bullet journal.

The Habit Tracker

I found that the best way to see the overall picture of my life including chronic pain was to include a section on this complex tracker. This isn’t the kind of spread I do every single month but is educational when I line up these aspects together. Here are the following segments:

Habits:

• Reading
• Complete homework
• Writing
• Wash face
• Exercise
• Take medication
• Journal
• Drink Water

Other actions:

• Wash hair
• Do laundry
• Post on Instagram
• Post on blog

Symptoms:

• Missed class/work
• Saw a doctor
• Headache
• Migraine
• Naseous
• Cramps
• Cold/other

Mental:

• Mood
• Productivity
• Energy
• Stress
• Social
• Anxiousness
• Iritability

When I include my chronic pain symptoms alongside every other aspect of my chronic pain, I can easily see how it affects everything else. May it be how often I wash my hair or do laundry, or my energy and stress, correlation is easy to find.

I also find it important to note how often I see a doctor or miss class/work. This was a good month. But when my pain was at my worst in high school, I often left early or spent a few hours in the nurse’s office. Sometimes it takes over my life more – or less – than I actually think it does.

How to Create Your Own Tracker

1. List all actions you would like to be aware of
2. Denote if these actions should be completed daily, or if you just want to be aware of how often a month you complete them
3. Separate the initial list of habits in two sections accordingly
4. Make a list of the results (doctor’s visits or absences) and symptoms of your chronic pain (vomiting, pain in a certain part of the body, etc)
5. Make a list of mental and physical feelings (energy, mood, irritability, etc)

Long-Form Tracking

This long-form journaling allowed me to expand upon symptoms from my habit tracker.

I would simply write down the date, and any pertinent information. This included everything from how much medication I took, other ways of managing the pain such as ice or heat, how much I slept, and specifics of the pain such as only being on the left side or it being hard to use the restroom. These specifics may not be pretty, but they can be more helpful when speaking to your doctor or finding solutions that help.

Sleep Log

My sleep log is another essential aspect of seeing how my pain affects me. This is another tracker I don’t include every month, as it can be quite involved, but I like to see the overall picture periodically.

The twenty-four hour timeframe also allows me to see how much I’m napping. The shortest sleep typically coincides with my stretches of pain noted on my habit tracker. For example, the 5th was terrible. I can find more information on why that sleep was so bad on both my habit tracker and the long-form log.

Cycle Tracker

My health issues involve keeping track of my period. Your cyce can be telling for a multitiude of feminine health concerns.

I marked out my planned periods in black, and planned ovulation in gray. When my period actually comes for the month, I mark it in red.

Note that I started in September – you definitely don’t need to wait until January to start this!

When I created a new period tracker in my latest bullet journal, I didn’t write in all the projected periods at the begginning. I now do it month by month, adjusting it based on when my cycle actually came the previous month.

This is a clear way to see if you’re late, irregular, or missing cycles altogether.

Supplies Used

Leuchtturm Hardcover Medium A5 Dotted Notebook [Anthracite]

Muji Gel Ink Ball Point Pen, 0.38-mm, Black, 10 Pcs

Zebra Mildliner highlighter pen set, 20 Pastel Color set

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