Eps 457: How to Ask Your Doctor for Better Blood Tests in Perimenopause with Bria Gadd

Your labs are “normal,” but you are exhausted, gaining weight, craving sugar, losing hair, or simply do not feel like yourself. What do you do next?

In this episode, I break down five blood markers that can help women in perimenopause and menopause have more informed conversations about their health: ferritin, fasting insulin, SHBG, free T3, and homocysteine.

This is not an episode about demanding every test from your doctor or diagnosing yourself from a lab portal. It is about understanding what each marker may help investigate, why a result within a reference range does not always explain every symptom, and how to bring your concerns to a qualified healthcare professional with clarity.

We talk about the common midlife symptoms women often normalize, including stubborn weight gain, fatigue, hair changes, heavier periods, brain fog, cravings, energy crashes, low libido, and poor recovery. You will learn how iron stores, metabolic health, thyroid function, hormone availability, and nutrient status can become part of a wider conversation when the usual advice is not working.

I also share the exact questions you can take into your appointment so you can move beyond, “my labs are normal,” and into, “what does this result tell us, what does it not tell us, and what should we explore next?”

You do not need to become your own doctor. But you deserve to understand your symptoms, participate in your care, and feel confident asking for context.

In This Episode

00:00 Introduction
02:07 Five blood markers that may help uncover health debt
04:00 Why symptoms still matter when labs are “normal”
05:20 Ferritin, iron stores, fatigue, hair changes, and heavy periods
08:38 Stubborn weight, cravings, energy crashes, and metabolic health
09:35 GLP-1 medications and understanding your baseline first
10:32 Why we get healthy to lose weight, not the other way around
11:21 How to ask about fasting insulin
13:00 Thyroid symptoms and when TSH may not be the entire conversation
16:01 How to advocate for yourself without becoming overwhelmed
20:55 The right way to ask your provider about specific testing
22:00 SHBG, hormone availability, and looking beyond total hormones
25:00 Free T3, homocysteine, and the wider health picture
28:00 Final thoughts on asking better questions in midlife

Connect with Bria

Instagram: @bria_period_whisperer
Website: https://theperiodwhisperer.com

Still trying to lose weight, sleep better, build muscle, and understand what your body is asking for in midlife?

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