User Stories - Bearable

Taylor | EDS, PMDD, PoTS, & MCAS

Taylor.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve?
As someone with multiple chronic and complex conditions (including EDS, PoTS, PMDD), I’ve tried a lot of different health tracking apps. I was never able to use any consistently for more than a few weeks. They were too complicated, or didn’t track what was important to me, or all of the interesting features were behind a paywall. With bearable, I’ve been able to consistently track my health and what impacts it for months. I’d never been tempted to buy a subscription for any other app, but I did for bearable after a few months.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being?
It’s so much easier for me to record the information I need and then use it to show different health professionals or make changes to my day to improve my functioning. It’s helped doctors take me more seriously because I have all of the data to back up my claims.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody?
It’s made for people like us, and you don’t need to worry about some sketchy company selling your health information.

What else would you like to tell people about Bearable?
I thought that there was no way an ADHD mess like me with brain fog and memory issues could reliably track my health day to day. I was wrong!

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Katey.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve?
I’ve been using Bearable for years, & Bearable is helping me achieve my goals in therapy. It makes therapy 10x easier, as I can just pull out the app & know exactly how my past week has been. As someone who almost always goes into therapy & forgets everything about the past week, it’s been a game-changer for me. I’m now able to talk about what happened that week in therapy so, so much easier.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being?
Before Bearable, it was very difficult for me to even remember what it happened to be that week, since I always have so much going on. I’m now able to quickly put in how I feel every day, so I have an accurate representation of my week. It’s always been difficult with therapy before this.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody?
Ease of use, even a super busy or “lazy” person that doesn’t like journaling or normal mood tracking can use this.

What else would you like to tell people about Bearable?
Although it may seem small, Bearable really has completely changed how I’m able to view my moods. Before, I had absolutely no idea of my moods, as I was too busy to ever think about it or care. I’m so thankful to Bearable.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Melissa.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve?
Management of my autoimmune disease (Lupus).

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being?
I feel more in control of my chronic condition. By monitoring how I’m feeling and what I’m up to on a daily basis, I have learned what triggers my flare-ups and how to manage them.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody?
Customizable symptom tracking, tracking factors that lead to and resolve a flare up.

What else would you like to tell people about Bearable?
Bearable was recommended to me by someone else who shares my condition. I’ve been able to customize the factors I care about (like sun/UV exposure, and other things that cause my flare-ups) and relate them to my key symptoms (like swollen joints).

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Bri.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve?
Mood monitoring and stress management

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being?
Managing my mood has reminded me how often I let small unimportant things ruin my whole day’s mood. By inputting my mood several times throughout the day, I can register that the whole day wasn’t actually so bad. It has helped manage my anxiety because I avoid spiraling about unimportant things and remember to refocus on the good things with the gratitude section. I also track daily habits like how much I eat and exercise. Using the factors allows me to compare why I may have been feeling a certain way, whether that be due to too much screen time, my productivity levels, amount of stress, or even the weather.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody?
Bearable is easy, customizable, fun, colourful, and helpful with managing life and taking control of your daily moods to understand stress and behaviour.

What else would you like to tell people about Bearable?
I really enjoy inputting all the factors from the day and comparing what was different and seeing how that impacted all the other things going on in my life.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

K.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve?
More understanding of my mental health and well-being and the ability to see what influences how I feel mentally and physically each day.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being?
This has allowed me to change my schedule and daily life to improve my mental and physical wellbeing using the statistics Bearable provides.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody?
It’s really fun and interesting to see the correlations between factors! It has given me so much insight but also is a cool app. I feel like I know myself a lot better.

