How do you know that it's perimenopause?

Um, it's the value of a good history, and hopefully, as a health practitioner, knowing the person in front of you, and if you- they're new to you, just getting a very good story.

Um, there is a lot out there about women in their 30s thinking that they're perimenopausal, which is probably not true for the bulk of those women.

I know it will be true for some of them.

But when you've got little children, when you're working, when you've got other pressures, and when you're a busy person, um, you can have mood disturbance, and you can have PMS, and all of those things can be happening.

So it just needs to be a typical age, so someone typically in their 40s or maybe around 50 who has typical symptoms, fluctuating symptoms, um, and there's not something else going on.

So I do rule out iron deficiency, look at the thyroid, make sure I've checked vitamin D, and if I'm allowed to, [laughs] B12, um, depending on their diet and circumstances.

Mm.