Tracking and monitoring your cycles gives you a lot of information. Natural Cycles offers detailed insights into your unique cycle, which can be used to answer some important medical questions associated with reproductive and sexual health.
Below we have listed some ways in which Natural Cycles can help you learn about your cycle pattern and how this can be used by a doctor.
Diagnose and/or manage medical conditions
1. Identifying and analyzing ovulation and menstruation can help diagnose and/or manage conditions such as PCOS or endometriosis. Natural Cycles uses quantitative fertility indicators (body temperature and LH test results) to identify your ovulation day with high precision in every cycle. A positive LH test in itself is not sufficient for confirming ovulation, which is especially valuable for those with conditions such as PCOS where "false" LH peaks can occur (where an LH rise occurs but the egg is not released, so no progesterone is released and no temperature rise happens, which Natural Cycles identifies).
2. Specific information about your cycle, such as PMS symptoms that can be tracked in the app, can also help a doctor diagnose or evaluate treatment for endometriosis, a condition that affects the tissue lining the uterus. The app's trackers and notes section allows you to track PMS symptoms, pain, mood swings, etc.
Provide insights related to pregnancy and conceiving
1. Tracking menstrual cycle characteristics can help understand your fertile potential and odds of conceiving on a cycle-to-cycle basis. Natural Cycles uses quantitative fertility indicators (body temperature and LH) and can, therefore, predict your ovulation day with high precision in every cycle. You can also log sexual activity in the app.
2. The app can help determine whether you are pregnant. If the detected ovulation is followed by temperatures that stay elevated beyond the expected period, Natural Cycles will suggest taking a pregnancy test to confirm or rule out pregnancy. If a positive pregnancy test is logged, Natural Cycles will confirm the pregnancy and calculate a due date.
3. Natural Cycles can identify conception dates. Natural Cycles can identify the ovulation day (conception date) and therefore give an accurate due date.
Other valuable information for medical professionals
1. Number of anovulatory cycles.
The Natural Cycles algorithm can identify if a cycle has likely been anovulatory (read more about this here). By receiving valuable information about cycles with and without ovulation (anovulatory cycles) medical professionals can gain insights into symptoms of PCOS and/or other fertility-related symptoms.
2. Cycle regularity, length, and variation of the follicular and luteal phase.
You will also get information about the average length and variation of your follicular and luteal phase. Tracking the length of the luteal phase is valuable for women planning a pregnancy, as a very short luteal phase could entail issues for conception.
A highly irregular cycle could result from various lifestyle factors such as stress, lack of nutrition, being over- or underweight, travel, sleep deprivation, etc., and potential medication and/or recommendations for lifestyle change can be discussed based on the statistics.
3. Symptoms of PMS, endometriosis, etc.
See above - specific information about the cycle, such as PMS symptoms, which can be tracked in the app, can assist medical professionals in diagnosing conditions such as endometriosis.
4. Period information
In the Natural Cycle app, you can track how long your period is and the flow of the bleeding, and you can also keep track of cramps or other pain.