Here at PatientsLikeMe we strive to give you the tools and functionalities you want and need to gain insights into your conditions, including putting your experiences in context. Today, we're introducing a new tool in all of our communities called "InstantMe." 
Want to chart how you're feeling day in and day out? Now you can.
All you need to do for InstantMe is answer this simple question - How are you feeling now? You can answer this question as many times in a day or week as you'd like. InstantMe will appear on your profile to add more context to the other experiences you share there, as well as on your Doctor Visit Sheets so you can communicate more effectively about how treatment changes have impacted the whole you. You can even sign up for a reminder and answer InstantMe right over email.
Why InstantMe? Many of you already use the measurement tools we have in place to put your experiences in context - for example, there's the mood map, quality of life scale, or clinical rating scales (e.g., ALS functional rating scale). These instruments (which you typically fill out weekly or monthly) measure the severity and impact of medical conditions on your life. But what about all the fluctuations that all of us experience day-to-day or even throughout one day? Maybe they're due to our health, our treatments, or perhaps something totally unrelated, like holiday planning or work.
For a couple of years, mood community members have been using a tool called "InstantMood." They answer one simple question ("How would you rate your mood right now?") and then choose an answer ("Very good," "Good," "Neutral," "Bad," or "Very bad.") Members can even add a short note (140 characters) to each rating to remind them what was happening at that time. It's a popular functionality and helps members put context around changes in their overall condition. Here are some trends members can watch with InstantMood:
What we've seen and heard from the Mood community is that this ability to "instantly" rate how they're feeling is useful at both the individual and community level. As a user, you give a little something and get instant feedback. We like that concept. In fact, you'll be hearing a lot more about it in the blogs to follow this week, so stay tuned.
With this in mind, we're excited to roll out InstantMe for all of our communities (thanks in part to what we learned from Mood). Because we know there are more things that can influence how you feel than mood alone and we believe it's important to have measurements that get at your whole well-being, we have changed the question slightly.
It's a simple question, but probably one of the most important ones to ask you. So tell us - How are you feeling now?