Say “Aaaahh!” (Photo credit: superfantastic)

“First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.” - Steve Martin
.

Say you’ve decided to go ahead and get a diagnostic test done to have a more definite answer on whether you have a condition like depression.

Now what? Where do you start?

First off, here are some general factors to consider in choosing a test:
.

1. Informativeness is basically how good the test is at telling you something useful. How informative a test is comes from both its sensitivity (how likely the test is to diagnose you as positive if you do have a condition, or avoiding false negatives) and specificity (how likely the test is to not diagnose you if you don’t have it, or avoiding false positives).

The ultimate test is both sensitive and specific – and most likely to give you an answer you can trust.

.
2. Invasiveness is how disruptive or uncomfortable the test is to perform. A questionnaire is non-invasive, a laparoscopic surgery is invasive.

Try to minimize invasiveness if there is a choice between two otherwise equal diagnostic tests.

.
3. Cost is definitely a factor for many people, even with insurance. People with higher deductibles or no insurance altogether will have to pay even more attention here.

.
Using depression as an example, the diagnostic test consists of a visit to a doctor or therapist’s office and a series of questions drawn from the DSM IV.

Sensitive? Yes, 86% chance it will diagnose you if you do have depression.

Specific? Yes, 82% chance it will not diagnose you if you don’t have depression.

Invasive? No.

Cost? $130+. Of course, if you want to continue therapy, start medications, or find alternative treatments, that will increase your costs.
.

You can find a list and helpful descriptions of common diagnostic tests at Harvard Medical School’s Family Health Guide.

And for tips on how to find the best treatment for you, stay tuned for our next blog post: “Feeling Better – How To Find A Treatment That Works”.
.

Related Posts:

Do You Have A Condition? How To Find Out

5 Free Self-Tracking Tools to Help You Get In Shape

Depression Sufferers 3x More Likely to Have Anxiety

Be an investigator into your own health! (Photo credit: chrisbb)

“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock

How do you know if you have anxiety, migraine, anklosying spondylitis, or something else?  If you haven’t already been diagnosed with it, here are a few simple, general pointers to set you on the right path:
.

1. Is your condition rare? In the case of anxiety and migraine, no – they affect tens of millions of Americans each. But it’s always a good idea to look at prevalence data to figure out your baseline risk. In other words, don’t overestimate your risk of having a condition just because you have one of its symptoms.

Wikipedia often has prevalence data for conditions, and disease foundations are another good source for this.
.

2. Do your symptoms match up? If you think you may have a condition, compare yourself with others who have that condition to see how well you fit. Take a quick look now to see if you have most of the common symptoms: over 7000 people at CureTogether have reported symptoms for 469 conditions.

Search for the one you’re looking for here and see if you match up.
.

3. Should you get diagnosed? If your symptoms do match, you might want to get a more definite answer on whether the condition you’re looking at might be causing these symptoms in you, so that you can find support and appropriate treatment. If it’s a problem in your life, it’s a good idea to get diagnosed.

To learn more about choosing a diagnostic test and finding relief from your symptoms, stay tuned for our next blog post: “Getting Diagnosed – How To Choose The Right Test“.
.

Related posts:

13 New Discoveries at CureTogether

Depression Sufferers 3x More Likely to Have Anxiety

5 Free Self-Tracking Tools to Help You Get In Shape

The first step in building your decision tree.

I’m going to my first book launch party tomorrow. I’m a bit nervous.

It’s for Thomas Goetz’s book The Decision Tree, which was just released. His book and blog carry great insight into the future of health – personalization, quantification, and smarter choices. He even created a nifty app on Wired’s website where you can build your own decision tree.

Why am I nervous? Well, the book includes my own personal decision tree (see below), based on my 10-year battle with chronic pain. So now everyone who reads it will know my story. Which is scary but also fantastic, because I think hearing people’s stories is such an important part of healing ourselves that is often missing in traditional doctor-patient healthcare.

Kudos to Thomas for putting personal, informed, patient choice at the forefront of health. I’m glad he wrote the book, and I encourage you to read it!

Participatory Medicine: new health insights from patient generated data

Thousands of voices can create beautiful discoveries. (Photo: qthomasbower)

.
A huge thanks to the amazing CureTogether community! Sharing your health conditions, symptoms and treatments is leading to many new associations.

Many of you have been asking for more personalized recommendations, like what treatment will work best for me given my set of symptoms? I’m excited to say this is in the works! Our query masters are knee-deep in stats right now to find answers for you.

In the meantime, a gift – here are 13 more co-morbidities we found, with a significant 99% confidence interval. We hope this advances research into these conditions and sparks new questions and ideas.
.

Endometriosis – Infertility (757 people)

.

Eating Disorders – Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (724 people)

Read more »

Awesome awareness art by Kindreds Page .

Chronic pain – not fun, extremely common, and very poorly understood.

I recently learned that 10 million Americans are estimated to have fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, and up to 20 million Americans have neuropathy, a nerve disease that causes pain and numbness. (Statistics from the National Fibromyalgia Association and the Neuropathy Action Foundation).

With enough patients coming together, progress can start to be made on these conditions that affect so many people in their everyday lives.

Today’s announcement is that we found a strong association between Fibromyalgia and Neuropathy, which independent studies published in established journals also confirm. In graphical form:
x

.d
CureTogether members who report Fibromyalgia are 7x more likely to report Neuropathy than members with no Fibromyalgia. This comes from a study of 763 people sharing data online for the past year.

