A Curve That Barely Moves
The dose is marked, but the curve doesn't rise to follow it. What to look at is the whole stretch after the dose.
The graph
- Response through the day
- Reference curve, for comparison
- Time a dose was taken
The thing to be most careful about when reading this shape is not mixing up “hasn’t risen yet” with “never rose at all.” If you only look at the first hour right after the dose, this shape is indistinguishable from a delayed rise.
That’s why you need to look at the whole stretch after the dose. Only if the curve stays near the floor all the way until the next dose is marked is this actually the shape in question. In the graph above, the dotted line traces a peak that rises and comes back down, but the solid line stays nearly flat through that entire stretch.
The same principle applies to your records. Writing down only “it didn’t work” doesn’t let you separate the two shapes later. Adding one more entry of output right before the next dose fills in the gap in between, and makes it possible to tell them apart.
What to look at
- The height of the stretch after the dose marker Look at whether the curve stays near the floor all the way until the next dose.
- Whether there's even a small amount of movement It reads differently depending on whether the curve is completely flat or rose a little and came back down.
- Where the next peak begins Check whether the next dose brings a normal rise.
- The same dose on other days, before and after Whether it's just that one dose or happens every time only becomes visible once you line up several days.
Worth recording when you see this shape
- The time of that dose You need this to measure the interval to the next dose.
- Your output right up until the next dose Recording how long you kept watching is what lets you say it never came up at all.
- Meal times and content before and after This shows how close the dose and the meal were to each other.
- Roughly how often it happens How often it happens is particularly important information for this pattern.
The shape of the curve is material for describing your situation. Decisions about the type, dose, or timing of medication belong with the clinicians who look after you.