Noticing when something has changed
3 min read
Doctors get fifteen minutes. You get every day. That makes you the best early-warning system your family member has — not because you can interpret what you see, but because you notice that something is different at all.
This page will not tell you what any change means. Only a doctor can do that. The goal here is to help you notice and record clearly, so the professionals have better information to work with.
Changes worth writing down
You do not need to judge whether something is serious. If it is different from how they usually are, note it. Common things caregivers end up mentioning to a doctor include:
- Eating or drinking noticeably more or less than usual
- Sleeping much more, or being awake at odd hours
- Being more confused, withdrawn, irritable or low than is normal for them
- Being unsteady, having a near-fall, or becoming reluctant to walk
- New pain, or an old pain that has changed
- Skin changes, swelling, or a wound that is not healing
- Struggling with something they could do easily last month
How to record it usefully
Vague reports are hard for a doctor to act on. Specific ones are gold. Instead of "she has not been herself", aim for "since about Tuesday she has been eating roughly half her usual dinner and slept until 11am three days running". Dates, rough amounts, and how long it has been going on are the details that matter most.
This is one thing Kinu is genuinely built for — the health check-in lets you log things like appetite, mood, pain and temperature as you notice them, and it timestamps everything. When the appointment comes, you are not trying to reconstruct three weeks from memory.
When not to wait
Some situations are not for observing and noting. If someone has a serious fall, chest pain, difficulty breathing, sudden weakness or drooping on one side of the face, sudden confusion, or you simply believe something is badly wrong — call 995 or get them to an emergency department. It is always acceptable to be wrong about an emergency.