Women's Health Guides
Evidence-first guides to perimenopause and the menopausal transition.
FeaturedPerimenopause Weight Gain — and Why the Scale Misleads
11 guides in Women's Health
PerimenopausePerimenopause Weight Gain — and Why the Scale Misleads
Total weight gain doesn't accelerate in perimenopause. What changes is composition: fat gain roughly doubles while lean mass starts to fall.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Test: What Bloodwork Can and Can't Tell You
For most women over 45, no blood test confirms perimenopause. Why the measurement fails, what answers the question instead, and when testing is worth it.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Treatment Options, Ranked by Evidence
Hormone therapy, non hormonal prescriptions, two newly approved drugs and what lifestyle change really does — each with its evidence level attached.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Diet: What Food Can and Can't Change
Food won't reliably stop hot flashes. But bone, cholesterol and muscle all shift during this specific window — and that is where eating genuinely counts.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Vitamins and Supplements: What Holds Up
Which nutrients genuinely matter during the menopause transition, and which popular supplements the evidence does not support — with the trial numbers.
PerimenopausePerimenopause ICD-10 Code: N95.1 and What It Excludes
No ICD 10 CM code is named perimenopause. N95.1, "Menopausal and female climacteric states," is the code used — plus the Excludes1 rules that govern it.
PerimenopausePerimenopause vs Menopause: The Four Stages Explained
Premenopause, perimenopause, menopause, postmenopause — what each word means, where they overlap, and why menopause is a single day rather than a phase.
PerimenopauseHow Long Perimenopause Lasts — and Why Answers Differ
The transition averages about four years. Frequent hot flashes run a median of 7.4 years. Two different measurements — and why both numbers are right.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Symptoms: What's Actually Linked to It
A perimenopause symptom checklist ordered by how much each sign actually tells you — starting with the cycle length change that defines the transition.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Age Range: When It Starts and Why It Varies
Most women begin the transition between 45 and 55, but onset from the mid 30s to the mid 50s is documented. The real range, and both ends of it.
PerimenopauseWhat Is Perimenopause? The Definition, Stages and Signs
Perimenopause is the transition to menopause — and it doesn't end at your last period. The clinical definition, the stages, and the thresholds to check.
About Women's Health
Readers here learn to tell a defined clinical stage from a marketing category, to read a lab result for what it can actually establish, and to weigh treatment options against the evidence that supports them. Start with the linked guides below and follow the path that matches your question.
This section covers the menopausal transition the way it is defined in the clinical literature rather than the way it is described in marketing. You will find what the staging criteria actually say, how long each stage typically lasts, which symptoms are genuinely attributable to changing hormones, and which are commonly attributed to them without good evidence.