Nope, no tracking here and I struggle with that “when was your last cycle” question every single time.
I have no desire to track it. I always have supplies close by and if not, there’s always some kind of 24 hour store somewhere.
Usually. A small red dot on the date of the first day.
That’s always been something I’m going to start doing, because it seems like such a good idea, but then I just never do.
I don’t actually keep track as in writing it down or making a check; I just know what the date is when I start. If it showed up on the 25th of this month, and shows up on the 22nd of next month (if there are 31 days to this month), then there’s the 28 days. That means during the next month it should show up around the 18th or so (or, since next month is February, that would make my subsequent period due around the 21st of March).
If, however, it shows up twice in one month, I’m pissed.
Just math, for me.
I only learned it from Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City (can’t remember which sequel, offhand). “Mouse” called it “Ethel Mertz” and that’s good enough for me.
I’m tracking it now using an online tracker (fertilityfriend.com), but only since I’m trying to get pregnant. It’s a little bit of a hassle (have to check the same time every morning, including weekends), and also (TMI) check cervical mucus - a little too squeamish at this point to check cervical position! Before that, never needed to as I was on the pill and therefore like clockwork.
Nope. I really have no need to. I had my tubes tied when my daughter was born via C-Section and that was over seventeen years ago so I don’t have to worry about birth control.
It just shows up about every four weeks and usually overnight. I really don’t have any cramps to speak of anymore so I do not get any warning. It is just there and gone again in four to five days.
I am such a fucking moron. I’ve skimmed past the thread title several times today and yesterday, thinking “If you lock it up securely when you leave it unattended, surely there’s no need for a tracking device”.
:o
When I first stated my period, way long time ago, my mother was gonzo on the TRACK EVERYTHING!!! bit. Then again, this is a woman who, when I’m on vacation, invariably asks me what time I want her to wake me up (NEVER! LET ME SLEEP I’M ON VACATION!!!).
All discovered was that I was incredibly regular. Frankly, I didn’t see the point of it. I’m also one of those women whose body sends signals a day or two before the red flow commences so I didn’t see the need to track to be “ready for it” - my body would give me the 48 hour warning
I’m sure this annoys the hell out of medical personnel, but I’m pretty good at remembering when the prior one started and stopped, and I’m still regular except for those very awful times, like when my sister died, or some other horrifically stressful thing happened but having your cycle disrupted under those circumstances is pretty normal, too.
I still remember the doctor who wanted to put me on the Pill because my natural cycle is about 32 days instead of 28. Seriously, that was the only reason - “Don’t you want to be normal?” Hell, no! Why would I want to bleed any more often than necessary? The machinery seems to be working fine, don’t poke at it!
I don’t find it weird, and actually I’m surprised it is not more than that. Shrugs Offhand, I can only think of one person in my family who was planned… and that was more of “I want it NOW!”, not on any specific date planning.
I’ve always tracked my periods. My father and mother tracked hers, and I didn’t find it weird when asked to do that. I was and am surprised when my friends don’t track theirs. Seriously, how can you not? It is good to plan ahead and have some extra stash, or plan travels and activities accordingly.
Besides, I have little to no PMS syndromes. I may have some light cramps every other month, akin to a bout of indigestion. And now that my only birth control is condoms, yes, I’m veeery careful to track my periods. Luckily they’ve been regular 28 for most of my young life. Although like a poster commented earlier, getting more action can trigger them to come on time (or a bit earlier, yikes!).
Let’s see… I’m traveling the third week of November… I recall I had my last period the third week of September… better pack some feminine hygiene products.
As for activities… I can’t think of a single activity that being on the rag would stop me from doing. I might be slightly less enthused, but not do something? There’s no reason I’d curtail my activities for that.
I do track mine. In fact, I have a yearly calendar for that specific purpose.
I never bothered when I was younger - and then I went on the pill in my late-teens and was on it until my late 20’s. No need to track it then, of course.
Then I went off the pill as a step to combat hypertension (law school wasn’t good for my health!) and started tracking it a short time after that.
If I don’t track it, I tend to get unpleasantly surprised. This is because I have absolutely no warning signals at all of imminent onset. Also, my cycle is just longer enough than the 28-day standard that I have time to loose track of it. It’s more like 35 days +/- 24 hours. So, keeping track is helpful from a logistical standpoint.
