First-month starter checklist

What the First-month checklist does

The first-month starter checklist turns the vague question "what do I actually need to do in my first four weeks?" into a printable, week-by-week task list. You pick one of four medication tracks and the tool swaps in a fixed set of items for weeks 1 through 4 covering supplies to buy, things to monitor, habits to track, and the prescriber check-in most programs expect around week 4.

The four tracks are: Wegovy or Zepbound for weight management, Mounjaro or Ozempic for type 2 diabetes, estradiol patch, oral, or gel for HRT, and a combined oral contraceptive for PCOS or cycle regulation. Each track carries its own concerns. The diabetes track adds glucose logging and an A1C reminder; the HRT track adds a hot-flash and bleeding diary; the birth-control track adds a missed-dose rule and a withdrawal-bleed week. Switching tracks replaces the entire list and clears anything you had checked.

It is a static checklist, not a calculator or a model. Nothing you check is analyzed, scored for risk, or sent anywhere. As you tick items off, a progress bar shows how many of your track's tasks are done and the percentage complete — each track holds 18 to 23 items depending on which you pick. A print button lets you save the list as a PDF or paper copy to bring to an appointment.

How to read your result

Read the four weeks as a sequence, not a scorecard. Week 1 is setup, and the items differ by track: on the GLP-1 weight track it lists buying a sharps container, stocking anti-nausea options like ginger chews and electrolytes, injecting the lowest dose, and taking baseline weight and measurements; the HRT track instead has you apply the patch and take a baseline blood pressure; the birth-control track has you start the pack and photograph baseline acne. Every track tells you to set a recurring reminder for your dosing day. Weeks 2 and 3 are monitoring and habit-building — hydration, fiber, protein, and symptom logging on the GLP-1 tracks; symptom and side-effect diaries on the HRT and birth-control tracks. Week 4 is the check-in, where the tool nudges you to review your logs with your prescriber and decide together whether to escalate the dose or hold.

The percentage is only a completion counter for your own visibility. A higher number does not mean you are doing better clinically or that a dose is working; it means you have checked more boxes. Use the list to remember tasks and to structure your week-4 conversation, then let your prescriber make the actual dosing and safety calls.

Treat the numbers in the items as the checklist's own default assumptions to verify against your prescription, not universal truths. It suggests a starter dose "typically 0.25mg or 2.5mg," a water target of 80+ oz a day, protein of 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg, and a rough expectation of 1 to 3 lb lost by week 3 on the weight track. Your prescription, starting weight, and health history can move all of these. When in doubt, follow the item only if your prescriber agrees.

Print the list before your appointment. The tool flags several items as reasons to contact a prescriber sooner rather than wait, including persistent vomiting, severe abdominal pain, vision changes, or thyroid lumps on the GLP-1 weight track, and leg pain, swelling, or chest pain on the HRT track. The birth-control track flags a severe, recurring headache as an emergency. Those are prompts to call, not diagnoses.

What the result is based on

Everything shown comes from four fixed lists written into the tool's source, one per medication track, each with weeks 1 to 4. There is no dataset, no personalization beyond the track you choose, and no calculation other than counting checked boxes against the total to produce a percentage. The same list appears for every person who selects a given track.

The thresholds and quantities in the items are the checklist author's stated defaults, drawn from common product labeling and general starter guidance, not from anything the tool measures about you. Where an item cites a figure, such as a 1 to 2 percent A1C reduction by 12 weeks on full dose or a hot-flash drop of 50 percent or more signaling an adequate HRT dose, that is a rule of thumb baked into the text, not a prediction for your case.

What it cannot tell you

• It knows nothing about you. It does not ask your dose, weight, age, other prescriptions, or medical history, so it cannot tailor targets, warn about drug interactions specific to you, or adjust for whether you have a uterus, use insulin, or smoke. The birth-control track shows a smoking-over-35 clot-risk item to everyone, but the tool has no way to know whether that applies to you.
• Progress does not persist. Checked items live only in the current page session and reset if you reload, close the tab, switch tracks, or hit the reset button. There is no account, no save, and no reminder engine, only the recurring calendar reminder it tells you to set yourself.
• It covers only the first four weeks and only these four medication categories. It has no plan for month 2 and beyond, no dose-escalation math, and nothing for medications outside the four tracks, including compounded formulations beyond a note that they can take 7 to 10 days to arrive.
• The figures inside items are generic defaults, not your prescription. Starter doses, the 80 oz water target, the 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg protein range, and the twice-weekly patch change may differ from what you were actually prescribed, and the tool cannot detect a mismatch.
• It cannot judge severity. It lists symptoms that warrant an urgent call or emergency care but cannot tell you how serious yours is; that judgment belongs to a clinician or emergency service.
• It does not diagnose, prescribe, treat, or replace any appointment. It is an educational organizer, and clearhormones.com is an information site that does not provide medical care.