Please read this before using HydraCal
HydraCal is a personal record-keeping tool. It helps you write down what you have managed to take in, and shows it back to you. That is all it does.
It is not a medical device, it does not give medical, dietary or clinical advice, and it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. It is not a substitute for the care of your healthcare team.
Your targets should come from your healthcare team
HydraCal ships with default daily targets so that the app works out of the box. These defaults are not a recommendation. They are placeholder numbers, not advice, and they take no account of your weight, your treatment, your kidney or heart function, or anything else about you.
Fluid and calorie requirements during treatment are individual, and they change. Your dietitian, specialist nurse or doctor will set targets that are right for you. Put those numbers into the app, and follow their plan rather than the app's.
If your team has told you to restrict fluids — which happens with some heart and kidney conditions — be particularly careful not to treat a progress ring as something to fill up.
About the nutritional values
HydraCal calculates totals using published figures from the manufacturers of the products it supports:
| Product | Volume used | Energy used |
|---|---|---|
| Fortisip® Compact Protein | 125 ml per bottle | 306 kcal |
| Calogen® Extra Shot | 40 ml per shot | 160 kcal |
| Vital 1.5 kcal | 200 ml per serving | 300 kcal |
Check these against the products you are actually using. These ranges include several similar products in different bottle sizes and strengths, manufacturers reformulate them, and your team may have prescribed a variant with different values. If what you have been given does not match the table above, use the app's custom entry option and enter the figures from your own packaging.
The app records — it does not check
HydraCal totals up what you enter. It cannot tell whether an entry is accurate, whether you have forgotten one, or whether the amount you have taken is safe or sufficient for you. If you mistype a figure, the app will faithfully add up the wrong number.
Reports and exports produced by the app are a record of what was entered, and should be read that way by anyone you share them with.
If you are struggling or unwell
Contact your healthcare team if you are:
- unable to keep fluids or feeds down;
- consistently falling short of the targets your team set;
- showing signs of dehydration — passing much less urine than usual, very dark urine, dizziness, confusion, an unusually dry mouth;
- losing weight without meaning to;
- having problems with a feeding tube, such as blockage, leakage, pain or displacement.
Do not wait for an app to tell you something is wrong, and do not use it to talk yourself out of asking for help.
In an emergency
If you or someone else is seriously unwell, call 999. For urgent advice that is not an emergency, call 111 or use 111.nhs.uk. If you are being treated for cancer and have been given a 24-hour acute oncology or chemotherapy helpline number, use that number — it should be your first call.
These numbers apply in the United Kingdom. If you are elsewhere, use your local emergency number.
No affiliation with the product manufacturers
Fortisip® and Calogen® are registered trade marks of Nutricia / Danone. Vital® is a registered trade mark of Abbott Laboratories. HydraCal is an independent app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or connected to Nutricia, Danone, Abbott or any other manufacturer. Product names are used only so that you can identify what you are recording.
Why this app exists
HydraCal was written by someone going through head and neck cancer treatment, to keep track of their own intake at a point when remembering it was hard. It was useful to one person in one situation. It is shared in the hope that it is useful to others, but it comes with no promise that it is right for you, and no substitute for professional care.