There's an app for that!

[BigRed]

Hey fellow Crohnies! I was browsing through my Android market today and came across an application that I'm really quite excited about & wanted to share it with you guys!

It's called "GI Monitor", it's a free app available on Android, iPhone and Blackberry. You log each of your symptoms throughout the day. Restroom visits, meals, meds, etc. It provides for you an updated status based on your entries. It provides you with a report summarizing and averaging out all of your symptoms in one concise document for your doctor visits! If you have a good enough doctor, they can log into the website as well and connect to your account, and you can send the reports right from your phone.

I know we've all had such difficult experiences with the GI docs, and I have complete faith that this tool is going to help me be heard, loud and clear. Irrefutable, hard data at my fingertips. And besides, lets be honest...I take my phone to the restroom anyway because it can get boring in there when you spend as much time every day as we do!! LOL

Anyway, sad that I'm excited about an app that logs my poo for me...but I am. Had to share!

 

[BigRed]

So I've been using this app for a week now & introduced it to my doctor & thought I'd give a quick update! Normally, my GI freaks out whenever I mention anything I read about online because he worries about the power of suggestion and almost instantly discounts any concerns I bring to the table if I dared to do any research on the internet before talking to him. (Which isn't okay, but we're working on it.)

With that being his attitude, I wasn't expecting a very warm reception when I told him about this app. But I was pleasantly surprised! He read the description, browsed through it and thought it was really a great tool! He said he's going to sign up on the doctors side & maybe I can be his prototype patient in hopes of being able to pass it on to his other patients!

It felt great to be able to agree on one method of logging everything pertinent in one simple application like this. It's also really helped me to get a better idea of how different foods affect me, and how quickly! I feel like it's helped me to validate everything I'm going through and put it in a format that is appreciated by my caregivers!

 

[Deleted member 81255]

Sounds cool! Almost makes me want to get an iPhone.... I think my Doc would be on board with it aswell, she's awsome like that too....

 

[spingirl]

I am going to sign up today. I don't know if I can get doc to do it but if I can print it all out - then I can have something to reference when I go for next visit. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Fog Ducker]

Downloading now!!
I think this is a great tool! Even just for myself to accurately record my health. Like a little log book, but like you I always take my phone into the bathroom with me so why not have it on there!
Thanks for finding this!

 

[BrettS]

Thanks so much (GI Monitor)

Hi all. I love reading threads like this. I developed GI Monitor after a bad flare up of my Ulcerative Colitis in 2009. I realized that I wasn't giving my doctor accurate information...and SO much of our treatment as IBD patients is determined by what we share with our docs.

Please feel free to provide feedback as we issue new releases often and we always consider suggestions for improvement. Also stay tuned for some very cool new parts of our platform (notably a new online portal for GI Monitor that I think we'll all benefit from). And remember to log in online, print reports for your docs, and check out "My Chart" where you can make correlations between foods, symptoms, meds, etc.

Know yourself well!
Brett

 

[BigRed]

Hi Brett! How very awesome!! I've got some notes on the app that I'll have to send over for you. I really do love it though, and my doc was very impressed as well!
And hey, I've gone from a 1.9 when I first started using the app to a 4.7! Still not great, but it's nice to see improvement on paper!

 

[BrettS]

Hi Big Red - please feel free to send your suggestions to us directly at [email protected] - I am very passionate about collecting patient feedback and I read every note. So glad to hear that it is helping you and your doctor and I hope you continue to improve! My doc and I learned so much about my condition in 2009...and I hope this happens for more of our fellow IBD patients.

 

[Jasonmh]

Thanks for this!!!

 

[BigRed]

Done! Thanks again for making this a free app!!!

 

[Carrie]

I've been using this app since I got my new phone last week, and I think it's brilliant. Even though I was diagnosed with Crohn's 22 years ago, I'm terrible at understanding what triggers my symptoms, and also at communicating how poorly I'm feeling to the doctor when I'm experiencing a flare. I truly hope that this will come in handy the next time I have to visit my GI consultant.

Thanks for pointing this out, BigRed!

 

[teeny5]

Downloading it now for my Droid! Looks awesome!