Options for irregular, heavy or no menstrual cycle

[steph1300]

This would be a very useful feature for those with irregular cycles, or those that have extremely heavy bleeding.

Anyone with non-hormonal birth control device(s), peri-menopause, menopause, endometriosis, fibroids, or other reasons for dysmenorrhea would find this useful.

I’m not looking for “predictions”- just needing a more precise method to log a health condition.

Also, knowing when I might be “fertile” is a minor annoyance, as I have a copper IUD, and no plans to reproduce.

Thank you for your consideration. 

Moderator edit: Clarified subject

[LanuzaFitbit]

Thank you very much for sharing your idea @steph1300.

I could absolutely see how this can be very useful and needed for lots of users.

Let's see what others have to say about this.

[steph1300]

Thanks! How do you do that? Share with mods or ask community? Or just wait for votes?
Just curious!
Thanks,
Stephanie

Sent from my iPhone

[Jldenmon]

I absolutely agree that this feature would be much more useful if it allowed users to input their own flows. It’s laughable to limit a menstrual cycle to 10 days or to default to five days because that’s average. I struggle to understand how that limitation is useful even to the most average of users who will undoubtedly have some irregularity at some point in their lives. What’s the point of this tool if you can’t use it accurately, as a default?

Also, and this is slightly off topic, but can we stop referring to it as women’s health or female health and call it what it is? It’s a menstruation tracker and fertility prediction tool. I know the Fitbit blog said that “women’s bodies can be downright confusing,” but I promise that fertility and baby-making (which seem to be the goal of the feature) are not the end-all to “women’s health.” We don’t need euphemisms, nor do we all want to propagate the planet. 

[steph1300]

Great point! I’m not propagating, but I am a female that menstruates!
I just want an easy way to record dates, and pertinznt details. I don’t need “predictions”
Sent from my iPhone

[Aesa]

Yes, agreed! I am on continuous birth control for endometriosis so when the max days for cycles was only 100 days, that was kind of a bummer. I can usually get away with going about ~6 months before a period sneaks through, but stress and other factors also play a role in this too. I don't particularly need predictions either but being able to edit in my own logs would be very helpful since I can almost never accurately answer, "when was your last period?" 

As you said, a way to record dates and details still would be very nice for the rest of us "irregulars." Along with 'natural' irregular cycles, there are also options to stop periods (at least for as long as possible), so being able to edit as freely as needed would be very useful. Also, just because I don't have periods every month doesn't mean I don't experience symptoms or pains, so being able to add notes or something for details would would be useful as well (although I think I saw another suggestion for notes while browsing).

(Also @ mods I sent in an email before I found the forum with this same suggestion and information as steph has posted, sorry! I did not know this was here.)

Moderator Edit: Personal info removed

[Teoma]

I also can't use the feature because of the 10 day limitation. It doesn't make sense to me that the start and end dates wouldn't be totally user defined to begin with. I would love to be able to consolidate my health tracking apps, but the Fitbit version fits a cookie cutter "this is a period" mold that many, many women do not fit into. I appreciate very much the addition of a tile to track menstruation, but would like to be able to use it as well. Having accurate information to report to my doctor is important due to some related health issues. Thank you for your consideration. 

[Calathea77]

Periods do stop naturally at times. Pregnancy and menopause come to mind. Unfortunately, whoever designed the tracker forgot about these. 

[Sweetkay]

I agree with adding an option with more flexibility for input for those of us who have irregular cycles.  The way the feature is currently set up I really can't use it.  Also it would be nice if we can sync data from other apps such as fertility friend.  This way we can have a history of pass cycles, symptoms, procedures, etc all in our Fitbit app when sharing information with our doctor.  

[AranelS]

Agreed. The current system for reporting your cycle is not particularly intuitive and relies too heavily on the predictions being accurate. There should be a simple toggle to confirm whether or not you were on your period today, not a several-step process to change the prediction. 

[CracklinRosi]

Agreed. Under "Flow Intensity" add "Super Heavy" with the icon just simply red and "Clots" as many women pass clots and this could be indicative of underlying causes such as polyps or fibromyalgia.  Under "Conditions" add "Bloating", "Cravings", "Sleep Changes" and "Mood Changes".  At least those would cover a few of the symptoms women experience during their cycles.  I have to ask why "Sick" is under "Conditions"?  Is that for women who have become pregnant and are tracking morning sickness?  As for the protected or unprotected sex, is that section of the tracker really necessary?  

I'm really happy for the tracker because women's period cycles are an intricate part of our lives.  Many women plan their lives around them, depending on how bad they are.  Fitbit just needs a little bit of fine-tuning.  Thanks, Fitbit, for looking specifically to help women with women's issues.

