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Symptom and mood diary

Memory is a poor record of a rough fortnight. This one-page diary lets you write down, in a minute each evening, how your energy, mood, sleep and body felt. After two weeks you can see your own pattern on paper and, if you decide to see a clinician, hand it over instead of trying to remember. Print it, keep it where you will see it, and fill in one row a day.

Two weeks: fill in one row per day
Day	Date	Energy (your own words or 1 low to 5 high)	Mood and stress (your own words)	Sleep (hours, how it felt)	Body: pain, urinary changes, sexual function, appetite	Alcohol, caffeine, exercise	Medicines taken (as usual) and notes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

This page stores nothing. It is a blank form for you to print and fill in by hand, so no personal health details are entered on the site. Write down medicines only as you normally take them, and never change a medicine because of what the diary shows.

How to fill it in

Do it at the same time each day, such as before bed. One or two words per box is enough.
If you use a number scale, make it your own and keep it the same all fortnight. The numbers are for you to compare days, not a test result.
Note context: illness, travel, a bad week at work, a change in routine or medicine, a heavy night of drinking. Context often explains a change.
If you miss a day, leave it blank. A rough record is still useful.

How to read your fortnight

Look for patterns, not single days. Did low energy line up with short sleep, alcohol or a stressful stretch, or did it show up regardless? Was mood steadier on days you exercised? Were urinary changes constant, or only at certain times? Write two or three plain observations at the bottom, such as "tired most afternoons, slept under six hours on five nights." That is the sort of concrete detail a clinician can use.

Do not try to draw a conclusion yourself. Tiredness, low drive and low mood have many possible causes, including poor sleep, stress, depression, medicines and medical conditions, and the diary cannot separate them. Working out the cause is what the appointment is for.

When to take it to a clinician

Bring the diary if energy, mood or sleep problems last for weeks and are getting in the way of daily life, if you notice urinary or sexual changes that are new or worsening, or if friends or family have commented on a change in you. The questions checklist helps you prepare for the visit. Persistent low mood, loss of interest or thoughts of self-harm are reasons to seek help promptly, not to keep tracking.

What the diary cannot do

It cannot show that you have low testosterone, depression, a prostate problem or any other condition. Symptom lists overlap heavily, and only a clinician, with an examination and sometimes tests, can sort them out.

Go deeper

Where this comes from

Keeping a short written record of symptoms, sleep and daily context before an appointment is common advice in patient-education material from health agencies and clinics, because clinicians usually ask about timing, severity and effect on daily life. The columns follow those usual questions. The layout is original to this page and is not a clinical instrument or a screening questionnaire.