I was having an email conversation with a friend of mine in Ireland. She was diagnosed with MS about a year ago and has been posting on an MS message board - she calls it the Sicko board. She said there is a woman on there that logs every twinge, every ache, every pain, so that she can discuss them with her doctor. My friend asked if I did this for Olivia.

I definitely don't write down every little thing that Olivia complains about - if I did, I'd never stop writing. If she were getting dizzy at the same time every day, I'd probably track it, but otherwise, no. I keep a log of her blood sugars, insulin and carb intake because that's the only way to see when her insulin needs have to be adjusted, and they get adjusted often. I don't keep track of what she eats, just the amount of carbs. If there's something out of the ordinary, like a party, or we had Chinese food and she goes really high after, then I would probably note that on the log I use. If she's sick, I put that down. And I track when she has her period. It sounds complicated, but it's really not - just an excel spreadsheet that I update once a day. Takes five minutes, tops.

But the other stuff? No way. People get dizzy, even people without chronic conditions, and unless it's affecting every day life, or happening every single day for weeks, I'd probably just ignore it. I know that many people feel that if they're keeping track of everything, then they'll know if it's MS (or diabetes-related) or something else. I do think there's a tendency to ignore symptoms, to just chalk it up to your condition, which can lead to something else going undiagnosed. And some people like to keep track of things. It makes them feel like they have a handle on things, like they're controlling their disease in some way. If that's what helps, then fine. Everyone handles their disease differently and what works for one might not work for another. Just because one person is tracking every sneeze and wooze doesn't mean that's what everyone should do, y'know? I think you need to have a certain amount of OCD behaviour when you have a chronic condition - something to make sure you take your meds or shots or get to appointments on time - but you can't be too rigid, because things are always changing. Tracking every minute detail works for some, but people should understand that that won't work for everyone.

These autoimmune diseases are totally individual. Olivia has a friend here in town that has diabetes and she is completely different from Olivia in terms of how diabetes affects her. Olivia will be walking and talking with a blood sugar of 40. Sam passed out cold when her blood sugar was 50. I would never presume to tell Sam (or her dad) how to handle her diabetes. If someone asks, I say "Well, this is what we do." It doesn't make it perfect, it doesn't make it the only way, it just makes it right for us.