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Medication Diary

Reading the Graph

A few days of records add up to a curve. Here's the order to look at things in when you first open it.

When you first open the graph, there’s just a single line drawn, and it can be hard to know where to look. Having an order set makes it much easier. Dose marker → rising point → peak → coming-down point — these four spots.

Each of these four spots tells a different story. If the rising point was pushed later, you look at the gap between the dose and meals along with it; if the peak was low, you look at that day’s conditions; if the coming-down point was early, you look at the relationship between how long it held and the interval between doses.

And lining up several days side by side tells you far more than a single day does. A day that looks like — maybe you just didn’t sleep well — becomes a different story once it shows up in the same spot four days running. The same is true of what you bring to your appointment.

Step by step

  1. First, find the dose marker It's the small triangle below the horizontal axis — the time you took the medication. This is the reference point every distance is measured from.
  2. Next, look at the point where the curve starts to rise How far this point is from the dose marker is the first thing worth looking at.
  3. Then look at the height of the highest point Read it by comparing it with other days and other doses.
  4. Look at the point where it starts to come down Check how far ahead of the next dose marker it falls.
  5. And line up several days side by side Something that looks like just that day's circumstances when you look at only one day reveals itself, once a few days are gathered, as either a repeating pattern or not.

Worth knowing

Frequently asked questions

  • The curve looks jagged — did I record something wrong?

    No. If the times you recorded are spread far apart, the curve is drawn that way too. As you record more often, it naturally smooths out.

  • Looking at just one day, I can't really tell.

    That's normal. A single day's curve carries a lot of that day's particular circumstances, so you need to line up three days to a week's worth before repeating patterns start to show.

  • Is it okay for me to draw conclusions from the graph myself?

    Reading a curve and deciding what to change are different things. What this record can do is help you organize what you've read so you can bring it up at your appointment.

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