Guides

The two corrections worth knowing before you read anything else in this category

NICE NG23 does not recommend symptom diaries, scores or questionnaires. They are not in the recommendations. It is the most common misattribution in this space, and HormoneLog would be easier to market if it were true. The source that supports writing symptoms down is The Menopause Society.

"Validated" describes an instrument, not an app. The two best-known menopause symptom questionnaires in research — a 21-item scale and an 11-item scale — are validated and licensed. The 21-item scale's licence holder also states it was validated only for paper administration, with digital adaptations not validated. HormoneLog implements neither instrument, and the word "validated" is never used to describe it.

Everything in this section

• Six weeks, week by week — A plan rather than a principle. What to do in each of the six weeks before an appointment, what to write in each entry, and what to bring on the day.
• ADHD and perimenopause overlap — Brain fog, poor focus, emotional dysregulation and disorganization show up in both. What actually tells them apart, and why a growing number of women
• Alcohol and perimenopause symptoms — Many trackers ask about alcohol without explaining why. The link to hot flashes and sleep is real but individually variable — what to record to find o
• Bone health and long-term HRT — HRT's bone-protective effect is one of the better-established long-term benefits, and it's also where timing comes up most. What the timing hypothesis
• CBT for menopause symptoms — NICE recommends menopause-specific CBT for hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems and low mood — alongside HRT or instead of it. What it actually i
• Compounded hormones vs regulated HRT — Bioidentical is used two different ways — one describes regulated, licensed HRT products; the other describes custom-mixed compounded hormones the Bri
• Contraception during perimenopause — Irregular periods don't mean infertile. FSRH guidance sets out specific rules for when contraception can stop, based on age and method — not on how er
• A pattern, not a bad day — The single sentence that changes how a symptom is heard. What separates a pattern description from a bad-day description, and why a clinician responds
• Digestive issues and bloating: what to record — Bloating and digestive changes are commonly reported and rarely connected to the transition until other symptoms are already in the picture. What to r
• Does menopause age run in families? — Research puts genetic heritability of menopause age at roughly 44 to 65 percent. What that number actually means, and why it's information rather than
• Early and surgical menopause — The NHS definitions of early and premature menopause, what surgical menopause is, and what changes about a record when the transition arrives abruptly
• Early signs that often get missed — The symptoms that arrive first are rarely the ones people expect, and they usually show up scattered across months rather than together. What tends to
• Headaches and migraines: what to record — Headache pattern changes are common during the transition and the pattern is what a clinician needs. What to write down, why the cycle relationship ma
• Hot flashes: what to record — The most recognisable perimenopause symptom is also the one most often described in vague terms. What four fields turn a description into a pattern, a
• How cycles change — Cycle-prediction apps assume a pattern that perimenopause is actively disrupting. What actually tends to change, in what order, and what NHS guidance
• How to read a study, or the headline about one — Menopause research is reported badly in a small number of predictable ways. Six questions that separate a finding from a headline, using examples this
• HRT and breast cancer risk — Cancer Research UK publishes real figures on this, and they're more specific and more nuanced than "HRT causes cancer" or "the risk is nothing." What
• When an HRT patch won't stick — A patch that lifts or falls off is a common, practical problem with a known set of fixes — and a specific rule for what to do when it happens, separat
• Helping someone else keep a record — Doing it for a partner, a parent or a friend changes what is useful and what is intrusive. What helps, what does not, and the line worth not crossing.
• Keeping a record when you have no energy — The people who most need a record are the ones with the least capacity to keep one. The minimum viable version, why sparse beats abandoned, and what t
• Mental health history and perimenopause — Research puts the risk of a new depressive episode during perimenopause at two to four times higher than at other life stages, with a bigger jump for
• Migraine and HRT: what to log — Migraine with aura is a reason some people are told they can't take HRT. NICE guidance says otherwise, and distinguishes it clearly from the contracep
• Palpitations: what to record — A symptom that understandably worries people and gets investigated on its own, separated from the sleep, hot-flash and anxiety changes happening at th
• Perimenopause at work: the record, the conversation, and the adjustments — Symptoms that affect work are the ones people least want to raise. What is worth recording, what adjustments are commonly asked for, and how to have t
• Anxiety and mood: what to record, and why the timing matters — Mood symptoms are the ones most likely to be attributed to your life rather than your physiology. What to write down so the pattern is visible, and wh
• Brain fog: what to record, and why the record matters more than the description — Cognitive symptoms are the hardest to describe and the easiest to dismiss. What the evidence says about memory and concentration in perimenopause, and