[deekaada]

As a woman who has never had regular periods, it would be nice to have a delay option. Currently the predictor tells me how much longer until it ends when i haven't received my period yet.

[heth.7]

I have an 8 month old and am just getting my period back. It is extremely irregular and would love to be able to just add when it starts and finishes. Pretty simple i would have thought

[SharonArchibald]

It would be useful to be able to track irregular periods. I have very irregular menstral times but when I try to add a period or adjust a period, the FitBit app doesn't always record the info accurately and often changes my period end date. It also doesn't adjust predictions ased on the info I have entered.  Being perimenopausal, I don't need my fertile times predicted- it would be nice to turn that feature off.  

[ttcking]

Women who have the following common conditions/life events can have menstrual cycle lengths or period lengths that are widely variable or even have no periods at all:

• PCOS
• Pregnancy
• Pregnancy loss
• Breastfeeding
• Puberty
• Premenopause
• Menopause
• Hysterorectomy
• Premature ovarian failure 
• Hormone therapy (including for, but not limited to, trans and non-binary folks)
• And so much more!

It's incredibly frustrating to have an app tell you every single day that you're on your period when you know aren't and you aren't going to be.

By having an option to add "Cycle Length: Variable" and "Period Length: Variable", as well as "Cycle Length: none/not applicable" and "Period Length: none/not applicable", the algorithm wouldn't generate irrelevant notifications and extremely off-base predictions while it's trying to figure out these less predictable cycles.

Moreover, such a feature would allow women to continue to use the Female Health Tracking feature to track moods, PMS-type symptoms, cervical mucus, etc. in a more convenient way. 

[SantiR]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing. I'm sure out female users could really benefit from this and use the other options available in the Female Health Tracker. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[JTCOLO]

Yes please!!!.  Lots of birth control users, young girls, and those going through menopause may not have periods but all still potentially suffer from various related issues that are cyclical even in the absence of an actual period.  Requiring that 2 periods be logged seems to limit the usefulness of an otherwise extremely helpful feature with a lot of potential. We have 2 such users just in our household who experience things like moodiness, headaches, discharge, and fatigue, but don't have a period. FIX THIS PLEASE!

[gemmich]

I want the option to add my own symptoms. The ones that are in the app are good & the list is growing, but PLEASE make the option available to add my own so I can personalize & track what I need. 

[Cranberryheae]

Having limitations on the cycle length makes no sense and makes it basically useless.

Also, please be inclusive and rename it to something accurate, like menstrual tracker. The current name is wrong. 

[mds306]

I would prefer to start my period in the tracker instead of it assuming it has started. Keep predictions and actual separate. I’m going through perimenopause and my periods have lengthened by a week or so. So every day I have to go in and move my period ahead a day until it starts. 

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @mds306! Great suggestion, thanks for sharing. I've moved it into a similar request. Hopefully we will have support from other users since more votes and comments an idea has the more visibility and momentum it gains.

[mds306]

I hope that it is taken into consideration that probably only half of Fitbit users are women and then only a subset of those women would have issues with their period. If Fitbit is going to wait for this issue to be popular enough to make this change, it might never get made. I don’t think popularity is always the most effective way to make a decision.

Sent from my iPad

[gemmich]

Ditto #mds306. I’m following this topic in hopes that Fitbit will realize that not every woman fits in a perfect period box. In the meantime I’ve moved on to use a different app that allows me to make notes and custom comments for myself about my cycle. 

I cannot understand why Fitbit is not responding to the requests to allow customization in the period feature. Ridiculous 

[climbhigher]

Please remove the minimum length of a cycle. I had a period, then 4 days without a period, then another period, and I can’t accurately log it. The app wants me to either log it as one long period (which it was not) or log it as having more days off in between. I don’t know who decided that our bodies have to exist within a specified range of minimum and maximum cycle length, but clearly not all bodies fit within these restrictions. I’m on new birth control, so my periods are all over the place. Sometimes I get two very close together and sometimes I skip a month or more. It would be great to be able to accurately track everything.

[LuciaFitbit]

Hi @climbhigher, thanks for taking the time to share your feedback regarding the female health function with us. This feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your post here. Don't forget to add your vote!

[kathibbert]

Some women tend to skip their cycle on birth control or for other reasons so it would be nice to be able to keep track of when and how many cycles are skipped per year. Additionally, some women on birth control intentionally skip their periods sometimes. Currently, in order to delete a period, I have to first save the predicted cycle and then delete it, and then it will just suggest a new predicted period for the next day. It would be nice to be able to say that I skipped a period and whether or not it was intentional.