Midlife hormones explained
How the key reproductive hormones change at midlife. Dot does not interpret lab results — your clinician does.
- Estrogen and menopause: what it does and what changes
What estrogen does in the body, how levels change through perimenopause and menopause, and how those changes connect to common symptoms.
- Estradiol: the main estrogen before menopause
Estradiol is the most potent estrogen made by the ovaries. Learn its role, why levels fluctuate in perimenopause and how it's used in hormone therapy.
- Progesterone in perimenopause and menopause
What progesterone does, why it drops early in perimenopause, and why it's part of hormone therapy for women who still have a uterus.
- Testosterone in women at midlife: what the evidence says
Women make testosterone too. Learn what an international consensus says about testosterone for low sexual desire after menopause, and what it doesn't support.
- FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) and menopause
FSH rises as the ovaries slow down. Learn what FSH does, why it fluctuates in perimenopause, and the limits of using an FSH test to confirm menopause.