Do you track your cycle on your phone?
My phone has app where you can track your cycle. It marks your last period in red, shows you your fertile day, and then projects when you should start.
It’s a free app called My Days on Android. I’m sure there are other similar apps out there. I like it better than just marking a digital calendar because then you don’t have to go searching for the start date. You can see it automatically.
I think it’s supposed to be for ladies trying to get pregnant but works just as well if you just want to know when you’re going to start.
A few months ago I was stressed and really late and the app actually posted a question to me: “Are you sure you’re not pregnant?”
I showed it to Michael. It was very funny for the phone to ask the question.
Are you tracking your cycle with a phone app? Which app do you like? Have you found one where you can track multiple ones like your daughter’s too?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
42 comments Add your comment
FCM on my cell
July 13th, 2012
5:22 am
I have never been one to track my cycle. I did somewhat track to have baby no. 2. That would b 11yrs ago now
motherjanegoose
July 13th, 2012
5:51 am
No need anymore…hoorah!
rawmilkdrinker
July 13th, 2012
6:31 am
How did you ever do this before iphones came about?
shaggy
July 13th, 2012
6:35 am
I though when ya’ll hung around together, you just started at the same time, and made every male around you wish they were dead.
motherjanegoose
July 13th, 2012
6:56 am
@shaggy…I think it is y’all…
@raw…a chart…I used it both times I wanted to get pregnant. Some even took their temperature. I taught school and mine were born May 27 and June 3 . This gave me the summer off. Teachers, who were more clever than me, had children over spring break and took the last month or so off of school plus the summer. I did not think of that!
Many of us have wished we were dead just having our period. I am sure that there are some woman who, when they have no period due to being surprisingly pregnant, wished they were dead too. That was never me. After almost 40 years I, for one, am thrilled to be finished with mine.
YES many woman do align cycles after being around each other for a long time. I think you have to be working/living together. In my case, it was my college room mates or teachers at the same school.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_women’s_periods_sync_with_one_another
Jeff
July 13th, 2012
7:04 am
I used to track it for most of my exes. Seems they were rarely interested or capable of doing it themselves. Granted, it was a little self-serving.
With the more modern deposit shots, etc, it’s more complicated. My current SO knows instantly when it’s tube for an update when she has her one odd mood in a 3 month window.
If I get the snips next spring, that’ll be one less thing to think about.
motherjanegoose
July 13th, 2012
7:23 am
@shaggy…see my comment, after yours, on yesterday’s fast food. Have a great day !
homeschooler
July 13th, 2012
7:24 am
Never tracked except the two times I tried to get pregnant. Worked the first try both times. I just never have felt like it’s all that important to track. I’m the worst when the doctor asks “when was your last cycle?” uhh….I have no idea. :-)
FCM
July 13th, 2012
7:58 am
@ homeschooler, do you at least keep a generalized date for the doctor in your head? I usually say something like it was around the 19th. Then they pull out a calendar and I say yes around the 19th but I cannot be more exact….I bet you get the eye roll too.
Then I tell them, I am not pregnant. They say things like: without tracking you cannot know. I say yeah since I am pretty sure I would be there for anything that would make me pregnant….I KNOW!
BlondeHoney
July 13th, 2012
7:58 am
Eeeeeeeew no NEVER tracked and the thought of tracking someone else’s like a daughter creeps me out…TMI. Maybe I feel that way because I have two boys.
FCM
July 13th, 2012
7:58 am
@ Jeff…my ex’s tracked too. So the knew to when to hide. :)
Voice of Reason
July 13th, 2012
8:02 am
There’s an App for that?
But I like it so much better when her fits of fire breathing rage are completely random.
homeschooler
July 13th, 2012
8:11 am
@ FCM..yeah, that’s pretty much me. I have to try to think of what I was doing “hmm..I think it was the week we went to the circus…” then I look at the calender to figure out when that might have been.
I was on the pill for 10 yrs or so before having kids so there was no need to track. Funny thing is after having kids and before I got “fixed” (about a 7 yr span) I used “tracking” to not get pregnant. I still never wrote it down, just kind of remembered. During that time it would have been benifical to have a system but if I’ve never been good with systems. I would just forget to write it down or put it in my phone anyway.
FCM
July 13th, 2012
8:21 am
@homeschooler…yep that is me too!
