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Green
(routine)
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|
No symptoms present or only slight, occasional
symptoms |
Yellow
(urgent)
|
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Symptoms are present and persist
for several days |
Red
(emergency)
|
|
Symptoms are extreme and
activities
are largely or completely interrupted |
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Everyone’s familiar with stoplights, so this plan –
using a stoplight analogy – should improve your knowledge of when to
go, slow down or stop completely regarding your daily activities
and eating habits. Hopefully, you’ll get good enough to catch green
lights all the way. But if you’re stuck on red, remember, a green
has to come sometime.
Use this as a guideline to create a personal action
plan with your physician, who can help you identify the following:
Green
–
No symptoms present or
only slight, occasional symptoms
Green can be defined as your best. For green,
outline symptoms and
their frequency as well as the diet that works best for you when you
are feeling well.
You'll also want to list the medications and dosages and
other actions to remember when you are feeling well.
Yellow
–
Start easing up on the gas ... no pun intended
Yellow is when you're feeling so-so
–
not great but not terrible either. As when you're on green, you'll
want to work with your physician to identify what works best for you
at this stage. This means listing your symptoms and their frequency,
medications and dosages and what you need to remember when you're
on yellow.
Red
– Stop, and take immediate action
You probably can easily list some
of the symptoms you have when you're on red. Work with your doctor
to identify as many as possible and their frequency, what
medications and dosages you need to rein in the flare-up, food
choices and other directions to follow during this time.
You can print the
stoplight action plan (pdf), complete it with your doctor and keep it in an easy-to-find
place for access when you need it most.
 
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