The LifePrint blog
Well Woman panel
Everything in Essentials, with the hormones that shape cycles and menopause, full iron studies, and the thyroid antibody. Add AMH if fertility or perimenopause is the question.
Heavy periods and low iron: why so many women have low ferritin
Monthly blood loss quietly drains iron stores, often years before anaemia shows up. Here is how ferritin and haemoglobin tell the story, and what the WHO cut-offs mean.
Read article →FSH, LH and oestradiol: what your hormone results mean, and why cycle timing matters
These three hormones change from day to day across your cycle, so the same result can be normal on one day and unusual on another. Timing your test is what makes the numbers meaningful.
Read article →Perimenopause and blood tests: what they can and cannot show
Perimenopause is diagnosed mainly from your symptoms and age, not a hormone level. Blood tests still earn their place by ruling out look-alike conditions and checking the health risks that change around menopause.
Read article →Blood tests before pregnancy: folate, iron, thyroid, vitamin D and blood sugar
Planning a pregnancy is a good time to find and fix problems that are easier to sort out before conception. These are the blood tests that matter most, and why.
Read article →AMH: what it says about fertility, and what it does not
AMH gives an estimate of how many eggs you have left, not how good they are or how easily you will fall pregnant. Used with care it helps planning. Read alone it causes needless worry.
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