The Pain, Sleep and Fatigue Diary
Your records show the days you had an appointment. They don't show the weeks in between: the days you managed, the days you didn't, and who helped you through them.
This diary does, in about a minute a day. It's free, and it's yours whether or not you ever talk to me.
Version 1.0. Print it at home. No sign-up, nothing to fill in first.
A diary shows what a support does for you over weeks, not in one appointment
When the NDIS decides whether a support is reasonable and necessary, it needs to see what that support does for you: what it keeps you able to do, and what slips without it. A file full of consultation notes can't show that. It shows how you were on the day you were in the room.
Over four weeks, a diary shows the pattern. The days that go well when help comes. What doesn't get done when it doesn't. How long a hard day takes to recover from. You're the only person who can record that, and you can start tonight, without anyone's permission and at no cost.
What it records, and why each line is there
- What kind of day it was: good, ordinary, hard, or a day in bedTHE DAY
- How long you slept, and how often you wokeSLEEP
- Pain and fatigue at their worst, from 0 to 10, not their averageAT WORST
- Whether today's symptoms came from something you did a day or more earlierAFTERWARDS
- What you did, and what you didn't get doneNOT DONE
- Each week, who helped you, with what, and for how longHELP
Four weeks to a form. The last page adds it up: good days, ordinary days, hard days, and days you couldn't get out of bed.
How to use it so it holds up
- Fill it in the same day. A week pieced together from memory is a different kind of evidence, and a reader can tell.
- Record the good days too. A diary with no good days in it reads like it was written to make a case. One that shows the whole range is the one that gets believed.
- Keep going for at least four weeks, and longer if your condition cycles over months.
- Don't change it later. Its value is that it was written at the time.
Bring it to our call, or send it with your records. It's just as useful if you never work with me: give it to whoever is writing your report.