What to track with fibromyalgia

Everything on this page is optional. It is a list of things people write down, not a form you have to complete and not a score. Tracking ten things is not more correct than tracking one, and a day you did not record is a day you did not record, nothing more.

The list is drawn from two public sources. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) names the symptoms of fibromyalgia. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) lists what a doctor asks about a symptom. Neither institute has reviewed this page or Tend.

NIAMS says a doctor taking a medical history will likely ask about the location, severity and duration of pain, and whether you have had severe fatigue or cognitive problems such as confusion or memory issues (NIAMS, diagnosis). The NIA adds the shape of a symptom over time: when it started, how long it lasts, how often it happens, whether it is getting worse or better, and whether it keeps you from doing your usual activities.

The two columns are two kinds of entry, not a right one and a wrong one. A number such as fatigue 7 is compact, and it means what you decide it means. A sentence such as could not stand long enough to cook carries the detail a number leaves out, and it is already in words. A record can use either, or both. Separately, the NIA advises being clear and concise when describing symptoms to a doctor, and making some notes before you call or visit.

A record that only happens on good days is a record of good days. The version below is three fields and one deliberately empty one. It is not a lesser entry; it is the entry.

Three things about a short version are worth deciding in advance, and each of them is a property of the record rather than a rule.

• When it is written. An entry made on the day records that day. One made later is written from memory of it.
• Which words it uses. The labels can stay the same from one entry to the next, or change. Either is a choice about the record.
• What happens to a field you cannot answer. A blank stays blank, while a value filled in from memory is stored exactly like a recorded one and cannot be told apart later.

• What you wrote, and when. A dated line records the words and date you entered.
• Answers to the questions above. The NIA suggests making notes about your symptoms before an appointment; a record is those notes, already written.
• How many days you marked.A count of the days you recorded as bad is a count of the days you recorded as bad, which is a more exact thing to say than “most days”.

• Not a cause and not a trigger. A record holds what you wrote next to a date. It cannot show what set a symptom off, and this page does not claim that tracking finds triggers.
• Not an explanation. It does not say why a day went the way it did.
• Not a test or a diagnosis. A record is neither. How fibromyalgia is diagnosed is a question for your own doctor; NIAMS describes it, and this page does not.
• Not advice. Nothing you write tells you what to take, stop or change. That conversation belongs to your own doctor.
• Not a measure of you. A gap in the record is a gap in the record. It is not a fact about your body or your effort.

All three pages were checked on September 17, 2026. They are cited as sources. No author or institution named here has reviewed this page, and none has reviewed or endorsed Tend.

• NIAMS, Fibromyalgia: overview, symptoms and causes - the symptom list, including pain, fatigue, trouble sleeping, and problems with concentrating, thinking clearly and memory.
• NIAMS, Fibromyalgia: diagnosis, treatment and steps to take - what a doctor asks when taking a medical history, and the source’s own account of how fibromyalgia is diagnosed.
• NIA, What do I need to tell the doctor? - when symptoms started, how long they last, how often they occur, whether they are getting worse or better, and whether they keep you from your usual activities.

The editorial policy sets the rules this page is written to, including how a correction is handled.