u/Soft-Lifeguard-8046

I’m a data scientist who’s spent 15+ years analyzing messy data. Like a lot of people here, my health data is all over the place: ChatGPT conversations, notes, prescriptions, supplements, wearables, dr.'s appointments, random memories, etc.

I’ve analyzed my own treatment experiments, and now I’m trying to see if I can do the same for other people.

The goal is simple: help YOU figure out whether a treatment, supplement, diet change, or lifestyle change actually helps or not

Most people already have information like:

• How they felt before and after trying something
• When they started or stopped a treatment
• What they think their triggers are
• Notes about good days and bad days

Usually it’s scattered across:

• Journals or Notes
• Spreadsheets
• AI chats
• Photos
• Wearables
• Lab results
• Prescriptions
• Or just memory

I’m curious whether that’s enough to piece together a timeline and learn something useful.

If you’re interested, DM me. It doesn’t need to be organized. I actually want to see what real people’s messy data looks like.

FYI, I'm NOT SELLING ANYTHING or trying to get you sign up for anything. It's more will this work?

Also curious: has anyone here tried analyzing their own health data before? What types of analysis? What were the pitfalls?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and figured I’d see if anyone here is interested.

I’m a data scientist and I built a statistical way to analyze my own treatment experiments instead of relying on memory or “I think it helped.” I honestly don’t know if it’ll be useful for other people, so I wanted to find out.

I have brain fog and eye floaters, and my daughter has eczema. I’ve spent years trying different lotions, elimination diets, supplements, and prescriptions trying to figure out what works. Finding something something new was never the problem, figuring out whether it actually worked vs. just a good/bad week vs. just me believing it was making a difference was the hard part.

If you’ve:

• been tracking symptoms
• are currently testing or previously tested something
• or are about to start a new treatment

I’d be happy to analyze it and share what I find.

I can’t magically tell you what treatment will work. What I’m hoping to do is help people figure out whether something they’re already trying is actually helping, or whether they’re probably wasting time and money and should move on to something else sooner.

I’m not selling anything. I’m mostly trying to figure out whether this approach is useful outside of my own data.

If you’re interested, send me a DM with what you’re testing.

Also curious to hear from the skeptics who thinks this is a dumb idea or wouldn’t work. 😄

My mom and sister both have IBS, and over the years I’ve watched them go through the same cycle over and over:

1. Try something new
2. Feel a little better
3. Have an episode
4. Wonder whether the thing they tried actually helped
5. Repeat

Being a data scientist, I wanted to see if there was data that could help. I aggregated posts on r/ibs from the last year and organized discussions around treatments, triggers, medications, diets, and symptom tracking.

One thing surprised me.

The most common question wasn’t: “What should I try?”

It was some variation of: “How do I know if this is working?”

People are trying:

• Low FODMAP
• Psyllium
• Probiotics
• Imodium
• Walking
• Stress reduction
• Medication changes
• Different meal timing

But the underlying question is usually the same: “Am I actually getting better?”

What makes IBS difficult is that different interventions operate on very different timelines.

For example, here's some of the treatment data I’ve reviewed:

Treatment	Time to Work
Imodium	Hours
Low FODMAP	2 weeks
Psyllium	~4 weeks
Probiotics	4-8 weeks
Amitriptyline	6-12 weeks
Exercise	6-12 weeks

At the same time, IBS symptoms naturally fluctuate.

You can have:

• three good days
• one terrible day
• two average days

and suddenly have no idea whether you’re seeing real improvement or random variation.

The more IBS posts I read, the more it seemed like people aren’t just looking for treatments.

They’re looking for confidence that they’re moving in the right direction.

I'm curious how long people give before they decide if it working or not?

I started looking into this because with my own kids, one of the hardest parts of eczema has not just been deciding what to try. It has been knowing whether we tested something long enough to learn anything.

Being a data science nerd, I looked at the data from this subreddit and couldn't help but see a recurring pattern. It was one I did myself at first: giving up too early. That is trying something for a week or two, not seeing a clear change, and moving on. This seems especially true for slower treatments that aren't prescriptions.

Methodology:

• Success rate is determined by scanning last year's worth of r/eczema posts and assigning +1 for positive sentiments and 0 for negative sentiments per post/comment
• Timing is from r/eczema posts where people mentioned both a treatment and how long it took before they noticed improvement.
• For comparison, I also asked our pediatric dermatologist how long she suggests patients give treatments before deciding whether they are helping.

How long did people say it took before they first noticed improvement?

Treatment	Reddit Reported Success Rate	Reported 1st signal from Reddit posts	Dermatologist suggested window
Topical steroids	84%	~1 day	Did not ask
Zyrtec/antihistamines	79%	~2 days	2 weeks
Rinvoq	84%	~7 days	4 weeks
Dupixent	82%	~14 days	4 weeks
Probiotics	74%	2-4 weeks	1-2 weeks
Diet changes	71%	~17.5 days	1-2 weeks

Patterns:

• Doctors (at least my pediatric dermatologist) are not recommending a long enough window for non-traditional treatments like probiotics and diet changes, while giving longer grace periods for prescription medications.
• Treatments that take longer seem to have lower success rates. Whether this is because the treatment truly doesn't work or if the person gave up to soon is the big question.

Disclaimers:

• My doctor doesn't speak for all doctors
• Just because treatments take longer doesn't mean that people didn't wait this long before giving up.
• This does not mean every slow treatment works. A lot of them probably do not. It just means that a short trial may not tell you much.
• This is not apples-to-apples comparisons, but it is the best I've got. “Improvement” might mean immense itch relief for one person vs. less redness for another.
• These numbers are averages, so they hide a lot of variation.

Curious for others here:

How long do you usually give something new before deciding whether it's working?