For Girls Only: Tracking a Period

I suspect many women struggle with this, but few ever discuss it, because it’s embarrassing.  When is my next period?  We know when it is very late, or very early, but get to that third week and we may not be sure where in the month we are- assuming we have a super-regular period!  I have found a help: it’s called iPeriod.  Iperiod is a free iphone app, that tracts your cycle, even if it’s a little irregular.  It searches for patterns, allows you to track symptoms, including bloating, cramping, emotional states; track fertility periods, and document “love connections.”  Once it has two months of data, it can project future period times, helping you to plan vacations, and be prepared.

In a house with an adolescent daughter with ADHD, helping her track her period has become a priority for me.  Girls with ADHD, commonly struggle with grooming management and emotional reactivity, and as a result self-esteem and confidence. Add a mentral cycle on top of this and self-esteem and self-confidence can plummet even further: emotional reactivity can become downright rage!  Teaching a young woman, an awareness of this cycle is critical, so they can then begin to learn skills to manage their emotions, as well as plan their activities to limit agitation, until those skills are mastered.  Iperiod allows teenage girls to track their symptoms and begin to understand emotional as well as bodily sensation patterns.

At our house we often sit down together and privately review behavior, emotional reactivity, and use the iphone app to document it all, so we can have an accurate record of how things are going- for both of us.  ADHD has a way of revising history, this app provides an accurate account.