Women’s health: what are we overlooking?

Women are often used to being told that tiredness, mood changes, weight changes or poor concentration are down to hormones, stress, age or simply being busy.

Sometimes that may be part of the picture.

Sometimes there is more worth looking at.

Women’s health is about far more than periods, pregnancy and menopause. Iron levels, thyroid function, vitamins, blood sugar and heart health can all matter too.

Blood testing cannot explain every symptom, but it can give useful information about some of the things that may be worth checking.

Tired all the time? It is not always “just being busy”

Many women accept tiredness as normal.

Work, family, poor sleep and everyday life can all leave you feeling drained. But if tiredness is ongoing, it may be worth looking a little deeper.

Blood tests can measure things such as:

• Iron and ferritin
• Vitamin B12
• Folate
• Vitamin D
• Thyroid markers
• Full blood count

These results cannot tell you the exact cause of tiredness on their own, but they can show whether any of the markers tested are outside the expected laboratory range.

Heavy periods and iron deserve more attention

Heavy periods can have a real effect on how you feel.

They are a common cause of iron deficiency anaemia because regular blood loss can reduce the amount of iron stored in the body.

Low iron can be linked with symptoms such as tiredness, low energy and shortness of breath.

If you have heavy periods, checking a full blood count and iron markers such as ferritin can give useful information about your current levels.

Heavy or changing periods should also be discussed with a healthcare professional, especially if they are affecting your everyday life.

Thyroid problems are more common in women

Thyroid problems are not rare.

An underactive thyroid is much more common in women than men.

Symptoms can include tiredness, changes in weight, feeling unusually hot or cold, low mood and changes to hair or skin.

The difficulty is that these symptoms can overlap with many other things.

Blood tests can measure thyroid markers such as TSH and Free T4, with some profiles including additional thyroid markers.

That does not mean every woman with these symptoms has a thyroid problem. It simply means thyroid function may be one useful area to look at.

Hormones are only one piece of the puzzle

Periods changing? Feeling different around perimenopause? Struggling with sleep, energy or mood?

It is easy to put everything down to hormones.

Sometimes hormones are relevant. But looking only at hormones may leave out other useful information.

Depending on what you want to understand, it may also be useful to look at markers such as:

• Iron
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin B12
• Thyroid function
• Blood sugar
• Cholesterol
• General health markers

The aim is not to test everything.

It is to choose tests that are relevant to what you are experiencing or what you want to understand.

Women’s heart health deserves more attention

Heart disease is still often seen as a men’s health issue.

It is not.

Coronary heart disease kills more than twice as many women in the UK as breast cancer each year.

That is a powerful reminder that women’s health is not only about reproductive health.

Blood tests can measure cholesterol and blood sugar, both of which form part of the wider picture when looking at cardiovascular health.

A blood test cannot assess your overall heart risk on its own, but knowing these numbers can still be useful.

Bone health is worth thinking about earlier

Many women do not think about bone health until later in life.

But vitamin D plays an important role in supporting normal bones, and levels can be checked with a blood test.

A vitamin D test cannot measure bone strength or diagnose osteoporosis.

What it can do is show your current vitamin D level and whether it sits within the expected laboratory range.

Do not write every symptom off as “just part of being a woman”

There are normal changes that happen throughout life.

But that does not mean every new or ongoing symptom should automatically be blamed on periods, stress, pregnancy, perimenopause or menopause.

If something has changed and it is affecting how you feel, it is reasonable to want more information.

Blood testing can be one useful part of that picture.

Blood testing with The Phlebotomist

The Phlebotomist offers private blood tests in Swindon, with clinic appointments and mobile visits available.

Your sample is collected by a clinically trained and highly experienced phlebotomist.

Most blood tests purchased through The Phlebotomist include your laboratory results and a doctor-reviewed report.

If you already have your own test kit, laboratory request or practitioner form, you can book our professional blood draw service instead.

Know your numbers. Ask better questions.

Women are often very good at carrying on.

But feeling different does not always mean you should simply put up with it.

Blood tests will not explain every symptom, and they should not be used alone to diagnose a medical condition.

What they can do is give you objective information about selected areas of your health.

Sometimes that is exactly what you need to ask better questions and have a more useful conversation about your health.