Quiz

Checking Yourself: Your Personal Hormonal Balance Quiz

Can a woman be experiencing menopause or be on the brink of it and not even know it? Tens of thousands of women are needlessly suffering from symptoms associated with the condition simply because they are either in denial or are unaware that that change of life has begun. According to ob/gyn Joyce Kakkis, M.D., one of the nation's leading women's health specialists and author of the upcoming book, "Confessions of an Estrogen Evangelist" (Kensington Press), if women were better educated about menopause and related conditions, they would not be subject to needless pain and discomfort.

Are You On The Brink Of Menopause?

Dr. Kakkis has developed the following quiz to help women take charge of their own health:

Yes    No

 Are your periods becoming more irregular, either too close together or too far apart, lighter or heavier?
Yes    No Are your skin, hair and nails becoming drier, changing in texture, breaking more easily or decreasing in amount?
Yes    No Have you lost interest in sex?
Yes    No Have you noticed vaginal dryness and/or have you had frequent infections, vaginal tearing or painful sex?
Yes    No Do you have trouble sleeping?
Yes    No Have you started having headaches, or, if you've had them before, have they become worse?
Yes    No Are you depressed, moody or irritable, or if you have always been somewhat depressed or moody, has it become worse lately?
Yes    No Have you started having worsening PMS (premenstrual syndrome) symptoms, or is your PMS lasting longer and starting earlier?
Yes    No Have you ever had night sweats (waking up in the middle of the night, perspiring profusely) or hot flashes (a feeling of warmth inappropriate to the environment)?
Yes    No Do you lose urine when you laugh, cough, sneeze or exercise?
Yes    No Do you have a "hump" in your upper back (dowager's hump)?
Yes    No Have you broken a bone too easily?
Yes    No Have you noticed an increase in aches and pains in your bones and joints?
Yes    No Are you having problems with your memory that you've been chalking up to old age (So-called senior moments even though you are less than 70 years old.)?
Yes    No Has it been more than a year since you've had a menstrual period?