Many women go looking for one test that will explain everything: the broken nights, the shorter fuse, the word that vanishes mid-sentence.
For otherwise healthy women aged 45 or over, NICE guidance says perimenopause is identified from symptoms and changes to your menstrual cycle, without lab tests. Hormone levels alone don’t settle it. Younger women may be assessed differently, which is one reason to speak to a clinician.
That doesn’t make bloods pointless. A clinician may still want them for another reason. It means the most useful hour is often the conversation about what has changed, when it started and what matters to you.
Three things to write down before any appointment
What changed first, and roughly when
What it affects most: sleep, work, mood or something else
What you’d most like to be different in three months
Take them to your GP, or to anyone you trust with your health. If you have new or heavy bleeding, or anything else that worries you, please book with your GP.
If you’d like to talk it through in person
Our Hormonal Health Assessment starts with that conversation. A clinician goes through your history, decides whether bloods would add anything, and gives you a written plan. It works alongside your GP and does not replace them.
Maria