PCOS, endometriosis & luteal-phase cycle log with a 35-day tracking grid

01Why a printed cycle log beats scrolling through an app

A clinician can read a one-page cycle summary in about 90 seconds; scrolling through months of app screens in a short intake rarely works. Period apps are good at reminding you, but their history sits behind a phone screen, mixes predictions with real data, and is hard to hand across a desk. Some people also prefer not to keep reproductive health data in an app at all. A printed log built in your browser, with nothing stored or sent, gives your clinician the same facts without either problem.

What matters is a short list of measurements, recorded the same way every cycle:

• Cycle Day 1 — the first day of real flow, not spotting.
• Cycle length — from one Day 1 to the day before the next.
• Bleeding — how many days, and how heavy at its worst.
• Ovulation — your best estimate of the day, and how you estimated it.
• Pain and mood — how bad, and when in the cycle it starts and stops.

Three cycles are usually enough to see a pattern. One unusual month after travel, illness or stress is common; the same pattern three times is worth a conversation. The log keeps those three cycles side by side and works out the average and range for you.

Your log is also more useful when your clinician can see the rest of your history. If earlier ultrasounds, lab results or operative reports sit with another practice, a HIPAA records release lets you request them before the visit. And if you recently stopped hormonal birth control, note when — the post-birth control recovery guide explains what is normal while cycles return and when to ask for an evaluation.

02What your cycle length and bleeding tell your clinician

For adults, cycles that run from 21 to 35 days are generally considered typical, with bleeding that lasts up to about seven days; NICHD notes the cycle averages around 28 days but varies from person to person. The log flags any cycle shorter than 21 days or longer than 35, because both are reasons clinicians look more closely at ovulation.

Long or unpredictable cycles are one of the three features used to diagnose polycystic ovary syndrome. Under the 2023 international PCOS guideline, cycles shorter than 21 or longer than 35 days, or fewer than eight periods a year, count as irregular in adults. PCOS is diagnosed when two of three features are present — irregular ovulation, signs or lab evidence of higher androgens, and polycystic ovaries on ultrasound or a raised AMH level — and only after other causes such as thyroid disease or high prolactin have been ruled out. That is why the log also asks about androgen signs: coarse hair on the chin or chest, jawline acne and thinning at the crown. The PCOS phenotype guide explains how these features combine into the four PCOS types and what each one means for treatment.

Heavy bleeding deserves its own note. Changing a pad or tampon every two hours or less, passing clots the size of a quarter or larger, bleeding for more than eight days, or flooding through clothes at night are all worth reporting, both for the cause and because heavy periods drain iron stores. When a long cycle, heavy bleeding or androgen signs show up, your clinician may suggest blood tests; the hormone & lab panel builder shows which PCOS and endometriosis labs usually go through insurance and what the cash-pay ones cost.

If you leave a cycle length blank, the log works it out from the next cycle’s Day 1 date and marks it with an asterisk, so enter cycles oldest first.

03Estimating ovulation and your luteal phase

The luteal phase is the stretch from ovulation to your next period. The log estimates it as cycle length minus ovulation day: ovulate on cycle day 16 of a 29-day cycle and your luteal phase is about 13 days. It is usually around 12 to 14 days, and the log flags estimates under 10 days.

How you estimate the ovulation day matters, so the log records the method:

• LH test positive — urine tests detect the hormone surge that usually comes a day or so before ovulation. Many people count the day after the first positive test as ovulation day.
• BBT shift — your waking temperature rises slightly, often about 0.5°F, and stays up after ovulation. It confirms ovulation after the fact; the ovulation day is usually taken as the last low reading before the rise.
• Cervical mucus — clear, stretchy “egg-white” mucus tends to peak just before ovulation.

Each method is approximate, so a single short estimate is not a diagnosis. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has said there is no reliable test for a so-called luteal phase defect and that it has not been shown to cause infertility on its own; evidence for treating it is limited. A short luteal phase that repeats, especially with spotting for several days before your period, is still worth raising if you are trying to conceive. Your clinician may suggest checking a progesterone level about a week before your expected period to confirm that you ovulated.

If preconception is your goal, the preconception and luteal phase guide covers what a reasonable workup includes and how long to try before asking for one.

04Pain, mood and androgen patterns worth recording

Timing is the most useful thing you can record about pain and mood. Endometriosis affects roughly 1 in 10 women of reproductive age, and the HHS Office on Women’s Health lists painful periods, pain during or after sex, pain with bowel movements or urination during periods, and trouble getting pregnant among its common symptoms. Diagnosis often takes years, partly because period pain gets dismissed as normal. Pain that starts days before flow, pain with bowel movements (dyschezia), bladder pain (dysuria), deep pain with sex (dyspareunia), missed work or school and pain that pain relievers do not touch are the details that shorten that delay. Adenomyosis, where lining-type tissue grows into the uterine muscle, more often shows up as heavy and painful periods together. The endometriosis and adenomyosis guide explains how imaging, surgery and integrative care fit together.

Pain that also happens between periods matters too: non-cyclic pelvic pain has a wider list of causes, so the log records it separately.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is defined by timing. Severe irritability, anxiety, rage or low mood appear in the week or two before your period and ease within a few days after it starts, with a symptom-free stretch after. It is confirmed with daily ratings kept over at least two cycles, which is exactly what the page 2 grid’s mood row is for. Mood symptoms that last all month point to a different evaluation, so tick that box if it fits. The PMDD protocol guide covers the hormone-sensitivity research and the treatment options to discuss.

Androgen signs and afternoon energy crashes or carb cravings round out the picture for PCOS and insulin resistance. Record what you notice; your clinician decides which tests, if any, follow.

05How to fill in the log and the 35-day grid

1. Choose a mode. Pick the blank grid mode if you want to track the next cycles by hand, or the summary mode if you already have three cycles of data from a calendar or app.
2. Enter three cycles, oldest first: Day 1 date, length, bleed days, heaviest flow, estimated ovulation day and method, and peak pain. The average, range and luteal estimates update as you type.
3. Tick the patterns that apply under pain, luteal mood and androgen signs. Each pattern you tick adds a point to discuss on page 1.
4. Print the grid and start it on your next Cycle Day 1. Fill one column each evening: bleed (H, M, L or S), waking temperature, LH test or mucus, pain 0–10 and mood or sleep 0–4. Add a start date and the dates pre-print across the top.
5. Bring both pages to your visit, with one or two filled grids if you can.

Prefer paper only? Click Clear All Fields and print: every value, checkbox and the whole grid print blank. If you want a clinician who looks for root causes of irregular cycles, endometriosis-type pain or PMDD, the consult form below can match you with an integrative OB/GYN.

For the temperature row, measure at the same time each morning, after at least three hours of sleep and before you get out of bed, with a thermometer that reads to a tenth of a degree. Illness, alcohol, travel and a late night can all nudge the reading, so jot them in the Notes row.

Seek urgent care for sudden severe pelvic pain, fainting, or soaking through a pad or tampon every hour for several hours. This log is educational and is not individual medical advice; only a licensed clinician who examines you can diagnose the cause of your symptoms.