MA
July 13th, 2012
8:29 am
Thank goodness done with all that!!!!!
motherjanegoose
July 13th, 2012
8:45 am
@homeschooler…can you take a peak at my post after Shaggy’s yesterday. I am curious what you think and if this looks like anything you have dealt with. Thanks!
Augusta
July 13th, 2012
9:04 am
What a wonderful topic for Friday the 13th……Visions of “Carrie” are now dancing around in my head now….thanks!
Raisin Toast Fanatic
July 13th, 2012
9:04 am
“YES many woman do align cycles after being around each other for a long time. I think you have to be working/living together. In my case, it was my college room mates or teachers at the same school.”
I rather doubt that. Simple coincidence would be a far better explanation.
Working Mom
July 13th, 2012
9:08 am
Yes, I do. I tracked it with my first child. We are now trying again, so I’m tracking it all over again.
A
July 13th, 2012
9:10 am
Those of us on the Pill don’t need any kind of tracker since part of the beauty of this form of birth control (apart from the obvious) is that your periods are like clockwork. When you are on the last week in your pack, you’ll have your period!
Becky
July 13th, 2012
9:20 am
Nope, never tracked mine..And thank goodness that I don’t have to worry about this stuff ever again..Haven’t had to deal with it for the last 18 years..
@A…Not always true..I was put on the pill at 17 due to medical problems…I was on the pill for 12 years and mine were never regular even then..Yes, I took them as I was suppose to..:)
DB
July 13th, 2012
9:21 am
No, didn’t track it, except in a general way. Didn’t try to plan the pregnancies for any particular time of year. Don’t care when my daughter’s period is. My husband, who is good with dates, generally had a good idea. One of things he would do that would infuriate me would be if I was being particularly bitchy, he’d look at the date on his watch and go, “uh, huh . . .” and kinda grin. But — hey, point taken. :-) If I was using that app now, it would be asking me if I was going into labor!
homeschooler
July 13th, 2012
9:25 am
@MJG..I did see it. Very sad and I think you handled it well. Unfortunately emotional abuse is something that is so hard to measure and prove. I’m not sure much else could be done. I always tell people to never hesitate to call the police if they feel any kind of abuse is going on because police can usually get the names and addresses of the parties involved and contact DFCS if needed. Unfortuately, if this same situation was called in to dfcs it would likely be screened out. Just comes down to a parent yelling at a kid and the kid crying. I know when you witness it, it is so much more but without some clear evidence that the child was harmed by it, not much can be done. Some times if the police get called they discover more is going on. Maybe Dad is drunk or maybe the kid has marks from physical abuse or maybe Dad has some outstanding warrant and gets taken to jail. ;-) (wishful thinking, I know).
Techmom
July 13th, 2012
9:32 am
Haha my first thought was “TWG took up cycling” (i.e Bicycling).
On the pill so very regular. No need to track.
Augusta
July 13th, 2012
10:16 am
Been cycling since I was 13. I certainly don’t need an app on my phone to let me know when it’s going to rear is’t ugly head again. My body tells me, and the calendar tells me.
Don’t need no stinkin app for that!!!!
mom2alex&max
July 13th, 2012
10:31 am
Nope, no tracking around here. I couldn’t care less since we don’t have to worry about birth control. Husband took more .. um .. permanent measures some time ago. One less thing to worry about!
Scooby
July 13th, 2012
10:49 am
Tracking multiple people? That’s just creepy.
malleesmom
July 13th, 2012
11:03 am
I’m w/ MJG – hooray those days are behind me. That being said, having two girls, one just hitting that stage in life, this may be useful. In my younger days, I always had a pocket calendar and kept it updated. My phone would be easier these days.
Jeff
July 13th, 2012
12:37 pm
FCM, I would be surprised if you were prone to rages, but you never know.
motherjanegoose
July 13th, 2012
1:42 pm
@ Raisin…I certainly do not know all woman. I work in a profession with more woman and that simply has been my case. Even worked when my daughter lived at home. I knew because she would ask me to buy her supplies, if I was out and about. I could be wrong for sure!
JF McNamara
July 13th, 2012
1:52 pm
Most men don’t need to track it…it is obvious to us.