What else would you like to tell people about Bearable?
Bearable has really changed how I manage my anxiety and improved my wellbeing.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Katherine.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve?
Tracking my mood and correlations between different activities and factors, such as sleep. I have bipolar and tracking factors such as sleep, how much caffeine or alcohol I’m having, can help predict a mood-swing and let me take preventative measures.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being?
Though for the most part, I already knew a lot of the broad correlations between factors and mood (i.e. too much alcohol and caffeine is bad, and exercise is good), I didn’t realize how some factors impacted my sleep and productivity and energy levels. I’m also a graduate student so knowing how to optimize my mental and physical health to sustain productivity is important.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody?
I used to use Daylio but I switched a couple of months [ago] to Bearable. Bearable’s mood scale is better (I can rate from 1-10, instead of 1-5 like on Daylio). Tracking my sleep is extremely important for me, so being able to add time in bed, time asleep, and customize other factors such as if I went to bed late, or if I used my phone in bed are very useful. Being able to see correlations between not just my mood and other factors, but also my sleep, energy levels and productivity puts it above other mood trackers. Being able to add significant events/incidents is also extremely useful. Unfortunately, I just went through a breakup, and being able to see my mood progresses as I heal is a very useful tool.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Alice.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve?
Eating disorder recovery.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being?
Hugely impacting [my] physical and mental well-being.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody?
Highly customizable and (for people with disordered eating) no calories or judgement around data captured.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?
After a year of recovery from disordered eating, I am trying to improve my health and well-being without slipping back into the eating disorder mindset. It’s often hard to use tracking apps as they generally have calories attached which is problematic for people struggling with eating disorders. I chose to use bearable largely because there is no calorie counter and there isn’t judgement attached to the options. I have also added my own custom categories to help me create mindfulness around other aspects of my recovery and the process has been enlightening. I am learning what foods make me and my body feel good or bad, I am learning which self-care rituals soothe me or give me energy. I find myself more and more motivated to continue adding the things that make me feel good because I can easily see how it helps my mental health and physical comfort but at the same time, because this a data-driven approach, it is easier to be kind to myself and not feel guilt when I make a choice that doesn’t make me feel good. The times when that happens I can notice it without judgement and see it as nothing more than an interesting data point for me to consider which is incredibly important for my recovery.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Matilda.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve? I needed a way to track what traits and symptoms I had when I started to struggle more with my mental health.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being? It helps me to understand more about my body because my autism sometimes doesn’t allow me to access my interoception skills and understand what’s going on inside me. It also helps me do chain analysis style thinking for my hallucinations on a bad day compared to a good day.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody? I would recommend Bearable to anyone and I do. It’s customisable enough (even in the free version) that it will relate to most people. I love love love weekly summaries and the chance to do the experiment. It’s also really valuable to be able to add the significant events.

Is there anything else you’d like to share? This type of data is invaluable and filling it out only takes a minute or two at the end of the day. I find it really helpful to have a reminder to fill it out and I position a shortcut of the app on my main home screen on my phone.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Nicole.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve? Before Bearable, whenever I would go to the doctor, I would say, “I don’t know, I don’t remember. I’m sorry”. This sounds super cheesy but seriously, with Bearable it’s helped me document important health changes I’m experiencing. I feel I’m given the power to help advocate for myself when my body makes it hard for me to. Other apps I used didn’t allow me as much depth or breadth. Bearable makes it easy to find a specific day/ symptom/ whichever that you are looking for which is super easy! I’m literally overjoyed I found Bearable because it feels like I’m given the power I needed back, at the tip of my fingertips.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being? Bearable helps me document the small things I’m experiencing or the large. I feel it’s allowed me to be able to report back to my health care providers and say: on this day I experienced this. What can you do to help me? I feel Bearable also helps set me up for success to be a better and healthier person too.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody? Bearable allows you to document SO MUCH. It feels like there’s no limit! Other apps really don’t allow you to record a range of things you’re experiencing. You can also add factors (that maybe Bearable missed). So it really gives you a lot of opportunity to use it for what you need.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.

Robyn | Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Robyn. I started using Bearable because someone told me about it several years ago, so I thought I’d give it a try. Dr’s had told me

Rae | Mental Health & ADHD

Rae. I started using Bearable because my mental health was tanking as a uni student during COVID lockdowns. I wanted more insight into what I could

Laura | Long Covid

Laura. I started using Bearable because I have had long covid for two years now. In the beginning it was extremely misunderstood and I kept

Maria.

What’s Bearable helping you to achieve? To calm down during a rough day. I recently moved to a new country and started a new job and the adaptation process has been hard even with the support from my colleagues and the friendly people I’ve met on the way. I feel better when I recognize that I’m having a difficult day or that I’m overwhelmed and that there are actions I can take to feel better.

What impact has this had on your health and/or well-being? I feel relieved after completing the different categories and I recognize better what is bothering me during the day so I can either change it or avoid it.

What are the main reasons you’d recommend Bearable to somebody? It’s easy to use, it’s customizable and you get reminders to complete the information during the day.

What else would you like to tell people about your Bearable Story? I’ve struggled with anxiety since I can remember and it’s good to find apps like Bearable that are available anytime.

Note. The names and images used in this article have been fabricated to protect the privacy and identity of our users.