Timeline of Your Illness to Help Find Out What is Going On (this is a good idea!)

By Katie McCurdy

As a patient with many mysterious symptoms, I know what it’s like to befuddle my doctors. I had heart palpitations, tingling in my hands and feet, sensory issues, and gut problems. None of these symptoms fit with my primary autoimmune diagnosis. For years, I found myself shuttling from expert to expert trying to figure out what was going on.

I bet you know someone who’s been through something similar. Both Lyme patients and autoimmune patients like me often face long delays in getting diagnosed, which prolongs the time we have to deal with frightening symptoms.

In my case, after many specialist visits and a trip to the Cleveland Clinic, I finally got another autoimmune diagnosis that began to tie the pieces together. But it was a long, painful journey.

Along the way, I began experimenting with creating visuals of my symptoms and history. This helped me tell a more coherent story and give my doctors another way of “seeing” what was going on with me.

A health timeline
As a designer with an interest in data visualization, I had a strong hunch that this approach could help me make my doctor appointments more productive and efficient. Indeed, my doctors loved it. Many said “this is the coolest thing ever,” and told me they wished their medical records looked more like this – like a timeline.

As you can see from the segment below, some symptoms were constant over a long period of time, and others came and went.

More at this link: https://www.lymedisease.org/health-history-pictal-health/

Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver