Tracking and staying in charge of your cycles

Lesson 19

Lesson Objectives:

• Learn the basics of the tracking tools on FertilityFriend.com to help you manage your fertility data.

More...

One of the best things about charting your cycles is that you can stay organized and in control. This can help you to communicate more effectively with your health care provider and to see your own trends and patterns.

Charting electronically makes it very easy to stay organized. You can keep your charts in one easy-to-locate place. You don't have to worry about losing or damaging paper charts. Additionally, FertilityFriend.com includes a number of extra features which are intended to help you manage your cycle information and maintain control over your reproductive health.

Some features which can help you to maintain control and stay organized are the following:

Review Charts: Chart Stack and Thumbnails

The "Chart Stack" feature ("Analysis" menu) allows you to see all your cycles together at a glance (all on the same page). On your mobile app, "Thumbnails" (Data Analysis Tools) also offers a view of all charts on the same page. This is useful to compare patterns from cycle to cycle.

Overlay Charts:

The Overlay feature ("Analysis" tab in the app) allows you to place several charts on the same graph so that you can discern your usual chart patterns and variations from your norms. The illustration below shows how the chart overlay allows you to compare cycles.

Print/Download Charts:

Printing/Fertility Report your charts (More menu/Sharing in the app) allows you to bring your data to your health care provider in a clean and clear format. This can aid communication with your health care provider and makes you an active participant in your own care. Ultimately, this can improve your care and show your care provider that you are serious and knowledgeable about your body and your health. Showing your charts to your care provider can help to time treatments and procedures. It can also cut your waiting time for diagnostic testing and make sure that you receive the appropriate diagnostic testing. Alternatively, if your provider is willing, you can also email the PDF file report to your health care provider prior to appointments.

Stats Graphs

The Stats Graphs (Analysis tab within your App) allows you to see your cycle trends. It shows bar graphs representing the distribution of your cycle length, ovulation day and luteal phase length. You can easily see your usual patterns and data.

Custom Data Entry

These features allow you to easily associate symptoms, events, medications or supplements, moods or anything else with a day of your menstrual cycle. This allows you to see if specific symptoms are related to your menstrual cycle and to easily view your data with your cycle history.

To go further:

Explore the menus to see various other features to help you stay organized and in control.

To get a more complete overview of the available resources:

• App Tutorials

Next Lesson: Supporting Each Other: Sharing Your Trying to Conceive Journey