Tracking your Endometriosis Symptoms

Why tracking helps

Doctors often rely on your history. By documenting your pain and other symptoms, you give them a clearer roadmap, speeding up diagnosis.


Keeping an endometriosis symptoms diary


Keeping a diary which records your endometriosis symptoms is an extremely useful tool.  Personally I found one of the best ways was to compile this diary as a 'hard copy' visual chart so that I could get a very quick 'snap shot' of changes in my symptoms. Call me old-fashioned but I preferred this method rather than using one of the many apps that are now available. I had my chart pinned up on the wall and was able to get a very quick view to assess my symptoms. You can also use a simple spread sheet layout on your laptop if you prefer and are happier with this method.

Food Diary

If you are in the process of making changes to your diet, you ideally need to also keep a food diary. You can keep a separate diary for this if you are going to keep extensive notes of everything you ate. Include any supplements you are taking as well as any medications as these can affect your gut health and your symptoms. You can then compare your food journal to your daily endometriosis symptoms diary and check if there are any specific triggers to your symptoms based on what you have eaten. 


Plotting a Visual Symptoms Chart

You can use  graph paper or a spread sheet, following the 28 female cycle, not a calendar cycle with headings being the days of the cycle 1 to 28.

Under each day plot the symptoms you want to chart daily.  You can simply use a colour code block for each symptom and this will give you a quick 'at a glance' view of your symptoms. I used different colour felt pens to colour code my symptoms. Or you can simply use one of the endometriosis symptoms tracking apps - as covered below,


The main symptoms I charted included

Monthly cycle - days I had periods, using red felt-pen. If my bleeding was light I would only color in half the block

Bowel movements - using brown felt-pen - obviously ! (if bowel movements were non-existent, I would leave a blank, if they were a bit light I would only colour in half the block)

Pain symptoms - using purple felt-pen (if I was in a lot of pain I would colour in the whole box, if I had average or light amount of pain, I would again, only  colour in half the box)

Sleep pattern - using black felt-pen (if I slept OK I would colour in the whole box, if I slept lightly/badly I would colour in only half the box, if I hardly slept I would leave the box blank)

Energy levels - using light blue felt-pen (if I had good energy I would colour the whole box, if I had low energy I would only colour in half the box)

As you can see - I was pretty concise in my tracking and it really did provide a lot of valid information


Specific symptoms

Additionally I left a space at the bottom of each days entry to write in simple notes of specific events i.e. the days I took homeopathic remedies, the days I started with any supplements, days in which life had been crap, days in which life had been good, whether it was a full-moon (because I am susceptible to the full moon), appointments with the doctor/medical profession, when I was away on holiday, and so on.

After a few months I could start to see patterns emerging and  I could then easily view how things were developing and how life's events were affecting my health. These visual notes can be taken to your doctor, gynaecologist or any health practitioner you are seeing.  It is a quick, simple and concise record of all your health symptoms and is a valuable tool for them as well as yourself. 


Endometriosis Symptoms Tracker Apps

Technology continually moves on and there are now a number of apps you can use on your phone to track your symptoms.

Specialized endometriosis tracking apps can help you log symptoms of pelvic pain, fatigue, bowel triggers, and menstrual cycles which help to generate reports for your doctor.

The top recommended options include Phendo which is a free research app, Frendo which unfortunate has unfavourable reviews for being overcomplicated and is not free and broad cycle tools like Clue which does say on their description - Use our custom tags to add more detailed information about the level and location of pain, appointments you may have, or any additional symptoms – which make this app more flexible.

Endora is another symptoms tracker which is an AI-powered app which does have more favourable reviews. There are other endometriosis symptoms tracking apps available from the Apple store. To make your choice it is best to ask for feedback or read the reviews.

All available from Google Play and Apple Store

'One thing that has helped me a lot is using the Endora App. I track my pain, fatigue, bleeding, digestion, sleep, stress, medications, activity, scan my meals, and take Endo Belly photos. The AI connects everything, helping me understand my triggers and giving me a PDF summary for appointments. It has made it so much easier to communicate the full impact of my symptoms and feel heard.'

Another very valid comment from one woman and her experience of having started to track all her symptoms.

'I’ve been tracking my cycles since I suspected I had endometriosis last year and it’s helped immensely to not only understand the pattern going on inside my body each month but also to be able to show/tell the different specialist I’ve seen. I agree that tracking has been very helpful for me too, I had symptoms that I didn't know had anything to do with my cycle, specifically bowel and bladder issues.'

Keeping an Endo journal certainly does make a difference! Not just to your appointments (making them go much more smoothly having all the info at your fingertips), but to your mental health. Having it there in black & white means it’s not all in your head like they want you to believe.


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About the Author

Hi, I am Carolyn Levett, the Founder here at endo-resolved - I am an Integrative Health Coach having studied nutrition, naturopathy and aromatherapy as well as being a published author of three endometriosis books. I used to suffer from severe endometriosis and was fortunate to be able to regained my health and recover from this disease with the support of nutrition, natural therapies and lots of determination.

My motivation is to help other women with endometriosis to heal their bodies so they may start to overcome this awful disease without having to totally rely on toxic drugs and surgeries which can cause further damage  -  with healing thoughts, Carolyn.






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