Denise
July 13th, 2012
2:12 pm
@Raisin….happened in my dorm too. Anybody that was not on the pill ended up synched up with someone who was. It was terrible freshman year with there were more who weren’t than were. A whole floor of moody broads was NOT CUTE! LOL
mom2alex&max
July 13th, 2012
2:44 pm
It happened in my dorm too. Not the whole building, but for sure the floor. And it even happened to me at work. A lot of us in the same dept that were not in the pill were synced.
RJ
July 13th, 2012
3:08 pm
Ummm my husband tracked it for me and told me I was pregnant. I brushed him off and told him he was crazy. Yeah, I have an 8 month old now! Tracking is no longer necessary since he finally got fixed!
MA
July 13th, 2012
5:45 pm
@mom2alex&max – be careful with the permanent thing with your husband. I had a friend whose husband had the big “v”. They had a 22 year old getting married and a 20 year old and bada boom bada bing she was pregnant with twins. He had had the “v” done 15 years before that!! It is very rare, but, they can reverse on their own. Our doctor told us to get a sperm check done every two years. We did and I didn’t have any surprises and then had to have the “h” done four years after my husband. We have a boy and a girl and knew we were finished.
BessieBear
July 13th, 2012
8:58 pm
Augusta – There are some people who do not have a regular cycle, and tracking can really help – whether it is on paper or an app.
Tracking can include not only dates of your period, but when you have ovulated. Even if not trying to get pregnant, that is very helpful. Through tracking, someone with irregular cycles can know when to expect their period. Up until the age of 33, I almost never knew when it was coming, just had a general idea it might be coming. Then I started tracking and have never been surprised since. I sure wish someone had taught me that stuff when I was younger.
It’s unfortunate that our society needs everything to be dumbed down, so birth control pills are pushed as the main form of birth control. Natural family planning (which is NOT the rhythm method) would be useful to everybody, even if you plan to use some form of contraceptives.
Miss Priss!
July 14th, 2012
9:47 am
I did ask a girlfriend one time if she smoked after sex. She said she didn’t know. She never looked.
JATL
July 14th, 2012
11:15 am
@BlondeHoney -THANK YOU! If my mom had “tracked my cycles” I would have vomited. What’s the point in that? If you’re old enough to menstruate, you’re old enough to keep up with it! Live and learn!
I’ve never “tracked” mine -just had a general idea of when it should be arriving. On Tuesday I will be saying goodbye to that crap FOREVER -or at least for the most part! I am SOOOOOOO excited! I’ve been wanting to get rid of it since September of 1982. I got my first that August and one month of dealing with that crap was enough. I really cannot describe how much I’ve hated it.
pb
July 14th, 2012
2:18 pm
Track what cycle? Good lord, give me a break… What did you do before the I-phone was invented? Somehow I and my past girlfriends figured it out without it…
Penguinmom
July 15th, 2012
1:04 pm
My m-in-law worked at a school and used to track her principal’s cycle because the lady went off the deep end emotionally with it. That way she knew when to try to steer others clear of the office or at least could know why every decision was causing excessive anger or tears.
I haven’t ever really tracked mine (get the same looks as FCM and homeschooler at the doc’s office). I might should since, as I have gotten older and closer to memopause, the mood swings mid-cycle and right before are more severe than they ever were when I was younger. Currently, I realize the cause of the irritability post-anger rather than preparing for it.
Have heard of women tracking their daughter’s periods. I know my mother didn’t do that since she didn’t even discuss the subject with me at all. I guess I grew up in such a repressed household, I feel good that I have at least had discussions about periods with my daughter but don’t think I could go so far as keeping up with when she will be starting. However, I might mention this app to her when she starts. It would be helpful for her to be prepared so that she doesn’t get any school-day ’surprises’.
tracey
July 17th, 2012
4:18 pm
i’m 40 and have had a cycle since i was 13. i’ve never tracked my cycle. i know when it’s fixing to start, my body tells me. the only time i ever really had it tracked, was when i was on the pill.
CS
July 19th, 2012
2:21 pm
Baby number 4 is now 10 months old and I blame that app for her. She is a blessing but I was supprised because I had been tracking forever, never had unprotected sex anywhere near the fertile window and still ended up pregnant. I blamed my 2 girlfriends that I was around for hours daily for a few months, because I think my cycle was alingning with theirs and they were already in synch.