If you have arrived here from a search or from elsewhere on the site, you may not be sure which of the available tools is most relevant to you. This page is a brief guide to help you decide.
If your main concern is autonomic symptoms
If your main concern is autonomic symptoms (dizziness on standing, heart racing, temperature regulation problems, or gut dysfunction), start with the COMPASS-31. It is the most comprehensive autonomic symptom questionnaire available and gives you a structured, scored summary of symptom burden across six domains. It is particularly likely to be recognised by a specialist if you bring results to an appointment. It takes about 10 minutes.
If breathlessness is a significant symptom
The Nijmegen questionnaire screens for breathing pattern disorder and hyperventilation syndrome, a common and often underdiagnosed problem in post-viral conditions that can contribute to breathlessness, dizziness, brain fog, and chest tightness. It takes about 2 minutes.
If fatigue is dominating your life
The Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) measures how much fatigue is interfering with your daily functioning. It is widely used in ME/CFS and long COVID research and is useful for tracking whether your functional fatigue is changing over time. It takes about 2 minutes.
If you want to check for excessive daytime sleepiness
The Epworth Sleepiness Scale measures your tendency to doze in everyday situations. Fatigue and sleepiness are not the same thing; a low ESS score alongside severe fatigue can be informative in itself. It takes about 2 minutes.
If you want a quick overall snapshot of your functional capacity
The Bell CFIDS Disability Scale gives you a single score from 0 to 100 based on a description of your activity level and symptom impact. It takes less than a minute and lends itself to regular tracking.
If you suspect POTS or orthostatic intolerance
The NASA lean test guide walks you through an at-home standing test with a timer and heart rate logging. It is a practical way to gather objective data while waiting for formal autonomic testing, and the results can be useful to bring to appointments.
Using more than one
You can complete more than one. For someone with a post-viral condition, a reasonable starting set might be the COMPASS-31 (autonomic symptoms), the FSS (fatigue impact), and the NASA lean test (orthostatic heart rate). Together, these give a fairly rounded picture of the areas most commonly affected.