This can help you to act and, if necessary, call upon one of the many people who can help you to decide which steps to take to re-establish symptom control with different doses of medication or different treatments.
Below is an example of a symptom diary showing how it may be filled in. It shows how, by recording some information, a doctor may be able to understand more how an allergy is affecting a child over a period of time and what symptoms they are having. Remember to write both positive and negative changes in symptoms in a symptom / treatment diary.
Name of Child: Joe Brown | Age: 5 years | GP: Dr. Smith |
Day and Time of Day | Symptoms / Duration | Was there a trigger: i.e. contact? | Action and Response |
1st March ‘21 2.30 pm | Itchy rash, red-looking around face and swollen eyes and sneezing | Round friend’s house – (they have a cat ) | Anti-histamine syrup given, made appt with GP, this seemed to get better after a couple of hours when we were back at home. |
16th April ‘14 3.00 pm | Sneezing and watery eyes, itchy nose | Playing in garden after grass had been cut | Washed face and hands and bathed eyes, felt better but eyes still red and itchy a couple of hours later therefore anti-histamine given. Felt better later in evening, no further symptoms |
27th April ‘14 | Itchy eczema like skin around wrists and knees | Started to itch for a while at school, complained of after school – no obvious trigger noted. | Moisturising cream applied and uncovered areas and allowed to cool down. Less red areas and skin looked calmer and less dry. Will mention to GP as have follow up visit. |