Guide
Is a Parkinson's tracking app better than a paper ON/OFF diary?
They record different things. A paper diary captures how you feel - ON, OFF, troublesome movements - but only when you remember to fill it in. A watch-based app records tremor and dyskinesia continuously, without you writing anything, but it cannot tell how you feel or measure slowness. Used together, each covers what the other misses.
What a diary does well
It records your own judgment of the day - whether you felt ON or OFF - which no sensor can. Clinics have used ON/OFF diaries for decades, and your neurologist may ask for one.
Its limits: it depends on remembering to fill it in, often every half hour, and on recall when you do not.
What Kampa adds
A continuous tremor and dyskinesia record from an Apple Watch, minute by minute, with gaps shown as gaps rather than guessed. Doses, meals and symptoms on the same timeline. And a measured answer to how long each of your doses holds.
What Kampa does not do
It does not label you ON or OFF, and it does not measure slowness or stiffness passively - the movement checks cover slowness when you choose to do them. If your neurologist asks for a diary, keep it; bring the Kampa report beside it.
Whether passive tracking can stand in for a diary is a question research is still studying. Kampa does not claim it can.
More guides: Track tremor and dyskinesia all day with an Apple Watch · See how long each dose holds, and the gaps between doses · Keep medication, meals and movement on one timeline · Track Parkinson's with just your iPhone · See whether protein near a dose changes how it works for you · Turn weeks of tracking into a report for your appointment · Keep a record of the weeks your neurologist never sees · Kampa is free, with no subscription or account · Start simple: see how your symptoms change through the day · Log constipation, fatigue, mood and 14 more in one tap · See whether your sleep moves your next-day tremor · See whether each kind of exercise moves your tremor and walking · Log doses with one tap, and meals and symptoms by voice · Log pump settings and see your tremor within each one · Questions to ask before you choose a tracking app
Try it on your own record
Kampa is free on the App Store, with no subscription and no account to create. Questions? info@kampa.health reaches the people who build it.
Kampa is a personal tracking tool, not a medical device. It does not diagnose, treat or give medical advice, and it never suggests a change to your medication.