While speech is slowly released around menopause, the same cannot be said for perimenopause, also known as premenopause.
This stage precedes the cessation of ovarian activity, menstruation and fertility, and occurs around forty after a progressive hormonal imbalance.
It is accompanied by symptoms that can impact the daily lives of women, from irregular periods to sleep or mood disorders.
To try to anticipate this upheaval and improve the experience of some women, the Swedish start-up HerCare could well be an ally.
The application developed by a Swedish private clinic of the same name, and available since March 8 on the Apple Store, thus offers menstruating women of all ages
identify a hormonal imbalance and its underlying causes via a detailed questionnaire;
whether it is premenopause or premenstrual syndrome.
The app then intends to relieve women of the symptoms.
In video, "Menopause", the trailer
Understand your body and its cycles
How it works ?
In practice, the application proposes to regularly record its menstrual follow-up and to evaluate the possible symptoms from "none" to "high", such as anxiety, irritation, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, feeling feeling overwhelmed, sugar cravings, night sweats, headaches, sensitive chest, bad mood or hot flashes.
The information provided is then displayed in the form of a graph and offers the possibility of better perceiving the evolution of the symptoms over time, according to their menstrual cycle.
Read alsoAbundant periods: what they can hide
This first collection of data makes it possible to obtain advice to apply according to the phase of one's cycle and to organize one's work or daily activities if necessary according to what one feels, explains Patricia Richter, head of produced at HerCare.
The application provides a graph to better understand the evolution of symptoms over time.
Apple Store screenshot
A hormonal balance
In parallel with this follow-up, HerCare offers to draw up a hormonal balance sheet each month, based on answers to various questions about the previous month's periods, their duration and their flow.
The platform then questions the general well-being of the moment, evaluated from 1 to 10, then looks at the symptoms felt during this period such as sugar cravings, difficulty falling asleep or demotivation.
Following this assessment, an initial estimate of his hormonal status is indicated.
Concretely, the application can in certain situations suspect variations in sex hormones (estrogens or progesterones) and/or neurotransmitters essential to the body (serotonin, GABA or even dopamine).
The information obtained through the application can also be used as a starting point for conversations with a healthcare professional.
Zeinab Daugaard, CEO of HerCare
A small bonus for owners of an Apple Watch Series 8 or Apple Watch Ultra, the application can refine its diagnosis by analyzing the wrist temperature fluctuations provided by the connected watch during sleep.
“Many women today suffer from symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety and worry, without really understanding the reason.
By combining temperature changes, menstrual tracking mapping and symptoms, we can find out at an early stage if, for example, progesterone
levels drop,
and thus allow women to take the necessary measures even more easily", summarizes Zeinab Daugaard, CEO of HerCare.
Following the report completed on the application, an initial estimate of your hormonal status is indicated.
Apple Store screenshot
Personalized advice
Depending on the diagnosis and recurring symptoms, the application provides the user with keys to feeling better, physically and psychologically.
This advice is based on the rigorous scientific recommendations of the British Menopause Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the International Menopause Society and the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Each person is different, the information obtained through the application can also serve as a starting point for conversations with a healthcare professional", adds Zeinab Daugaard of HerCare.
The "content" category of the application lists all the advice and recommendations according to the cycle and the hormonal status of the user.
Apple Store screenshot
The application is free but a premium version, available from €6.99/month, allows users to obtain more personalized suggestions to reduce symptoms and thus return to the appropriate hormonal balance.
It can be ideas for recipes for dishes, drinks to compensate for a nutritional deficiency or even physical exercises to stimulate serotonin, the hormone of happiness in order to remedy a drop in mood.
A valuable toolbox in the face of overwhelming current data on the suffering of women victims of hormonal imbalance.
Last May, a report by the association for the fight against gender inequalities, Fawcett Society, reported that 44% of women confirm that they have been affected at work by menopause-related disorders;
and this, without having been supported or accompanied by their hierarchy, for a large part of them (78%).