I think a journal is a good idea, though I don't reflect on it as often as I should. These days I keep a mental note of ingredients that helped or hurt because there are way too many to keep track of. Plus, when the colon starts healing you can tolerate things you previously were not able to eat.

I would think any standard word processor like word or office is adequate for the job. I personally use notepad++ to keep notes on my colon every week or two. It's not fancy or anything but gets the job done. Maybe others have better suggestions or programs.

Another idea would be to use a spreadsheet like excel to keep a list of things.

Best.

Post Edited (Guardian7) : 3/29/2015 9:04:17 AM (GMT-6)

Number of times to the john, duh. I so silly, that is pretty important!! ;-). Totally forgot to add that!

I've been doing the same thing for my dietician while I'm on low-FODMAP. I use the notes on my iPhone/iPad and include how I feel when I get up: nauseated, bloated, etc. along with times/details of food and also times of gas/BMs. I have never done this since my dx and it has actually been quite helpful.

i used to write each day in a calendar a number of bms and put dots if there was blood with any of them. I hate it because it makes the disease be with you every day but i think it's useful and you should do it. I do believe that some sort of miracle will happen and they'll finally come up with this cure, then we'll tear up our notes to pieces ! :)

These are such great ideas, I like the dot for blood!

I just use a private wordpress blog. Though there are special IBD apps for your phone, where you can track your BMs, pain, tiredness, triggering foods etc. I think the one I tried for a while was called MyIBD, and it puts everything into pretty little graphs for you

YaY!!! You've created a log to keep track of your logs lol!!

I think you'll find it to be a great help if you're trying to find what's triggering your symptoms but it can get confusing too so keeping that in mind I hope you're able to discover what does and doesn't bother your guts!!

GI-Monitor for a smartphone app. It does all of the above mention stuff and will create graphs. Also reminds you when to take your meds.

I'm usually a paper & pen person but this app does so many things and does them really well. It's Free too.

There are spots in the app to write down questions for your doctor, your weight, pain level, stress level and meals.

Plus you can carry it with you where ever you go.

I use a spiral notebook, one day per page. On top, I mark off when I take my meds/supplements and on the bottom I note bathroom activity. If I'm flaring, I record food eaten, too.

I started this to track my progress recovering from a flare but now the primary purpose is to mark down when I take my meds. This has been especially helpful at bedtime. I take three pills and two probiotics at bedtime and was often waking up in a panic not sure if I'd taken everything. Now I check the notebook and go back to sleep.

It's been great when trying new meds or supplements. The notebook is how I figured out that melatonin was making me worse. It took several weeks to start affecting me and without the notebook, I may not have remembered when I started it and when I got worse.

To make logging easy, I typed up a list of everything I take each day with a checkbox next to each, printed many copies out, and attached a copy to every page in the notebook. That makes it really fast to check off what I've taken and when. If I'm not home when I take a med, I mark it when I am.

You have to figure out what works best for you. I'm a computer person and attached to my phone but found that a spiral notebook was better, for me, than typing on a tiny keyboard to record everything.

Whatever you decide, keep all the records. You may need them in the future to spot tends, see what doses you were on in the past, etc. I've been doing this for several years and have all the notebooks.