Free printable dizziness diary template (one-page PDF episode log)

Download the free PDF template

Most people are told to "keep a diary" of their dizziness, open a blank notebook, and discover the problem immediately: a blank page does not tell you what to write down. So the entries wander, the important details go missing, and months later the diary cannot answer the questions the doctor actually asks. For vestibular conditions, the description of each episode and its pattern is often the most informative part of the whole diagnosis [1], which makes the structure of your diary matter as much as the habit.

This template fixes the blank-page problem. It is a structured dizziness episode log: tick boxes and short blanks for exactly the details that carry diagnostic weight, three episodes per sheet.

What the template captures

• The sensation: spinning vertigo, rocking/swaying, lightheadedness, floating, or off-balance. If you are unsure which words fit, our guide to describing dizziness to a doctor walks through each one.
• Date, time, duration, and intensity: the duration alone separates most vestibular conditions from each other.
• What you were doing when it started: lying down, standing up, turning your head, walking, or something else. Positional patterns are the signature of BPPV.
• Accompanying symptoms: nausea, ear fullness, tinnitus, hearing change, headache, neck pain, visual blur, anxiety.
• What helped: rest, medication, the Epley maneuver, hydration, or nothing.
• The 24 hours before: sleep, stress, salty food, caffeine, screen time. This is where triggers start to show themselves.

How to use it

• Print a few copies and keep one where episodes tend to happen: bedside, desk, kitchen.
• Fill it in while the episode is fresh, or as soon after as you can. Details fade within hours.
• Log good context too. If a week passes without an episode, that is information; note it on the sheet's margin.
• Bring the sheets to your appointment. Two weeks of records beats a year of memory. Pair it with our guide on preparing for a dizziness appointment.

For clinicians and vestibular physiotherapists

Print and share it freely with patients; that is what it is for. The fields follow the standard clinical history for dizziness (sensation quality, timing, triggers, associated symptoms [1], [2]), so completed sheets slot directly into your intake. No attribution needed beyond the footer that is already on the page.

The automatic version of this sheet

This template is the paper edition of what the Dizzin app does automatically. In the app, the same episode log takes about 30 seconds on your phone, the daily context (sleep, stress, sodium, weather) is captured in a one-minute check-in, and after a couple of weeks Dizzin runs the pattern analysis a paper diary leaves to you: which factors tend to precede your bad days, with the statistics done properly. Before an appointment, it builds the whole history into a doctor-ready PDF report. Start on paper today, switch when the ticking gets old; both beat the blank notebook.

Download the template (PDF, one page)

The template and this page are tracking aids, not medical advice. Dizzin is a self-tracking tool, not a medical device. New, severe, or changing dizziness deserves a medical assessment regardless of how well it is logged.

Related reading: How to describe your dizziness to a doctor · How to track your dizziness triggers

Sources

1. Vestibular Disorders Association (VeDA). Types of Vestibular Disorders.
2. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Balance Disorders.