I spend 30+ minutes entering my data into two separate period tracking apps before I realise they have cleverly buried the fact that I have to pay a subscription to access insights about my period. Third time lucky. I finally find an app called Period Diary Ovulation Tracker and am relieved to see it has a free version.
It’s not that I wouldn’t pay for an app if it were truly useful, but I’m not trying to get pregnant or track my fertility, or use it as my only form of birth control. I’m trying to track how I feel before, after, and during my period. Or rather, I’m trying to predict how I’ll feel. It’s okay if it’s a rough estimate.
I feel like I’ve been going around in circles trying to get in sync with my body. I ditched the implant, went birth control-free for a while, started taking the pill, and just ditched that pill because my health insurance coverage is changing plus my libido still sulking in the corner.
My OBGYN had mentioned stopping the pill to help my libido and my annual exam in December, which took restraint to simply respond “I’ll think about it” as if I hadn’t gone through the rigmarole of having my implant removed and finding a new birth control for that express purpose.
Back to the period app. I plug in the dates of my period for the past three months. It predicts that today I will ovulate. Happy Ovulation Day! That should be a monthly celebration. It’s supposed to be when we feel our most glowy and sexy. The app predicts the following: Egg white discharge, high sex drive, confidence, and cramps.
Two of those are true, and it ain’t the sex drive or the confidence. Strangely when I felt cramps this morning I thought, is this magic? How did it know? Sadly I didn’t feel the libido boost it promised, but then it’s only been a short while since stopping the pill.
I log my symptoms. I did try tracking my symptoms and moods in an Excel spreadsheet, but it didn’t really work. I didn’t always remember to log everything each night and the sheet I created had so many categories it took a while to complete. I’d go weeks without filling anything in, which defeated the purpose of keeping a laser-close eye on my body changes.
I ask myself what it is I’m seeking. Knowledge? Understanding? A guarantee that at some point in the month, my body will give me the feelings that I want to feel? All of the above, but predominantly knowledge about my body.
It dawns on me that I didn’t hear the terms “luteal phase” and “follicular phase” until I was in my late twenties. And I’ve been having periods since I was 11! The only period education we got at school was about the mechanics of bleeding, how long a period lasted, and what pads and tampons were. I remember talking about the symptoms of the actual period, but not the feelings you go through over the entire month.
I’m not sure I understood there were different feelings and symptoms throughout the cycle. Granted I didn’t have to deal with those for a long time while I was on birth control, but from age 11 to 20 I had normal periods. Maybe dealing with all the changes of teenage life meant that I couldn’t separate out the symptoms related to my cycle.
So far, the app is doing what I hoped. I’m a visual person, so I appreciate the Cycle Log with a clear dial representing my cycle with the date of my last period and ovulation day, with two tabs showing past and predicted period dates. You can also log symptoms and sexual activity and such, which I may do if I stick with it.
The hard thing about tracking symptoms, especially abdominal pain or changes, is that I get a bad stomach from a ton of things these days. Does anyone else out there find this is true for you? More than two margaritas? Stomach pain. Holding in my tummy while I wear that tight denim skirt? Stomach pain. Overeating pasta or overdrinking Diet Sprite? Stomach pain. It’s a wonder any of us women with stomach issues can decipher our hormone-related changes from our daily lives.
It’s only been a few days, so I’ll need to write a more in-depth review in a few months. I intend to keep using this tracking app for at least three months to see if it’s bringing me more benefits than just using the Apple period prediction feature.
If you have any period/period-symptom tracking advice or technology to recommend, I’m all ears!
