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About Womenopause Book
Problems unique to menopause arise from changes of estrogen and progesterone levels. The years of wildly fluctuating estrogen prior to menopause is termed perimenopause, a euphemism for chaos. Hot flashes and irregular menstrual periods are cardinal features of perimenopause. Several other symptoms are major players in the vexation of menopausal women's health, such as vaginal dryness, insomnia, forgetfulness, and mood swings. Perimenopause impersonates a woman's usual PMS--louder and longer. WOMENOPAUSE presents a clear fresh voice to the controversy of hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms. Over the past thirty years, Dr. Lovera Wolf Miller has witnessed public fascination swing from one trend to the next. Through it all, women have benefited, and at times suffered, whenever "new" treatment strategies have come into vogue. WOMENOPAUSE invites readers into the intimate conversation that takes place between a woman and her female gynecologist. In this book, all of the hype, all of the marketing, and all of the ill-informed opinions are exposed. The menopausal solutions are imbued with a confident enthusiasm that emanates from years of success. The WOMENOPAUSE Challenge presented in Chapter One places menopause within the context of overall health. Health motivations for women have two peaks, pregnancy and menopause. WOMENOPAUSE fills the need for a book that leverages a reader's interest in managing menopause symptoms into lifestyle choices that solve both the transition problems and the terminal ones. Because estrogen receptors are present in more tissues than just the uterus and breast, lack of estrogen after menopause precipitates changes in bone, brain, heart, vessels, skin, and virtually all other organs. The WOMENOPAUSE Challenge is formatted into each succeeding chapter to reinforce the reader's thought that there are concrete steps that can be taken to reduce menopausal symptoms. The steps presented have the added bonus of reducing other health risks as well. Measurable improvements can be expected in four weeks. Feeling Fit, Feminine, and Fabulous in Four Weeks is a challenge worth taking. Findings of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), arguably the decade's seminal women's health publication, have recently been reinterpreted. News coverage of the WHI in July 2002 caused a tsunami of angst among menopausal women and their husbands. Two-thirds of women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) discontinued treatment soon after the findings suggested the risks outweighed the benefits. New analysis of the original data challenges the initial opinions. In 2008, it is clear that most of the hysteria was unfounded. In addition to wreaking havoc on pharmaceutical grade hormone therapy, the WHI fostered an unintended endorsement for non-medical hormone treatments. The natural/health supplement industry had been characterizing prescription hormones as poison all along. This resulted in the widespread use of unregulated and untested compounded hormones. Compounded hormones are typically a mixture of estrogens, progesterone, and testosterone handmade and promoted by local compounding pharmacists based upon unsubstantiated saliva tests. Compounded hormones contain variable amounts of active and inactive hormones and carry the risks of prescription hormones plus the extra risks of questionable purity and potency. The so-called natural hormones promoted by the supplement industry prey upon the intrinsic irony of selling a natural product for something that is already natural. The consequences of misunderstanding the WHI findings are incalculable. Thousands of women made good faith decisions with their doctors to take postmenopausal hormones, and the WHI pummeled them into the biggest case of buyer's regret imaginable. WOMENOPAUSE sets the record straight. All women experience menopause, but each does so in a unique way. WOMENOPAUSE provides readers with a systematic guide, which allows them to create their own "designer" treatment plan that safely suits their individual needs. The cornerstone of symptom control lies in simple, risk-free lifestyle choices. Nutrition, exercise, and stress reduction are promoted by a full-on crash course so readers know precisely why, where, when, and what to do to make fitting changes. Determining whether or not hormone therapy is appropriate for an individual requires careful evaluation by an experienced health care provider. If hormone therapy is selected for management of menopausal symptoms, then choosing the correct hormone type, dose, delivery and duration become important decisions. WOMENOPAUSE: STOP PAUSING AND START LIVING is foremost a book about what happens during menopause. Menopause occurs in midlife, so there is nothing to be gained by parceling out narrow menopausal treatment strategies at the expense of missing the bigger picture of serious health risks that become apparent at this age. This book, like no other, incorporates years of integrative health experience and delivers lifestyle challenges to menopausal women that have durable health benefits. Every woman who takes on the WOMENOPAUSE Challenge may expect dramatic menopausal symptom control in four weeks. Women who continue to incorporate the Challenge principles will reap the benefits of an optimal life. See the reviews and endorsements on our Media page.
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