Hormones, iron, and inflammatory markers all shift across the menstrual cycle — sometimes dramatically. Knowing which phase you were in when blood was drawn makes your results far more meaningful. getbased tracks your cycle and automatically applies phase-specific reference ranges, overlays cycle bands on charts, and alerts you when iron levels look low during a heavy-flow period.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getbased.health/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
How to enable cycle tracking
You can set up cycle tracking during the chat-driven onboarding wizard when you first open the app, or at any time from the Menstrual Cycle section on the dashboard. The setup editor includes:- Cycle status — Active (regular), Perimenopause / irregular, Postmenopause, Pregnant, Breastfeeding, or Absent (other reason).
- Contraceptive — a grouped dropdown covering hormonal methods (OCP, Mirena, implant, patch, ring, Depo) and non-hormonal methods (copper IUD, barrier, FAM).
- Conditions — for example, PCOS, endometriosis, or fibroids.
- Auto-calculated stats — cycle length, period length, regularity, and typical flow are derived from your period log and shown as read-only values. They update automatically as you add more entries.
Logging periods
In the cycle editor, use the period log to record individual periods. For each period you can enter:- Start and end date
- Flow level for that period
- Symptoms — choose from 17 options including Cramps, Mood swings, Fatigue, Bloating, Headache, Acne, Breast tenderness, Insomnia, Back pain, Nausea, Hot flashes, Night sweats, Anxiety, Food cravings, Spotting, Clots, and Dizziness
- Free-text notes
| Stat | Requires |
|---|---|
| Cycle length | 2 or more periods |
| Period length | 1 or more periods with end dates |
| Regularity | 3 or more periods |
| Typical flow | 1 or more periods with flow set |
Cycle phases and phase-aware reference ranges
getbased maps each blood draw date to one of four cycle phases based on your period log:| Phase | Approximate timing |
|---|---|
| Menstrual | Days 1–5 |
| Follicular | After menstruation, up to ovulation |
| Ovulatory | Around day 14 (± 1 day) |
| Luteal | From ovulation to the next period |
Phase-aware ranges are automatically disabled if you are on hormonal contraception or have a non-cycling status set.
Chart overlay: cycle phase bands
Open the Layers dropdown in the chart area and enable Cycle Phases to overlay color-coded bands on any biomarker chart:| Phase | Band color |
|---|---|
| Menstrual | Red |
| Follicular | Blue |
| Ovulatory | Purple |
| Luteal | Yellow |
Next best blood draw date
The dashboard shows a recommendation for your next optimal blood draw window — the early follicular phase (days 3–5), when hormone baselines are most consistent and most comparable between cycles. This removes the guesswork from scheduling lab appointments.Perimenopause detection
If you are 35 or older and have logged four or more periods, getbased watches for patterns that may suggest perimenopause:- Cycles gradually lengthening over time
- Increasing cycle-to-cycle variability
- Cycles frequently exceeding 38 days
- Predominantly heavy flow
- Vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes, night sweats)
- Possible skipped cycles (gaps greater than 1.5× your average cycle length)
This alert is informational — it is not a diagnosis. Discuss any concerns with your doctor.
Iron alerts during heavy periods
If you have logged recent heavy flow, getbased cross-references your ferritin, hemoglobin, and iron levels and surfaces an alert in one of three states:- Critical — one or more values are below the reference range.
- Warning — values are in the bottom 25% of the reference range.
- Informational — you have heavy flow logged but no iron panel has been run yet.