Family history

Have ‘the chat’ with your mum. ‘If you’re going through an early perimenopause at 42 and your mum went through an early menopause, then that is useful to know,’ says Dr Hum. ‘It’s also really useful to know about any history of breast cancer in your family, especially the ages when the women got breast cancer and whether there’s been any genetic testing, so we can better quantify your risk of using HRT.’