Perimenopause is the transition period before menopause, when hormone levels shift and periods can become longer, shorter, heavier, lighter, or skipped altogether. It can last several years, and symptoms vary a lot from person to person (ACOG).
Perimenopause symptoms tend to come and go unevenly — hot flashes that flare up for a stretch and then ease off, sleep that's fine for a while and then isn't, a cycle that skips or shortens. Trying to recall all of that from memory in a short appointment is hard. Writing down what you noticed and when turns a vague impression ("I think I've been more tired lately") into a timeline your clinician can actually look at: which weeks felt different, how often something showed up, and whether it's trending up, down, or staying about the same. If a bleeding pattern changes noticeably during perimenopause, it's worth recording the date, duration, and flow and bringing it up with a doctor promptly (ACOG).
Use the checklist below on paper, or log the same symptoms in the Maren app — its free 30- and 90-day Perimenopause summary does this counting and comparing for you automatically, from records that never leave your device (details below).
Not sure what to write down, or how to turn weeks of notes into something your doctor can use? Read the guide: How to track perimenopause symptoms and turn them into one page for your doctor.
Tick a box for anything you've noticed recently, or check it off day by day if you're tracking over a few weeks. Items marked are the ones Maren's free 30-/90-day Perimenopause summary counts and compares automatically if you log them in the app.
Name (optional): Weeks tracked:
Bleeding & cycle timing — Maren's Log & Calendar tab
Maren's Log tab
Maren's Log tab — the three items below all count toward "interrupted sleep" in the free summary
Maren's Log tab
Maren's Log tab — logged as "Brain fog," Maren's tracker for difficulty concentrating or memory lapses
Maren's Log tab
Every symptom above is one of Maren's built-in log trackers, so anything you tick here can also be logged in the app in a couple of taps. Maren also supports custom trackers for anything perimenopause-related that isn't on this list.
If you log these in the app, Maren's Trends tab includes a free, descriptive 30-day or 90-day Perimenopause summary: it counts how often the seven starred symptoms above (hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, brain fog, heart racing, joint pain, and interrupted sleep) showed up in the recent window and compares that with the window before, plus a plain record-coverage view so you can see how complete your log is. It does not diagnose perimenopause or any condition — it only describes what you recorded. This summary, like all of Maren's tracking, prediction, and export features, is free; it is not part of the optional Premium subscription.
Maren has no developer-operated account and no health-data server. Everything you log — including the symptoms on this checklist — is stored locally on your iPhone, never uploaded to iCloud or to any server the developer runs. You can export it, back it up with a password-encrypted file, or delete it at any time.
These are the same two sources cited in Maren's built-in Perimenopause education articles (Education tab in the app).