I have spent thirty years in healthcare, about twenty of them in healthcare IT. I also live with multiple sclerosis, and I have a history of breast cancer. So I know this world from both sides of the desk: the professional side, and the side where you are the patient trying to be heard in a ten-minute appointment.
That second side is why my husband Jack and I built Valeska. I could not find a symptom tracker that was quick, private, and actually useful. The tools I needed did not exist, so we made one. Every design decision still runs through me, because I am the person it was built for.
What I write here comes from real life: the doctor visits, the flares, the brain fog, the long list of meds, the days you feel fine and the days you do not. If it helps one person walk into an appointment feeling a little more ready, it was worth writing.
Her posts.
- How to describe pain to your doctor
- How to make a medication list without typing every bottle
- How to get your doctor to take your symptoms seriously
- How to prepare for a specialist appointment
- How to keep a symptom diary: a simple example
- How to keep track of your meds when there are a lot of them
- What nobody tells you about getting diagnosed with a chronic illness
- How to find your food triggers without guessing
- How to get ready for a flare before it hits
- Brain fog examples: what it can feel like
- Questions to ask at your first rheumatology appointment
- How to track your symptoms without it taking over your life
- What to say when your doctor asks "how have you been?"