Why tracking perimenopause symptoms can change everything

The Hotflash inc Podcast menopause + midlife by Ann Marie McQueen

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Why tracking perimenopause symptoms can change everything

Episode 190

Hotflash Inc

Dec 19, 2025

Hosted by journalist and Hotflash inc founder Ann Marie McQueen, this week’s episode features Sonja Rincon, founder and CEO of Menotracker, an AI-powered menopause app based in Austria. Sonja is also a lawyer and single mother who built the tool she wished she had when navigating her own confusing and often dismissed perimenopause symptoms.

In this honest and empowering conversation, Sonja explains how she went from being gaslit by doctors to developing a secure, multilingual, research-driven tracking tool that empowers women to identify patterns, advocate for themselves, and share vital data with their healthcare providers.

You’ll hear about how Menotracker differs from other apps by protecting user privacy, generating detailed reports, offering translations in over 30 languages and allowing deep integrations with wearables. Sonja also opens up about her own HRT journey and the frustrating road to understanding what was really going on in her body.

If you’ve ever wondered whether tracking symptoms is worth it, or how midlife women can step into their power as their own health advocates, this conversation is for you.

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Highlights

1:30 – How Sonja’s own perimenopause symptoms led her to HRT and away from SSRIs
3:10 – Why her early symptoms (sleep and memory issues) were misdiagnosed as stress
5:20 – How tracking helped her fine-tune her hormone therapy
7:00 – The importance of not giving up too soon when adjusting HRT
10:00 – The tipping point: her friend’s promotion was denied due to visible perimenopause symptoms
12:30 – Why most trackers fail: lack of reports, language barriers, and questionable data use
14:00 – Menotracker’s privacy-first approach and anonymous sign-up process
16:00 – How Sonja consulted 200+ women to design the app’s features
17:00 – Why pattern recognition is key for symptom awareness and medical advocacy
18:30 – 40+ symptoms available to track and growing through user feedback
19:15 – Wearable integrations and data syncing to show symptom triggers and patterns
21:00 – How she taught herself low-code tools and AI to launch the first version
23:30 – The power of knowing enough to not be bamboozled by developers
24:30 – Offering the app in 30+ languages — and the challenge of German AI translations
25:45 – Why Europe is lagging behind in the menopause conversation
27:00 – Community-based growth strategy and bringing in experts of diverse backgrounds
29:00 – Her dream: a global, inclusive tool that helps women before perimenopause hits
30:00 – App currently free, with premium features launching in 2026 for $2/month