Testing Times….
Do you need a test to know if you are in perimenopause, or if you’ve reached menopause?
The short answer is, not usually
If you’ve gone more than a year without a period and you are in your late forties and beyond you would normally be considered to have reached menopause. If you have a bleed beyond this, the doctor will probably want to check that nothing else is going on.
You don’t need a doctor to tell you you are in perimenopause. They’ll probably say “Yes, you’re around that age, and weird things are happening, so it would seem so….” which is not telling you much you hadn’t already figured out.
I created a pack of mapping and tracking tools to allow you to build a visual representation of your symptoms which might help you figure it out. You can get that by clicking here.
I asked my doctors about getting a blood test to confirm perimenopause. I have two very good female doctors who both said pretty much the same. Firstly that it’s only a snapshot and secondly it’ll only tell us what you know from your symptoms.
Getting treatment for perimenopause
The guidelines in the UK state that perimenopause is diagnosed through symptoms and it would be unusual for you to be tested.
HRT or other treatments should be prescribed on the basis of symptoms. The mapping and tracking pack includes a tick list you can take to your doctor.
The exception
The exception to this is that if you don’t have periods for some reason, you may need a test to let you know you’re in full menopause. Those reasons might include using a method of contraception that stops your periods such as the Mirena coil, having had an ablation or a hysterectomy.
These tests won’t reliably show whether you are in perimenopause, but they can confirm that you are in full menopause.
Tests like this measure your levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). In the menstrual cycle this hormones makes your egg follicle (the cup that the egg pops out of) mature and release the egg. Once it’s done it’s job, it shrinks and produces progesterone and switches off…
