Taking responsibility of your health by tracking it

I started to track my health more closely in my early 30s when I developed a condition called hyperthyroidism.  I had to take a prescription to control my overactive thyroid as I began losing weight and hair seemingly inexplicably.  I was also extremely anxious at times for no apparent reason.  Prior to this, I didn't have any sort of long-term health issue.  Over a period of a couple years, I monitored my weight, free T4 level, and Tapazole dosage.  Fortunately, taking the prescription got my thyroid under control and now I don't have to take any prescriptions.

But I learned that it was necessary to not rely on my doctor's records to analyze how I was doing, whether I was improving or not.  Also it was important to store my own records in an electronic form for ease of analysis (in this case, a simple spreadsheet).

After our premature son was born, he had a number of issues that required more doctor appointments and home care than the typical child, if there is such a thing as a "typical child".  While we should be fortunate he didn't have anything of a serious nature, in my opinion, it became clear that it was necessary to make a log of his health and progress over time.  Being new parents, sometimes there were disputes about what happened when and whether X was "normal" or not.  With a log, I could refer to it and say, X happened on these dates and it has little correlation with Y.  Another benefit of a log for our child is I can see his motor skills or language development, for example, over time when curious in the future.

Finally, my dad's health has been noticeably deteriorating over nearly 10 years.  But the downward slide was gradual so it wasn't obvious to me to track anything until last summer when my dad had two serious incidents over the span of a month.  When numerous doctors asked my dad and I questions about his medical history, obviously I had to keep careful records of my dad's medical history as I couldn't rely on him or his family doctor.

Probably as a senior and as a man, and simply as someone with a sense of pride and self-dignity, my dad is very reluctant to talk about his health, even to his family members.  Thus it was up to me to track my dad's medical history as I recalled it over the past 10 odd years, his prescriptions, symptoms, etc.  And 80% of the questions asked by health practitioners were the same, so this effort was well spent to say the least.  The flip-side is that by making careful notes of my dad's medical history, we (my dad and I) could bring to the health professionals' attention anything they might have missed in their direct questioning.

Only recently, I learned of a practice called the Quantified Self.  Monitoring everything possibly all the time is a logical progression and with consumer electronics available at an affordable price, I may look into it more.  The idea is not much different to having a human coach, personal trainer, or mentor but at a more intimate level than ever before. 

Barrier to entry for searching for information, assumptions, and poor decisions

Google has made searching for most information much easier.  But searching for information at home (because of poor organization and non-digital documents?) and within our work organizations is not as easy.  What are the reasons for this discrepancy and what impact does it have on our quality of life?

In my distant past, I collected newspaper clippings but after trying to reorganize following a move, I realized I never refer to these, mainly because I don't even remember the specific topics that I archived.  There wasn't an easy way to search through these clippings to look for that nugget of information.  And yes, it needs to be "easy as pie" for one to even bother beginning a search.

What do we do when we can't search easily to find the information that we need?  At home, what are we teaching our children when they ask questions we don't know the answers to?  Do we make a best guess and put it forth as fact, or defer it?  As another example, why do so few people read user manuals.  I, for one, often skip over the warnings at the beginning of a user manual unless a block of text is clearly highlighted.  Too many details, no time.  

Besides easy-to-access information, I'm seeking "better information".  That is, valid and unbiased information.  What sources of information are trustworthy?  For example, is information from government health authorities reasonably accurate?  Some of my motivation stems from the medical situations faced by my wife during pregnancy (and after) and my son's premature birth and resulting complications, and my father's heart condition.  Also our son is now not only understanding what we are saying but repeating it back:  I don't want to pass on misinformation if I can help it.

Notes on Spark 214: Listen, Touch, Command

• The podcast
• Cannot scan audio readily as opposed to text (same for scanning video). Thus more "intimate" and immersive
• Problem with museums, like going to a class or conference where you can't apply what you've learned: What difference does it make in your life? What is the take-away? Without pictures etc., How much will you remember in a week, a month?