For details on this finding and how it matches up with other studies, read on… Read more »

It’s easier than ever to get in amazing shape. (Photo: mikebaird)                    

.
OK, so we all indulge a bit extra over the holidays.

Cozy family gatherings, festive parties, and the mass consumption frenzy that surrounds us, even if we’re trying to keep things simple.

Fortunately, the new year always gives us a chance to start fresh. And this year it will be so much easier to stick to your resolutions, thanks to the explosion of self-tracking tools 2009 has seen.

Here are my top 5 to help you get going:
.

1. #getupandmove

This is the best new app I’ve tried in a while. Hot off the press from the brilliant @jensmccabe and @shazow, #getupandmove is a lightweight Twitter app where you challenge your online friends to exercise with you.

For me, having virtual running buddies has been amazingly motivating, fun, and a great way to stay healthy while connecting with friends. Thank you, Jen!
.

2. DailyBurn

Ever tried to calculate and record calories on paper? It’s frustrating and cumbersome. That’s why I was excited to find DailyBurn’s free iPhone app that takes care of it for me.

Not only does it have a great database that includes most grocery store brands and even many restaurant meals, but it calculates my ratio of fat/carbs/protein during the day, so I know how to balance the rest of my meals.

You can set target ranges and earn little apple icon rewards for meeting them. So easy to use, it’s a must-try if you have an iPhone.
.

3. RunKeeper

Here’s another one of my daily staples. I wake up, put on my running shoes, fire up my iPhone, and I’m off!

Running is so much easier with the free GPS-based RunKeeper app. It tracks how far you’ve gone, how long you’ve been running, your pace, and even a map of your route. (It works great for walking too.)

RunKeeper and DailyBurn both have Pro versions with extra features that you can upgrade to, but I find the free versions more than adequate for my needs.

I’m actually training for my first marathon now, thanks in large part to inspiration and ease from these first 3 apps.
.

4. CureTogether

Yes, this one is a shameless plug.

Thousands of people have been tracking over 100 different measures of their health over the past year at CureTogether. It’s been amazing to see the range of what people track, from mood to sleep to miles to supplements.

You can track yourself for free here, and we’ll soon be announcing (drumroll, please!) a Pro version that includes advanced analytics for your health and lets you connect with people who match your health profile. Join in the fun and stay tuned!
.

5. Personal Informatics

If you like brain candy, check out Ian Li’s Personal Informatics site. Ian does research at Carnegie Mellon University, and he has put together this amazingly beautiful, categorized list of all the self-tracking tools he could find. It’s fun to look around, and you just might find a gem that makes your life wonderful.

.
So these are my 5 favorites for getting in shape – free, easy, and fun. (If you have any other favorites, please let me know in the comments.)

Wishing you a happy, healthy new year!
.

Related Posts:

- Why Track Yourself?

- Quantifying Myself: my self-tracking story at the Quantified Self

- Top 10 Innovations at TEDMED

Running yourself ragged is easy this time of year. (Photo: smellyknee)                     .

Does this look like you?

Around the holidays we often stop listening to our bodies. Family cheer comes along with a good dose of stress, overeating, and not much exercise.

For some people, this depletion of our bodies can increase susceptibility to yeast infection (candidiasis), or adrenal fatigue, or both.

Today’s announcement is that we found a strong association between Candidiasis and Adrenal Fatigue. This is a new association that has not been extensively studied by traditional research. In graphical form:
.

CureTogether members who report Candidiasis are 4x more likely to report Adrenal Fatigue than members with no Candidiasis. This comes from a study of 750 people sharing data online for the past year.

For details on this finding and how it matches up with other studies, read on… Read more »

.
What if depression and anxiety could be seen as a color on your skin? (Photo: Photomish Dan)                     .

This is our biggest study yet.

Almost 1,000 people came together to report on their experience with depression and/or anxiety.

Having post-partum depression myself after both of my girls were born, I got a taste of how devastating this condition can be.

But add anxiety on top of it, and it’s a double hit to mood, functioning, and quality of life.

Today’s announcement is that we found a strong association between Depression and Anxiety, which independent studies published in established journals also confirm. In graphical form:
.

.

CureTogether members who report Depression are 3x more likely to report Anxiety than members with no Depression. This comes from a study of 953 people sharing data online for the past year.

For details on this finding and how it matches up with other studies, read on… Read more »

Do you see yourself as you really are? (Credit: Luis Muñoz)

Imagine looking in a mirror and hating what you see.

You eat alone, you may alternately starve and binge, you feel horrible about yourself. You’re probably tired and depressed too, to top it all off.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, tens of millions of people in America alone are dealing with this every day. I have two daughters, and I often wonder why nutrition and positive body image are not part of basic education.

But taking my Mom hat off and putting my Scientist hat back on, it turns out eating disorders and having an inaccurate or distorted body image are linked. Maybe this is not too surprising. It’s still important to talk about though.

We found a strong association between Eating Disorders and Body Image Distortion, which independent studies published in established journals also confirm. In graphical form:
.
.

CureTogether members who report Eating Disorders are 7x more likely to report Body Image Distortion than members with no Eating Disorders. This comes from a study of 747 people sharing data online for the past year.

For details on this finding and how it matches up with other studies, read on… Read more »