Why we removed the ‘top 5 symptoms’ cap from our app

A small but significant detail on our app exists only because we’re constantly talking to doctors who treat women in menopause!

For our HRT companion app, Aarya Badhe and I made the “obvious” decision to have women pick “top” 5 symptoms. Because we did not want to overload them. No choice fatigue.

Until Dr Carla DiGirolamo, a reproductive endocrinologist in the US, explained what the gaps in most appointments look like.

There are more than 100 documented perimenopausal symptoms. And women often come with a long list of those. Because they have felt that many!

Hot flashes, joint pain, rage, dry eyes, an ear that itches from the inside. For a woman who already feels unheard, a “cap” forces her to think in a restraint even before the appointment.

Now, we have no cap at onboarding. A woman gets to pick each thing she’s feeling. And that gets documented.

In fact, we know how important this is because Dr Carla also told us about the recall gap.

It’s hard to remember, between appointments:

• What dose did she take and how regularly
• What symptoms she had when she started out
• What side effects did she experience

That’s why we know that step 1 is to enable a woman to share as many details. No place for dismissal. And then, to create a system for her to log what she’s going through.

So that, when she meets her doctor next, she goes with data. And the doctor has a starting point.

P.S. If you’re on hormone therapy or are going to get prescribed, we’d love for you to beta test the app!

I’m learning and building Yellow in public. As we figure what it takes to help women live their best 30s, 40s, and 50s.