I do my own breast exam everytime I shower and I taught my husband how to do it too, since he is familiart with my breasts, he would be able to tell if something felt a little off. I also get a breast exam and yearly gyno every jan/feb. Very very important.

As far as the feminine products go... I have heard wonderful things about them and even women who have no allergy to cotton and such love them because they are convient. Nothing to carry around and you can wear them longer than other products. PLUS you don't have to worry about TSS, which is a scary thing!

Sisterhoney: My mom is perimenopausal. They wanted to gut her and take everything when she had an enlarged uterus which caused heavy bleeding all the time. She researched homeopathic methods and started to do progesterone cream and rubs it into her belly at night and since then has had ZERO female problems and it even helps with her moods. Its nice because its all natural. My mom cannot take synthetic hormones. She took birth control ***** and throid ***** and they caused her to hemmorage... just a thought for you if you begin to experience difficult things with your menopause state...