Blood Tests for Women Over 40: What Should You Ask Your GP?
Blood tests can give you useful information. But understanding what those numbers mean in the context of your symptoms, health and real life is another matter.
I’ve just had some blood tests done.
I went to my GP because I’d started getting symptoms of frozen shoulder again. Yes, again. 🙄
That’s a story for another day, but it did make me think about something I talk about a lot in my work:
A blood test can give you useful information. But it doesn’t necessarily tell you the whole story.
When you get a page full of results, it’s very easy to focus on the numbers.
Is this one too high?Is that one too low?Should I be taking something?Should I change my diet?
And once you start searching online, there is no shortage of things to worry about — or things to buy.
But having information isn’t the same as understanding what it means.
So, what might be worth discussing with your GP?
There isn’t one standard set of blood tests that every woman in midlife needs.
What is useful depends on your symptoms, health history, medications, family history and what you are actually trying to understand.
Depending on your circumstances, your GP might consider things such as:
Full blood count
A full blood count (FBC) gives information about your red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
It can be useful when looking at things such as anaemia or signs of infection or inflammation, but the result needs to be considered alongside your symptoms and the rest of your clinical picture.
Ferritin and iron
Ferritin gives us information about stored iron.
It can be useful when iron deficiency is suspected, particularly where symptoms such as tiredness, hair loss or changes in exercise tolerance are part of the picture.
But again, one number doesn't tell the whole story. Your symptoms, other blood results and the reason the test was done all matter.
Vitamin B12 and folate
B12 and folate are important for a range of functions in the body, including the formation of healthy blood cells and normal nervous-system function.
Low levels can have different causes, and symptoms can sometimes be relevant even when a result doesn't give you a neat, obvious answer.
That is why it's worth looking at the bigger picture rather than treating a single result in isolation.
Thyroid function
Thyroid tests such as TSH and free T4 can help assess thyroid function.
This can be particularly relevant when symptoms such as tiredness, changes in weight, feeling unusually cold or hot, changes in mood or other unexplained symptoms are present.
But many of these symptoms can have several possible explanations — including hormonal changes during midlife — so thyroid results are one part of the puzzle, not the whole diagnosis.
And an important point here: menopause itself usually doesn't need to be diagnosed through a large panel of hormone tests in women over 45 with typical symptoms. Clinical history and symptoms are generally more useful.
HbA1c
HbA1c gives us an indication of average blood glucose levels over the previous few months.
It can be useful when looking at blood-glucose regulation and diabetes risk.
But, again, it is information rather than a complete picture of how you eat, move, sleep, feel or function day to day.
Cholesterol and triglycerides
A lipid profile can include total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
These numbers can be useful when considering cardiovascular health and overall risk.
But cardiovascular risk isn't determined by one cholesterol number alone. Age, blood pressure, smoking, health history and other factors can all contribute to the bigger picture.
Liver and kidney function
Blood tests can also provide information about how your liver and kidneys are functioning.
These may be particularly relevant depending on your symptoms, existing health conditions and medications.
Again, the important question is not simply “Is this number normal?” but “Why are we looking at it, and what does it tell us in this particular context?”
Vitamin D and other tests
Vitamin D testing may be appropriate in some circumstances, but routine testing isn't necessarily needed for everyone.
There are also other tests — including markers of inflammation — that may be useful depending on the situation.
The point isn't to collect as many results as possible.
The point is to ask useful questions and get the information that helps answer them.
Because the number isn't the whole story
This is where things get interesting.
Imagine you're losing your hair and your ferritin comes back within the laboratory reference range.
Is that the end of the conversation?
Not necessarily.
Or perhaps you eat meat, but your B12 result still makes you pause for a moment.
What do you make of that?
Or you've just come back from two weeks in Dubai, feeling very pleased with all that sunshine… and your vitamin D isn't quite where you expected it to be.
Interesting.
So what do we do with that information?
This is why I don't think looking at a blood result should ever be completely separated from the person sitting in front of it.
Your symptoms matter.
Your history matters.
Your diet matters.
Your medications and supplements matter.
What has changed recently matters.
And perhaps most importantly, what you're actually trying to understand matters.
Be careful about treating the number
There is another reason I'm cautious about interpreting blood results in isolation.
It's very easy to see a number that isn't exactly where you'd like it to be and immediately think:
I need to fix that.
And the internet is very happy to tell you how.
But a result outside a reference range doesn't automatically tell you what you should eat or which supplement you should take.
And even when a supplement is appropriate, more isn't necessarily better. Supplements can interact with medications, and taking them without understanding why you're taking them can sometimes create problems of its own.
The same applies to medication: don't start, stop or change prescribed medication because of something you've read about your blood results online.
That's a conversation to have with your doctor or other appropriate healthcare professional.
So what are blood tests actually for?
For me, this is the more interesting question.
Blood tests are a source of information. They're not the explanation. And they're certainly not a nutrition plan.
The useful part comes when we take that information and put it into context.
What does it mean?
What doesn't it mean?
What might be worth paying attention to?
What can safely wait?
What questions do we need to ask next?
And then, perhaps most importantly:
What can you realistically change — in the context of your actual life?
That's where I think nutrition support can be genuinely useful.
Not because I can look at a blood test and magically tell you what's wrong.
And not because you need another person giving you a list of foods, supplements and rules.
But because sometimes you need someone to help you make sense of all the information you've already got — and work out what actually deserves your attention.
We look at the numbers. We listen to the person.
And then we work out what makes sense.
Want to talk about what's going on for you?
If you're looking at your own results and wondering what any of it actually means for you, you don't have to work it out alone.
A 20-minute discovery call is a chance to tell me what's been going on, ask questions and see whether working together might be useful.
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