Software Release (08/11/2011)
1) Symptom and Side Effect Changes
We're excited to share some big changes to the way you record symptoms and side effects. We hope these changes will allow you to better share the history of your condition with other PatientsLikeMe members. We heard from members that they wanted to be able to better see the connections between items on their profile. Sometimes a symptom may be a side effect of a treatment, or a symptom may cause another symptom. We didn't have any good way to show all those connections. Now we do!
For a guided tour of these page, check out this screencast.
In the picture above a symptom (grief) caused another symptom (anxious mood), which resulted in a treatment (Ativan) which caused a symptom (difficulty waking up) which resulted in another treatment (caffeine).
The first change you'll see is on your symptom history page. Symptoms used to be displayed in groups by condition, with duplicate symptoms appearing more than once and side effects in a separate category.
Now you will see all your symptoms on this page only once. Symptoms that are caused by more than one thing have all their causes displayed on the right hand side. The symptoms you are currently experiencing with a severity of "none" are at the bottom of the page, same as they have been.
You can sort the order in which these symptoms appear by using the sort dropdown bar. You can sort symptoms by the conditions you have, by the side effects of a treatment, alphabetically, by severity or date.
You can also update any of these symptoms for those previous 8 dates by pressing in the box for that date:
You can add a new cause to a symptom by pressing the + button.
and you can remove a cause at any time by pressing he "x" and just answering a quick question about why you are removing that cause.
You'll see data for your last 8 entries in the chart. You can press the name of any symptom to visit that symptom's history page. Here's an example of an individual symptom history page.
You can add new scores here quickly, see relevant charts, add more details and also delete your entire record of a symptom from this page. If you are someone who never has pain, and we've been asking you to fill it out ever since you've joined, you are now free to remove it from your profile. :)
You'll also be able to update all your symptoms at once in the symptom survey. You no longer have to answer each question to save the form. We've also changed the way the date picker works on this page. You can either choose to enter a score for today (no more remembering what today's date is!) or choose another date if you would like to update other data. If you choose a date that you have already rated, your previous answers will load and you can edit or add ratings before you save the form.
2) Start dates for Side Effects.
When you say that a treatment caused your symptom, we'll ask you the date that you started experiencing that symptom because of that treatment. You can choose the day you started the treatment or pick another date.
3) Treatment purpose and Hospitalization entry
We wanted to simplify the entry of profile items across the site. Now when you want to add a treatment purpose or a hospitalization reason, you'll see the same pop up box you see when you add side effects. You can choose symptoms, conditions or treatments that you have already listed on your profile, or you can add new ones without having to leave the page.
