I think I'm entering perimenopause - how can I be certain?

I think I'm entering perimenopause. How can I be certain?

There's a few things to consider here. Firstly, are you in that phase of life where you're expecting this transition to happen? What has changed for you? If you have tracked your cycle in the past and you understand your hormone health, you understand your period length or cycle length, then it's much easier to have that insight into what has changed.

So a lot of women who are entering this phase, actually, they experience a change to the cycle length. They might get longer cycles, or they might be skipping cycles. Sometimes they even get longer bleeds, so they might bleed more regularly.

So usually a change to your cycle length, maybe even your bleed length that can also be changed to symptoms. So things like night sweats or just hot sweats throughout the day, feeling irritable, lack of sleep, sleep disturbances is really common. Even things like headaches and just changes to mood. They kind of coincide with PMS symptoms as well, though, so it's not always as straightforward if this is perimenopause.

Of course, there's a few things that need to be ticked off. It's worth asking, are you in that stage of life that you expect the transition to happen? What symptoms have occurred for you or changes in your cycle have occurred? If you take any of those boxes, then it's worth going to your healthcare practitioner just for a review to check up on things. And they can also check your hormone levels. They're not necessarily the best insight because they use blood tests, but it's a bit of an indication to let you know kind of where you are in that place.