McKeown Medical
167 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4SQ
How Can I Tell if I’m in Menopause?
Published by Dr Iain Martin
Date posted — 9.05.25
Menopause is a natural and inevitable phase of life, experienced by every woman at some point. While you may have heard about menopause from others, such as your mother or friends, recognising the signs and understanding what’s happening to your body can feel confusing. Here’s what you need to know to determine if you’re transitioning into menopause and how to manage this stage effectively.
What is menopause?
Menopause marks the end of a woman’s menstrual cycles. It’s diagnosed after you’ve gone 12 consecutive months without a period, typically occurring between the ages of 45 and 55. However, menopause can happen earlier due to specific medical treatments, surgeries, genetics or other health factors.
Menopause has three stages:
Perimenopause: The transitional period when symptoms begin, often several years before menopause.
Menopause: The point at which you’ve stopped menstruating for 12 months.
Post menopause: The period following menopause, during which symptoms typically ease, though health considerations like osteoporosis remain essential.
Transitioning into menopause
Early signs that you might be entering menopause include:
- Irregular or changing periods (heavier, lighter, or less predictable)
- Hot flushes and night sweats
- Mood swings or irritability
- Sleep disturbances
- Fatigue
- Reduced libido
Perimenopause can last anywhere from a few months to several years. If you’re experiencing these symptoms and wondering whether you’ve started menopause, professional guidance can clarify your situation. At McKeown Medical, our expert menopause consultations provide comprehensive assessments and personalised support.
Managing menopause for the first time
Managing menopause symptoms effectively can significantly improve your quality of life. There are several ways to ease symptoms:
- Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT): HRT can be very effective at restoring your hormone levels and helping to reduce the symptoms you experience as a result of menopause. Everyone, however, reacts differently, and it’s sometimes necessary to tweak your prescription until you achieve optimal control of your symptoms. We usually start with a prescription for oestrogen and progesterone, which for many people will be enough. If this isn’t enough, it can be helpful to add testosterone, particularly if you have problems with sleep and libido.
- Lifestyle Adjustments: Regular physical activity, a balanced diet, and stress reduction techniques (like yoga and meditation) can help manage symptoms naturally.
- Non-hormonal treatments: Options such as antidepressants can reduce hot flushes and mood swings if HRT isn’t suitable or if you don’t want to take hormones.
Embracing overall wellness, including regular exercise and a nutritious diet, significantly supports the transition, helping you feel healthier and more energetic.
Navigating menopause with McKeown Medical
Navigating menopause can feel overwhelming at first, but you don’t need to go through it alone. At McKeown Medical, we provide comprehensive menopause care tailored specifically to your needs. We offer personalised support and treatments to ease symptoms, empowering you to maintain a vibrant, active lifestyle.
At McKeown Medical, we can help guide you through your menopause journey and tackle any issues you may be facing. Talk to us to learn more about the treatment options we offer to help manage your health moving forward. Get a consultation today
Related Articles
1 / 2
2 / 2
Lower eyelid surgery is one of the more challenging operations in aesthetic practice. If we can avoid it, we normally try to help our patients chose non-surgical paths using laser or fillers.
However, there are some situations where it can’t be avoided, especially when there is excess fat under the eye causing puffiness. This is exactly what this patient had and so the very talented @bramhallplasticsurgery performed an upper and lower blepharoplasty for him. Whilst we often do the upper eyelids without doing the lower eyelids, usually when we do the lower eyelids we always need to do the uppers too.
This patient is now a couple of months out from surgery and loving his result. What do you think?
Laser season continues!
Thank you to this lovely patient who has kindly allowed us to share her results. She was particularly concerned about the fine lines and creases around her mouth, and underwent full-field laser resurfacing to target the deeper layers of the skin.
This is just two months after treatment and you can already see a significant improvement in the fine lines and overall skin texture. She’s still a little red and got some more healing to do, but she is already very happy with the improvement. This patient was a bit anxious about having the treatment done, so chose to have it under sedation which means she slept throughout and woke up when it was over!
What do you think?
It’s been six months since we launched the new toxin Relfydess in the clinic so, how is it going?
