Deanne asks: Can you recommend a symptom tracker?
My reply: NO.
And here's why:
1️⃣ First, if you want to track your period, there are many free period-tracker apps available. Tracking your period is something many women do as a key health indicator, helps with planning and convenience, and, depending on your age, it can help highlight when hormones are beginning to fluctuate in perimenopause. If you are making decisions about contraception, please read the recommended guidelines from the International Menopause Society here.
2️⃣ Second, I am not fond of telling women to “track their symptoms." Here's why:
Any change to our health or adverse health experience is an invitation to find and treat the root cause.
And "tracking your symptoms" is a contributing factor to why TOO many women leave their health appointments feeling dismissed or disappointed; why endometriosis takes so long to get diagnosied, why migraine sufferers continue on without proper treatment...why less than 4% of women do not currently have a viable solution for vulva & vaginal dryness...and more!
A “symptom” is the same thing as the “check engine light” coming on in our vehicles...
...it's a signal not for you to track, but to take action! We don't track how many times our windshield wipers don't turn on in the rain…or how many times a tire looks flat…we simply take action; we investigate all the possible reasons why and what all of our available options are for treating and/or preventing.
In the hundreds of thousands of conversations I've had with members of the Menopause Chicks Community, it rarely matters the QUANTITY of times something (like vasomotor symptoms or sleep disruption or vaginal dryness) has occurred…but it ALWAYS matters how those experiences impact QUALITY OF LIFE.
And finally, {and this is TRULY what keeps me up at night!} I worry that apps and symptom trackers will inadvertently… take your money (maybe, but that's not it!)…sell your data…(likely, but that's not it either!)…
THIS is it: I worry that trackers will FAIL to educate and inform on what symptoms could be related to hormone fluctuation or decline (see page 14-16 of my book FEEL AMAZING) and which experiences could be related to something else! I would HATE for you to miss the opportunity to find and treat the root cause of what you are experiencing!
Could your current health disriuption be related to fluctuating or declining hormones? Might it be lifestyle? Is stress (cortisol) a contributor? Do you have a nutritional deficiency (FYI: fatigue, exhaustion and hair loss are all symptoms of iron deficiency)? Do you have another health condition/situation (i.e. thyroid is often overlooked and under-diagnosed!) that is making you feel the way you do?
IMPORTANT:
RATHER than tracking your health experiences, I want you to show up at your next health appointment as informed as possible so you have make the health decisions that are right for YOU! Join me in The Nest 🪺 on March 8 for "Speak Menopause" (This link will give you a free one-month pass.)
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