Women's Health Guides
Evidence-first guides to perimenopause and the menopausal transition.
FeaturedCan You Get Pregnant During Perimenopause? Odds, Contraception and HRT
17 guides in Women's Health
PerimenopauseCan You Get Pregnant During Perimenopause? Odds, Contraception and HRT
Yes. The UK says 2 years after your last period under 50 and 1 year at 50 or over; the US says 1 year at any age. HRT is not contraception.
PerimenopauseIs It Perimenopause or Something Else? Conditions That Can Look Like It
Pregnancy, thyroid disease, anaemia and depression all overlap with perimenopause. A table of thirteen look alikes: what differs, and what settles each one.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Periods: What Changes, What's Normal, and When to Get Checked
Cycles usually shorten first, then start skipping. What's normal month to month, which bleeding changes need checking, and which never wait.
PerimenopauseThe Stages of Perimenopause: Early, Late, and How to Tell Which You're In
Perimenopause has two clinical stages, early and late, set by cycles rather than age. Where the "4 stages" lists come from, and how to place yourself.
Iron DeficiencyIron Deficiency in Women: Why It's So Common, and What Helps
Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutrient gaps in women. Why absorption, pregnancy, and diet matter as much as blood loss.
EndometriosisWhat Is Endometriosis? Symptoms and Why Diagnosis Takes Years
Endometriosis affects about 1 in 10 women of reproductive age, yet diagnosis takes 4–12 years on average. What it is, and why recognition is slow.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Weight Gain — and Why the Scale Misleads
Total weight gain doesn't accelerate in perimenopause. What changes is composition, where the fat sits, and what the trials show actually reduces it.
PerimenopauseHow to Know If You're in Perimenopause — and What a Test Can't Tell You
At 45 and over, no blood test confirms perimenopause. What to record instead, how it maps to the thresholds, and how to check on the pill or a coil.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Treatment: What Works Best, and What's Changed
Hormone therapy, non hormonal options with their evidence grades, and what the FDA's 2025 26 label change and NICE's 2026 appraisals actually say.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Diet: What to Eat, What to Limit, and What the Evidence Says
No health body publishes a list of foods to avoid in perimenopause, and the two that address the question disagree. Here is what each actually says, and where eating changes something measurable.
PerimenopausePerimenopause Vitamins and Supplements: What Holds Up (and the "Top 3" Question)
There is no evidence based "top 3" for symptoms. The two nutrients guidelines name in this window are about bone — and the UK and US intakes don't match.
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.
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.