Am I in perimenopause? A 12-question self-check
There is no single blood test that confirms perimenopause: hormone levels swing too much during the transition to be reliable, so clinicians assess it from age, cycle changes and symptoms. This free self-check asks about exactly those three things. It follows the symptom domains of the Menopause Rating Scale and the STRAW+10 principle that cycle change, not a lab value, defines the transition. No email is required and nothing you answer leaves your browser.
Informational only — this is not a medical device, a diagnosis, or a substitute for seeing a clinician.
Nothing you answer is stored or sent anywhere — the result is computed in your browser.
Common questions about perimenopause testing
Is there a blood test for perimenopause?
Not a reliable one. FSH and estrogen levels fluctuate widely from week to week during the transition, which is why professional guidance treats perimenopause as a clinical diagnosis made from age, cycle pattern and symptoms rather than from a lab result. A single “normal” hormone panel does not rule perimenopause out.
At what age does perimenopause start?
Most commonly in the mid-40s, though it can begin in the late 30s. The transition typically lasts around four years and can stretch to eight or more. An early or atypical pattern is worth discussing with a clinician — being taken seriously about early menopause covers how.
What is the difference between perimenopause and menopause?
Perimenopause is the transition: cycles change and symptoms appear while periods still happen. Menopause is a point in time, defined retrospectively after twelve consecutive months without a period. Everything after that point is postmenopause. Perimenopause vs menopause goes deeper.
What should I do with my result?
Whatever your score, a symptom that bothers you is reason enough to see someone. You can search all listed practitioners who declare perimenopause and menopause as a focus — perimenopause specialists — or start with how to prepare for the appointment.
Other self-checks
14 free self-checks in total. Several implement the published scales clinicians recognise by name, which is deliberate: arriving at an appointment with a Menopause Rating Scale score asks a different question from saying you feel awful, and gets a different consultation.
Where you are in the transition
Stage, symptom severity, and the scales clinicians recognise by name.
Which stage of menopause am I in?
Work out your stage using the STRAW+10 criteria clinicians use — late reproductive, early or late perimenopause, or postmenopause — based on cycle pattern rather than age.
Menopause Rating Scale (MRS)
The eleven-item Menopause Rating Scale used in clinical research, scored across its three domains, with what each severity band means.
Greene Climacteric Scale
The Greene Climacteric Scale, a published 21-item measure of menopausal symptoms across psychological, physical, vasomotor and sexual domains.
Hormone check: which hormone pattern fits your symptoms?
Sort your symptoms towards the hormonal patterns of the transition — falling progesterone, swinging estrogen, or low estrogen — and see which tests are actually useful.
Sleep and energy
The cluster that costs most, and the causes that are testable.
Insomnia severity check (ISI)
The seven-item Insomnia Severity Index, the instrument clinicians use to measure insomnia, with what each score band means during the menopause transition.
Chronotype quiz: are you a morning or evening person?
Find your chronotype in nine questions, based on the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire, and see why it shifts through the menopause transition.
Fatigue check: why am I always tired?
A structured check on midlife fatigue — how it behaves, what it responds to, and which pattern points to iron, thyroid, sleep apnoea or the menopause transition.
Mood and the nervous system
The physical side of anxiety, stress load, and cyclical mood.
Nervous system check: stress, arousal and the small hours
How much of your day is spent in a state of physical alertness, why perimenopause raises it, and which of these symptoms point somewhere else entirely.
Stress load check
What cortisol actually does, why saliva cortisol panels are not recommended, and a structured check on the stress load that is genuinely affecting you.
PMDD self-check
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder — how it differs from ordinary PMS, why it often worsens in perimenopause, and what the diagnostic criteria actually require.
Body and intimate health
What to rule out before attributing it to hormones.
Thyroid symptom check
Thyroid disease and the menopause transition share most of their symptoms. This check sorts which pattern fits, and names the blood test that settles it.
Gut check: what changed and what to test
Digestive change in the menopause transition — the hormonal mechanisms, and which symptoms need investigating rather than a supplement.
Libido check: desire, pain or capacity?
Low libido in midlife is three different problems reported as one. This check sorts which of them applies, because they have entirely different treatments.
For the measures rather than the symptoms — cholesterol ratio, blood pressure, waist-to-height, protein and calcium — see the calculators.