Guide

How to keep track of a flare without turning it into a job.

Last checked: 23 September 2026

Flares are the worst time to start keeping records and the most useful time to have them. The answer is to make the record small enough that you can still do it on the worst day.

Three lines is enough. Anything more is a bonus, not a duty.

The smallest record worth keeping

If you write nothing else, write these three, once:

• The date it started
• What it has stopped you doing
• What you have tried

Written on the first day, those three lines will tell you more in six months than a page of detail you never managed to write.

As it goes on

One line a day is plenty, and a missed day is not a failure. If you can, note the thing that would be hard to reconstruct later:

• Whether today was better, the same, or worse than yesterday
• Anything new that turned up
• Anything that made the day more bearable
• Anything you had to cancel

When it eases

This is the part almost everybody skips, and it is the part that makes the record worth having. On the day it lifts, note the date and roughly how long it lasted.

Without an end date, a record of flares turns into a list of bad days with no shape. With one, you can say "four flares since spring, the longest eleven days", which is a sentence a clinician can actually use.

What a record can honestly show you

Over months, a record can show how often flares happen, how long they last, what they interrupt, and what was going on around them. That is worth a great deal at an appointment.

What it cannot show is why. Two things happening near each other may be coincidence, and reading a pattern as a cause is the fastest way to end up chasing the wrong thing, or blaming yourself for something you did not do. Notice patterns, note them, and let them stay questions.

What not to bother with

Detail you will never read again costs energy you do not have. Long free text on a day you can barely sit up, hourly ratings, anything that turns into homework, and anything that makes you feel you have failed for missing a day. If a record is making the flare harder, it is the wrong record.

How taluvu does it

A check in takes about a minute: how the day felt, how much energy you had, and anything you want to add in your own words. There are no streaks and no scores, and nothing is withheld for missing a day.

Later, those days become a calendar you can look back at and a summary you can take to an appointment. Days nobody recorded stay plain, because a gap is honest and a guess is not.

Questions people ask

What should I write down during a flare?

The date it started, what it has stopped you doing, and what you have tried. Then one line a day if you can, and the date it eases. That is enough to describe it accurately months later.

Does missing days ruin the record?

No. Gaps are part of an honest record, and any summary worth trusting counts the days nobody wrote anything rather than pretending they went well.

Can a flare record tell me what triggered it?

It can show you what was happening around the same time, which is worth noticing and worth mentioning. It cannot show cause, and things that happen together are often coincidence.

Where to go next

• How to prepare for a GP appointment
• How to describe symptoms clearly to a doctor
• What to include in a symptom summary for your doctor
• Condition pages, with the symptoms people usually start with
• How a taluvu check in works, step by step

Nothing on this page is medical advice. If you are worried about your health, contact your GP practice or NHS 111. In an emergency ring 999, and if you are struggling to keep yourself safe, Samaritans are on 116 123.