Tracking regular medical cannabis use is a good idea. It provides a record you and your medical providers can look back on at every stage of your cannabis journey. Now, Utah’s Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS) wants to make it easier for patients to track their medical cannabis use. They just released a brand-new tracking form in PDF format, a form that is supposed to be more mobile friendly than the old one.
You can freely download the form here. HHS recommends either printing it as a paper form or keeping it on your phone and editing it with a mobile app. Bringing the form with you when you visit Beehive Farmacy in Salt Lake City or Brigham City will give our on-site pharmacist information that should lead to better advice. We also have patient education books at Beehive Farmacy with forms inside for your convenience.
It is Simple and Easy to Use
Resources like the state’s new tracking form need to be as simple as possible. Otherwise, people will not use them. We are happy to report that this new form is as simple and easy to use as the old one. The form offers six distinct categories of information, arranged in columns:
- Date – This is the date you used the medical cannabis in question.
- Time – This is the time you consumed the product.
- Product and dose – Here you list the product by name, along with the dosage.
- Symptoms before use – These are the symptoms you were experiencing before consumption.
- Symptoms after use – These are the symptoms you experienced after consumption.
- Side effects – Here you list any side-effects you experienced after consuming.
It is pretty straightforward. Any medical cannabis user ought to be able to track effectively with the form. Just in case there are any questions, the DHHS provides an example entry across the entire first line of the form. Just follow that example and you will be good to go.
Why We Call It a Journey
Those of us in the medical cannabis community refer to medicating with cannabis as a journey. Why? Because the experience isn’t static. You do not start using medical cannabis and then continue using the exact same products, with the exact same dosages, the rest of your life. Things change.
The condition you are treating might change over time. Some of your symptoms might increase while others decrease. You might also develop additional conditions that are either helped or exacerbated by cannabis.
In order to make sure that you are experiencing maximum relief, you need to account for all the changes as they come. The best way to do that is to keep a history of your health, a history that includes any and all medical cannabis consumption. This is why we track.
It Helps Your Doctor and Pharmacist
Your doctor and pharmacist both want to help you get the most from medical cannabis. They do their best to offer sound advice based on what you tell them. If your reports are accompanied by a record of your consumption, your doctor and pharmacist will have more information that will help them advise you.
A well-informed doctor or pharmacist can better answer your questions. They can make better recommendations in terms of delivery method and dosage. In the simplest possible terms, getting the best advice from your doctor or pharmacist starts with you providing every bit of information you can.
Here at Beehive Farmacy, we are big proponents of medical cannabis tracking. Check out the new form now available for free on the DHHS website. You can download it to your phone at any time. You can even print a paper copy if you like.
