What are the common symptoms of menopause?
Menopause symptoms tend to cluster into three areas that clinicians and researchers track together, and the check above rates each one from none to very severe so you can see where yours sit, and where they group:
- Physical: hot flushes, sleep changes, an unusual awareness of your heartbeat, aches.
- Mood and mental: low mood, irritability, anxiety, exhaustion.
- Urogenital: changes in desire, bladder symptoms, vaginal dryness.
It is an educational tool. It does not diagnose menopause, perimenopause, or any other condition, and the number it produces is not a clinical score or a treatment threshold. Its job is to help you describe your experience clearly, to yourself, and to a clinician.
What does your result mean?
Your result places your overall symptom burden (and each of the three areas) into a simple band from little to none through marked. A higher band means you reported more, or more bothersome, symptoms. That can be useful information to bring to an appointment, but on its own it neither confirms nor rules anything out. Symptoms in these areas have many possible causes, and only a clinician who knows your history can tell you what is driving yours.
What helps with menopause symptoms?
For many women, bothersome menopausal symptoms are treatable. Lifestyle measures matter, and menopausal hormone therapy is an established medical option for managing menopausal symptoms [1]. Whether it is right for you depends on your symptoms, your health history, and your own preferences: a decision to make with a clinician, not from a questionnaire. Non-hormonal options exist as well [2], and the right starting point differs from person to person.
If your symptoms are affecting your daily life, that is reason enough to raise them with a clinician, regardless of the band this check produced.
References
[1] Palacios S. Advances in hormone replacement therapy: making the menopause manageable. BMC Women's Health. 2008;8(1). doi:10.1186/1472-6874-8-22 https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6874-8-22
[2] Nelson HD, Vesco KK, Haney E, et al. Nonhormonal therapies for menopausal hot flashes: systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2006;295(17):2057-71. doi:10.1001/jama.295.17.2057 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16670414/