• Joint pain and aches: what to record — Musculoskeletal symptoms are among the most commonly reported in the menopause transition and among the least often connected to it. What to write dow
• The symptoms nobody warns you about — Breast tenderness, tinnitus, tingling in the hands and feet, burning mouth and gum changes are all reported during the menopause transition and rarely
• Postmenopausal bleeding: always get it checked — Bleeding after 12 months without a period is a different category from the irregular bleeding of perimenopause. What the NHS says about it, and what f
• Skin, hair and body changes: what to record — The symptoms most likely to be dismissed as vanity, and the ones with the most products sold against them. What is worth recording, and what a record
• Sleep and exercise, logged alongside symptoms — A symptom record without context can't separate a physiological pattern from a bad week. What sleep and exercise logging actually adds, and how much d
• Sleep and night sweats — Sleep disruption and vasomotor symptoms are entangled, and separating them in a record is what makes the pattern legible to a clinician. What to recor
• Sleep apnea and menopause — Snoring, gasping, and exhaustion despite a full night in bed get attributed to hot flashes by default. Research shows a real, independent rise in obst
• Talking to a partner about it — The conversation is harder than it looks because the symptoms are invisible, intermittent, and easy to attribute to the relationship. What to say, wha
• Testosterone for low desire — what to track — There is no testosterone product licensed for women in the UK, which surprises most people who are prescribed it. What NICE actually recommends, and w
• The UK HRT prepayment certificate — A specific NHS certificate exists just for HRT prescriptions, separate from the general prepayment certificate. What it covers, roughly what it costs,
• Thyroid symptoms vs perimenopause — Fatigue, brain fog, weight change and low mood show up in both an underactive thyroid and perimenopause. A blood test settles it. What to log so a GP
• Periods in perimenopause: what to track when the pattern stops being a pattern — Cycle apps built for prediction stop working when cycles stop being predictable. What to record instead, why the record matters clinically, and what y
• Vaginal dryness, libido and urinary symptoms — Urogenital symptoms are among the most common in the menopause transition and among the least often raised with a clinician. What to record, and why l
• Vaginal oestrogen vs systemic HRT — Vaginal (local) oestrogen and systemic HRT are often lumped together as "HRT," but one needs a progestogen alongside it and the other usually doesn't.
• Weight changes: what to record — Weight gain is commonly reported during the menopause transition and commonly attributed to willpower rather than looked at as a pattern. What's worth
• What a referral usually needs — A referral to a specialist runs on the same record a first appointment does, plus a specific reason for the referral itself. What tends to move a requ
• What a "menopause specialist" actually is — The term is not protected and it means different things in different places. What the recognised routes are, what to ask before booking, and when a sp
• What an FSH test can tell you — FSH testing gets requested as a way to "confirm" perimenopause, and NICE guidance is specific about when it actually helps — and the far more common c
• What happens at the appointment — A description of the process, so the ten minutes are not spent working out what the ten minutes are for. What is usually asked, what is usually not te
• What happens at each stage — Three stages, not one event. What tends to be true during each, what changes about a record as you move through them, and where postmenopause fits.
• Before you start: the questions worth asking — A list of questions for the appointment where a treatment is being considered, and a description of what to set up so the next appointment can tell wh
• Between appointments — The gap is where most of the useful information is generated and most of it gets lost. What to record, when to go back early, and how to arrive at the
• When you cannot get an appointment — The wait is not dead time. What to record while you wait, how to make the eventual appointment count double, and what to escalate on rather than endur
• When HRT is not an option — For medical reasons, or because you do not want it. The record does a different job then, and it is arguably more useful, because the conversation abo
• When it does not seem to be working: what to record before the review appointment — The most useful thing you can bring to an HRT review is a record of what changed, what did not, and when. What to write down, the questions worth aski
• When you are not being taken seriously — Specific sentences for the specific moments an appointment goes wrong, plus the two requests that most reliably change a consultation, and what to do
• Tracking when you are not on HRT — Most menopause tracking material assumes a treatment to evaluate. If you are not on anything, the record is doing a different job, and the fields that
• Stopping HRT: what to track — Stopping is a treatment change like starting or switching, and it gets the same record. What to write down, why gradual and abrupt stops are worth dis
• What "12 months" means — Menopause is a single point defined retrospectively, not a diagnosis made in the moment. What the definition actually is, why it can only be confirmed
• "Too young for that": what to do next — Being told you are too young is one of the most common reasons people stop pursuing an answer. What the guidance actually says about age, what to ask