Osteoarthritis initially affects the smooth cartilage lining of joints. This makes exercise more difficult than usual, causing pain and stiffness. 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.