Now that my husband and I are trying to get pregnant, I’m keeping track for that purpose (although I’m not charting my temps - because that’s fundamentally useless for me, as my temperature isn’t stable under any conditions (it’ll vary up to two full degrees at random, unrelated to ovulation) and is therefore useless for fertility purposes).
It’s not that much trouble to put a “B” on my calendar the day it begins and an “E” on the day it ends.
Oh, well, this might explain it. I get severe cramping and bleeding so heavy I can’t safely leave the house for the first two days. I definitely do not plan trips or fun activities when I am supposed to get my period. I even plan my work schedule so I can spend those days at home. My period is agony. So it’s very important for me to know when it’s coming. But back when I had a more normal period, it didn’t matter so much.
(I can’t take hormonal birth control or NSAID pain relievers due to a medical condition, so I’m stuck with the problem.)
I’ve been on Depo-Provera for 3 1/2 years, so it’s been a while since there was anything to track. Before that, while I didn’t mark it on the calendar, it was regular and I knew when it was due and could plan accordingly. There was, however, the time when I went to England and happily noted that I was flying back the day before my period was due. My body, however, had other ideas, which meant a quick trip to the chemist the morning of my trans-Atlantic flight! :eek:
Like Broomstick, my period’s never been anywhere near debilitating and I tend to stubborn things out anyway, so it wouldn’t occur to me to schedule activities around it. However, I’m going off Depo-Provera and haven’t had the shot which was due this week, so I do have to buy a trashcan for at least one bathroom at the gentleman’s place.
I did before I went on the Pill, rather obsessively in fact. I have generalized anxiety disorder, and one of the things my free-floating anxiety glommed onto was fear of an unplanned pregnancy.
I do. I had a program for my PDA (Lunar) and now I have one for my iPod Touch (iWoman). It is helpful to plan in advance if I need to put in/bring my Diva Cup along when traveling or if I’ll be gone all day.
However, I know two days before my period starts that I’ll be getting it as I will cry at the drop of a hat. I know when the tears flow that my period will start in ~48 hours.
Don’t need to. Haven’t gotten “caught” unawares in years - I can tell by my mood when it’s about to start.
Only when it acts up, which it has sadly been doing for the last five years. OK, OK, so I was used to perfect regularity, sue me but damnit why did I have to become irregular?
The second day is quite painful, my hair suddenly gets all dirty (even if I washed it the day before, usually I only need to wash it once a week) on the first day and I lose my appetite for the first two days. Not the best time for some kinds of activities, for sure.
That’s perfectly understandable, and yet another example of how variable this monthly cycle thing is for us women. I wish everyone had as little trouble with their cycle as I do, which is not to say it’s trouble-free, just that it’s more an annoyance than a debility.
The last time I was truly concerned about the timing of this matter was when I took my flight test for my pilot’s license - worst day of the period with the most cramping and bleeding, I knew it was going to be at least 5 hours start to finish (there’s an oral test, prep work, and a lot of other stuff besides just the flying) with a grumpy old bastard grading my every twitch. And, oh yes, I got to drag a 1200 lb airplane out of the hangar by myself, oh joy. It still didn’t occur to me to reschedule the test, though, I just used the king-size-mattress pad. Given how old and worn the upholstery was on the pilot’s seat on the rental airplane the additional padding wasn’t such a bad thing to be sitting on.
I’ve had two really awful go-rounds with my periods in my life, with nauseating levels of pain, so I can certainly relate to women who go through that every month, but in my case there would have be some godawful trigger for it, like the death of a loved one with a severe illness on top of it. That doesn’t happen too often, thank Og, and in any case I tend to reschedule a lot of stuff around those events regardless of whether or not I’m on the rag when they occur.
I never used to track my periods, even though I’ve always been irregular (except when I was on the pill). All through my fertile, child-bearing years, I just got surprised every six weeks or so when it showed up (or didn’t). I started tracking things about five or so years ago by putting a mark on the calendar when it started. I think I realized that I was getting more and more irregular, often skipping periods, and I was interested in just how bad it was.