How to Know If You’re in Menopause Without Periods

追加: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]So, how do you know if you are in perimenopause or menopause if you've had an ablation or a hysterectomy, but you've had your ovaries left in place? This is a question that comes up all the time and an excellent question.

[00:00:15]So, this is definitely a place where labs can be very beneficial. The other thing is if you're tracking your symptoms, you may notice that there is still a cyclical pattern to them. I'll just use one pattern for example, which is like breast tenderness. If you notice that sometimes and not all the time, it may be worth tracking that to see if it's following any sort of pattern.

[00:00:40]Maybe it shows up every, you know, 28, 30 days, 35 days. Even if it's showing up like every 60 days, that may mean that things are still cycling. Now, you could certainly do that or you could talk to your provider about getting some labs. And again, this may be a place where more than one check of your labs could be helpful. But, for the most part, if you get your labs back and you still have a decently high estrogen level, this of course doesn't mean that you're not experiencing perimenopause.

[00:01:13]It just would mean that you are not postmenopausal at that point. Sometimes they will do an FSH. FSH is not super great for helping determine if you're in perimenopause, but if you're in menopause, that may be more helpful. But again, discussing that with your provider, looking at your overall symptom picture, your age, and your labs. This definitely would be a place where I would recommend getting some lab work done and following your symptoms.