Fibromyalgia symptom diary

Fibromyalgia is about more than pain: sleep, fatigue and your energy limits are part of the picture. This template needs just one entry a day.

Fibromyalgia symptom diary

A4 landscape · 2 pages · prints fine in black and white · free, no sign-up

Download PDF

What to track, and why

If you're constantly focused on pain, the diary itself can become a burden. That's why this template is deliberately lean: once a day, a few numbers, and a column for what went well. You get a picture over weeks without the diary taking over.

Pain and fatigue

Two numbers from 0 to 10. With fibromyalgia, fatigue is often as hard to live with as the pain, so it belongs here too.

Sleep

Good, OK or poor. Over the weeks you'll see how sleep and symptoms relate.

Activity and rest

What did you do, for how long, when did you rest? It helps you find your limits instead of overshooting them every time.

What went well?

One good moment in the day. That's not sugar-coating: good days are data too, and they show what does you good.

Columns in this template

  • Severity 0–10
  • Fatigue 0–10
  • Sleep good, OK, poor
  • Stress 0–10
  • Activity and rest what, how long
  • What helped? heat, rest, movement …
  • What went well? one good moment
  • Notes mood, sleep, anything unusual

How to fill it in

  1. Print page 1 once a week, and page 2 once a week for your review.
  2. Write things down close to when they happen, not in the evening from memory.
  3. Stick to one scale: 0 is no pain, 10 is the worst pain you can imagine.
  4. Blank boxes are fine. A short, honest entry beats a perfect one you reconstruct later.

Then what? Making use of your filled-in sheets

Most templates stop at the filling-in part. But the value comes afterwards, when lots of rows turn into a few clear statements.

  1. Sum up each week

    At the weekend, fill in page 2: days with pain, worst score, days you took painkillers. It takes five minutes and saves a lot of page-flipping at the appointment.

  2. Compare after four weeks

    Lay the weekly reviews side by side. Does anything repeat, a weekday, an activity, a trigger? Mark it, but don't jump to conclusions: a pattern isn't proof of a cause.

  3. Three numbers for your appointment

    Before you go, write at the top of the first sheet: how many days a month you had pain, how strong it was on average, and what you couldn't do because of it. Those three lines make a good opening.

  4. Take the sheets, keep a copy

    Bring the originals and take a photo first. After any change in treatment, comparing old and new sheets shows whether anything has changed.

When paper gets too much

Paper is a good start. The tedious part is the analysis: adding up weeks, looking for patterns, sorting sheets. That's exactly what PainTrack does for you.

  • Log an entry in seconds on your own scale: 0–10, yes/no or mild/moderate/severe
  • Add circumstances, body location and medication to an entry, with reminders
  • Your trend chart and weekly trends update by themselves
  • With Pro: trigger analysis and a ready-made PDF report for your doctor
App Store Google Play

Free for iPhone and Android, no account needed. Your data stays on your device.

This template helps you document your symptoms. It doesn't diagnose anything and is not a substitute for medical advice. If you have new, very severe or unusual symptoms, contact a doctor, or call your local emergency number in an emergency.

Trustworthy sources

External pages from health services, medical societies and patient organisations. We are not affiliated with any of them.

Other templates