Are You Tracking THIS Every Month?

When it comes to our cycle, tracking can be everything. Tracking the days, our temperature, and so much more can give us invaluable information. There are apps to track the information, pretty journals you can use, or just a plain and simple calendar.

Are you tracking your MSQ score?

But there is something that I recently started tracking that isn’t directly related to my cycle... or at least I didn’t think was, but has be incredibly valuable for my overall health. Have you heard of an MSQ score? MSQ is short of medical symptom questionnaire.

It tracks your symptoms in a wide range of health areas, including:

• Digestive health
• Energy/activity
• Emotions
• Mind
• Joint/muscles
• Skin

This is not a comprehensive list, but it gives you a snapshot of all that we can track with our health beyond the days in our cycle.

It’s used frequently in the world of functional medicine because it gets an honest view of the body as a whole, as well as tracks your progress month to month. In functional medicine, it’s believed that no one symptom is random or out of the blue. There’s a greater process of understanding why the body is behaving the way that it is and how to get to the root cause of any imbalances.

What does the MSQ score mean?

The total score can even suggest your level of “toxicity”, meaning the toxic load your body is carrying due to factors such as diet, lifestyle, and environmental toxins. So, the MSQ isn’t to give us another task or to-do.

I look at MSW as another lense through which we can view my health. It also may help me to make connections in my symptoms that I previously didn’t realize were connected.

For example, you may find that your digestive system is off the days leading up to your period. (This was the case for me, and what prompted me to eliminate dairy. If I eliminated dairy the week prior to my period, my digestive system was so much better. This discovery, ultimately, lead me to completely eliminate dairy from my diet and the health benefits I received in return were worth it!) You may find something similar in terms of skin issues, energy, concentration, etc.

Understanding our health issues and symptoms

With that knowledge we’re able to better care for ourselves and I believe have a better chance of getting to the root cause. For example, many people find direct connections with their digestive issues and skin issues. When one improves, so does the other. Others may experience a similar connection with energy and emotions.

There is so much that we can “map” through our body. Of course, this isn’t ever designed to diagnosis or treat, but it is a wealth of information you can have in your back pocket to gain a deeper understanding of your body’s health.

Interested in learning your MSQ score? Here’s a link to one you can take online. Personally, I take mine the beginning of every month so I can see the areas that I need to address, but also to remind myself of just how far I’ve come in healing my body.

As we move forward, it’s easy to forget just how bad we felt in the beginning of our health journey. So, this can remind us that we’ve made a lot of progress, so keep going. You and your health are worth it!