How to Find Good Perimenopause Care as a Black Woman
You're educated. Insured. You've built a career and handled harder things than this. So why is finding good perimenopause care this difficult?
Because the system wasn't built with you in mind. And new research confirms it.
What 1,547 Black Women Told Us
In 2025, Black Women's Health Imperative (BWHI) conducted the largest cross-sectional survey of U.S.-based Black women ages 30 and older on menopause experiences. The women who participated weren't struggling because they lacked resources. Most were college-educated, 96 percent had health insurance, 78 percent were employed, and over half earned $75,000 or more annually. These are accomplished women with access to care.
They were still struggling to find good perimenopause care.
That's the finding that matters. Not that Black women need more motivation or more courage to speak up. The gap is structural, not personal.
The Information Problem Nobody Warned You About
Fifty-four percent of respondents said they didn't have enough information to manage their symptoms effectively. Fifty-two percent didn't know which recommendations to follow. And most women only associated menopause with hot flashes, completely unaware that perimenopause could bring brain fog, joint pain, weight changes, depression, hair thinning, and digestive disruption.
One woman in the survey said she genuinely thought she was developing early Alzheimer's. She wasn't. She was in perimenopause, and no one had prepared her for what that actually looks like.
This isn't a Google problem. It's a systemic failure to give Black women accurate, early information about their own bodies.
What's Actually Making Life Hard
The symptoms Black women described as most disruptive weren't the ones healthcare tends to focus on. Brain fog, night sweats, and fatigue ranked above hot flashes. Fifty-five percent reported struggling with weight changes. Forty-two percent reported depression. And women described living with symptoms for nine or more years.
One survey respondent put it plainly: "There should be more information readily available about the impact perimenopause has on mental health. The rage and anxiety are so scary."
Nine years is not a minor inconvenience. It's a significant portion of a woman's leadership and career trajectory. That's worth naming directly.
What Happens When You Try to Get Help
Forty-three percent of respondents reported being discriminated against or treated unfairly when seeking healthcare. In qualitative responses, women consistently described providers minimizing or ignoring their concerns. One woman, 47 years old with a documented hysterectomy history, was told by her OB/GYN she was too young to be experiencing menopause.
This is happening against a well-documented backdrop: Black women experience perimenopause symptoms earlier and more severely than white women, and yet our symptoms are taken less seriously. The research on this is not new. The pattern is not accidental.
When you know this going in, you can stop questioning yourself and start questioning the provider.
What Good Care Actually Looks Like
The BWHI survey asked women what they needed. Sixty-six percent said culturally grounded education starting in their 30s. They asked for affordable options, access to trusted providers, safe spaces, and reduced stigma. They didn't ask to be accommodated. They asked for care that was built for them.
That reframe matters when you're evaluating a provider.
Good perimenopause care starts before symptoms are severe. A provider worth your time will discuss perimenopause as a life stage in your 30s, not as a crisis to manage after the fact. They'll know that Black women's symptom profiles differ from what's been historically centered in research. They'll have a real answer when you ask about brain fog, mood shifts, joint pain, and sleep disruption, not just hot flashes. And they'll offer you treatment options: hormone therapy where appropriate, mental health support, lifestyle modifications that are grounded in evidence, not just reassurance that things will eventually improve.
"Just wait it out" is not a treatment plan. If that's what you're hearing, find someone else.
Ask directly: how does this provider approach menopause care for Black women, and what do they understand about how our experiences differ? If the answer is vague or defensive, that's information.
You Don't Have to Navigate This Alone
As BWHI's EVP of Policy and Research Ifeoma C. Udoh, Ph.D. noted: "Education and access alone are not enough. Even among Black women who are well-resourced, insured, and highly educated, there is still a lack of information and guidance around menopause. That gap speaks to a deeper disconnect in how information is shared, how care is delivered, and whose experiences are centered."
That gap is exactly what The Peri Nation was built to close. Not with wellness content or hot flash tips, but with frameworks, community, and real information for Black women and women of color who are navigating this transition while holding down careers, families, and leadership roles.
You deserve care that sees the full picture. Start by finding a provider who does. Then build your support from there.
Sources
This article is based on the 2025 Black Women's Health Imperative survey "Exploring the Lived Experiences of Black Women During the Menopausal Transition."
The survey included 2,251 eligible respondents, of which 1,547 identified themselves as Black women ages 30 and older. The mixed-methods analysis included quantitative data and qualitative responses.
Black Women's Health Imperative (BWHI) is the only national nonprofit dedicated to solving the most critical health issues that Black women and girls face through innovative programs, transformative research, and lifesaving policies.
For the full report, visit BWHI.org
