It is not difficult to determine if an individual needs some form of hormone balancing ? if you feel perfectly well and possess no symptoms listed below it is very unlikely you will want to do or change anything. However, numerous peri-menopausal women that can come to clinic suffer from these symptoms: fatigue, pre-menstrual breast tenderness, fibrocystic breast condition, short menstrual cycle (lower than 28 days), anxiety, headaches, problems with sleep, low libido, depression and PMS. Women in menopause could possibly have some of these symptoms in addition to hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and memory problems. If some complaints are mixed together in the patient it is very important identify any hormonal deficiencies. Once the cartilage lining begins to thicken and thin, tendons and ligaments must work harder. This can cause swelling and spur formation, called osteophytes. A safer alternative is Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) which is derived from plants but treated to become identical to the body?s natural hormones. Since each individual is unique, BHRT doses can be customized to correspond exactly.