"We're the baby boomers," writes renowned women's health advocate Dr. Susan Love. "We wanted to change the world in the sixties. During the sexual revolution we claimed the right to enjoy our bodies. We wanted more knowledge about how our bodies worked. We read books about menstruation and childbirth. Now we're approaching menopause, and we want to decide for ourselves how we'll experience this process as well. But how do we do that? We're faced with all kinds of options, and with them all kinds of questions." With Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book, Dr. Love will help you decide for yourself how you want to move through this stage of life. Here's the information you really want to know to answer your most pressing concerns: You've been having symptoms -- hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings. What are your options for coping with them? You've read in the newspapers that after menopause women are in danger of heart disease or osteoporosis, and you don't want to wind up like that hunched-up elderly woman you saw in the supermarket checkout line. How likely is it? Your doctor thinks taking hormone replacement therapy might be the answer, but you're not sure: How does it work? What can and can't it do? Is it safe? Your mother sailed through menopause and your symptoms don't bother you. Do you need to do anything at all? You've had breast cancer or heart disease. What choices will work for you? You don't like the idea of medication. Are there any life-style changes or alternative approaches worth exploring? With clarity and compassion, Dr. Love will help you sort through the answers to these and other confusing questions. She emphasizes that menopause is not a disease that needs to be cured; it's a natural life stage. She tells you what you need to know about coping with symptoms and addressing concerns about osteoporosis, heart disease, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, and more. And she walks you through every option for the short and long term.: lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, and stress management), alternatives (including herbs and homeopathic remedies), other medications, and a thorough discussion of the pros and cons of hormones. An in-depth questionnaire on your personal health risks and lifestyle preferences will help you put it all together to make choices to fit your unique needs--choices Dr. Love encourages you to reconsider as your life situation changes. Also included are guidelines for finding the right health care professional, a resource guide of helpful books, newsletters, and organizations, and more. You know your body better than any doctor, and you're in the best position to assess your individual needs, risks, and lifestyle choices and to decide how you want to more through menopause. With Dr. Love's authoritative, comprehensive new book, you'll have the information you need to make the decisions that work best for you. From the Hardcover edition.
In an empowering and demystifying book about menopause, Dr. Susan Love, a noted breast surgeon and women's health advocate, tells it straight about hormones. "Hormone therapy is neither a fountain of youth nor an 'evil empire,'" Love writes with her coauthor, Karen Lindsey. "I can't tell you in this book whether or not you should take hormones, but I can spell out the pros and cons, examining the various promises that have been made for menopausal hormone therapy, and letting you know what the side effects and dangers can be."
But even before she gets into the promises and the pros and cons, Love lets the reader know what menopause is biologically, and how its symptoms can vary widely. Particularly fascinating is the second chapter, titled "The Medicalization of Menopause." Love's examination of how women in other cultures actually look forward to menopause, and of how the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry have a vested interested in making menopause a disease, is a convincing one. It puts menopause and hormone therapy into a whole new light.
Chapter by chapter, Love reviews the scientific evidence for the promised benefits of hormone therapy--protection from osteoporosis and heart disease--and for the potential risks--increased chance of breast and endometrial cancer. And she answers almost every imaginable question about alternatives to hormones, from dietary changes to exercise to acupuncture to herbs.
While Love and Lindsey, who worked together previously on Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, are up-front about their perspective on hormone therapy, they also give women the information they need about the various hormones on the market and provide a questionnaire to help them assess their values, so that readers can make their own informed choice about hormones during menopause.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Comprehensive Resource:
This book covers all the bases you'll want to consider when facing menopause. The author discusses many aspects of menopause, including symptoms, treatments (both conventional and alternative), and long-term risk of breast cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease.
Some of the things I really like about this book: The author dispels several myths (like taking estrogen leads to youthful-looking skin) and pulls the curtain back on the cozy relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and medical... more info
Anti-hormone slant.:
I was looking for something a little more objective.
Anti-hormone slant.:
I was looking for something a little more objective.
Great balanced viewpoint:
This book presents a comprehensive discussion of hormones and alternatives to dealing with premenopause, menopause, and long-term prevention. Details are provided which include alternative approaches, including diet, exercise, etc. It even includes a final helpful chapter on making your own decisions. The only negative thing is that it was written in 1997, and there may be more current information available now. Wish she would release an updated edition.