We’ve undertaken a survey of all of the patients we treated with the new toxin in the first month, who are now around six months since their first treatment, to find out more about what they thought of the results over the longer term - whether it kicked in faster, whether it looked better and whether they felt it lasted longer than the previous toxin.
Here are the results, and the feedback so far is really encouraging with the majority of patients reporting that it kicked in faster, looked better and lasted longer.
If you’d like to see more detail and analysis of these results, check out the link to the blog post in our profile.
Aesthetic interventions are never far from the headlines and this week the media have been focused on comments made by the make up artist Bobbi Brown about her view of cosmetic procedures. I was on BBC Radio Scotland today talking about the issue.
My own view is that we should all age in the way we feel comfortable with - if you are happy with grey hair and wrinkles, then I absolutely admire you just as much as I admire those who feel differently and want a little help to keep the signs of ageing at bay. There is no right and wrong and there is no room for moral superiority. Just you be you!
Have a listen to the debate and let me know what you think in the comments!
I’ve been back in the clinic for a week and we are right into laser season!
Thank you so much to this lovely patient who has allowed us to share her pictures with you. She was concerned about sun damage and deep lines and wrinkles on her face, especially on her forehead, on her cheeks and around her mouth. She opted for full laser resurfacing which is unrivalled for repairing this level of damage to the skin, but does come with slightly more downtime compared to other laser treatments.
These after pictures are six weeks after this patient’s initial treatment, and while she’s still a little pink (little enough that light make up will cover it!), you can see the she already has beautifully refreshed skin and her deep lines have been significantly reduced.
The true results for full laser resurfacing are usually seen after six months so we’ll share some pictures of this patient then so you can see the final result, but she’s absolutely delighted with the improvement so far!
What do you think?
We often talk about the deep plane facelift being the gold standard technique for facelift, and we’re proud to have the talented @bramhallplasticsurgery performing it in the clinic.
Here’s Russell explaining how the deep plane facelift offers longer lasting and more natural results than other techniques. By lifting and repositioning the deeper facial structures rather than just tightening the skin, this advanced approach creates a result that looks natural, moves naturally, and continues to age beautifully over time.
If you have any questions about the deep plane facelift just send us a message, or you can see more about the procedure at the link in our profile.
Our 5ml protocol is designed for patients looking for a general refresh - perfect at the earlier stages of the aging process or a gentle start for those further into the process.
This lovely patient came to us with concerns about her nose to mouth lines, some lost volume in her cheeks and her jowls. We used the 5ml protocol to give her an overall rejuvenation which gives her a really natural result that we can build on in the future.
You can a see video of this patient’s treatment at the link in our profile.
What do you think?
This patient had deep lines and folds in her face which she wanted to address as naturally as possible, so went for our signature volumetric facelift - a fully non-surgical approach but can have significant results.
With this, we want to restore natural lift, structure and definition to her face and by carefully rebuilding volume where it’s been lost, we softened her folds and lines while maintaining a completely natural expression.
The patient is delighted is really pleased with her result so far - what do you think?
Here`s another fabulous result from our amazing consultant vascular surgeon, Dr Alex Vesey.
This patient was bothered by visible varicose veins around her knee. After treatment with foam sclerotherapy the veins have been cleared, leaving behind smoother, and healthier-looking skin.
If you have varicose veins that have been bothering you, now is a great time to have them treated. We use the minimally-invasive techniques to treat both the cosmetic and medical aspects of varicose veins, and can offer effective treatments with little to no downtime.
If you’d like to know more about how we can help with varicose veins, check the link in our profile.
Join us on Instagram to keep up with the latest results and expert insights from the clinic team.
Our dedicated team of experts are on hand to help you as you navigate your journey with us.
When you first make contact with us you will be assigned your own personal Patient Relationship Manager. They’ll start by understanding your needs and liaising with our doctors to book you an appointment with the most suitable specialist. For any additional questions or needs, you can message or call them anytime and they’ll be delighted to assist you. Our entire team is dedicated to providing you with the best possible treatment and care tailored to your needs.
Sign up to our newsletter
Keep up to date with the latest news from McKeown Medical and get access to expert insights, our latest before and afters and exclusive offers.
