In the first edition of this important bestselling book, praised by Newsday as “the bible for a whole generation of menopausal women”, renowned physician and pioneering women’s health advocate Dr. Susan Love warned about the potential dangers of the long-term prescription of hormone replacement therapy. Her insightful words of caution have been backed up by the stunning results of the recent studies on hormone replacement.
In the revised edition, Dr. Love offers a remarkably clear set of guidelines as to what the studies have shown about the risks regarding:
- heart disease
- breast cancer
- stroke
- other conditions
- what effect hormone therapy has on osteoporosis.
She offers definitive expert advice about:
- whether or not to go on hormone replacement therapy and, if so, for how long
- as well as how to taper off hormones
- and she introduces the alternative methods for treating the symptoms of menopause.
Dr. Love stresses that menopause is not a disease that needs to be cured—it is a natural life stage, and every woman ought to choose her own mix of options for coping with symptoms. A questionnaire about your own health history and life preferences helps you develop a program that will best fit your unique needs. With clarity and compassion, she walks you through every option for both the short and the long term, including:
- lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, and stress management)
- alternative therapies (including herbs and homeopathic remedies)
- available medications other than hormones
Book reviews – More about Estrogens – HRT – Women’s Health
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Thanks Dom
Oncle Gerrit
you are welcome Gerrit
I haven’t read the book, but did have a look at the preview on amazon.com. I agree with what she says about prempro being dangerous, but condemning all types of HRT based on the effects of this one dangerous combination of synthetic hormones and horse estrogens is throwing out the baby with the bathwater IMO. Speaking from personal experience, if you’re hormone deficient, supplementing with the right hormones in the right amount can vastly improve your quality of life. The alternatives to HRT she mentioned in the part I read (statins, biphosphonates and antidepressants) can have serious side effects of their own. I’ve heard quite a few horror stories about statins and SSRI antidepressants in particular.
There’s a risk associated with taking any medicine, but if you use bioidentical hormones in amounts that don’t push your blood levels of these hormones any higher than what’s normally found in young, healthy people, common sense says those risks are likely to be quite small. Dermal creams are generally thought to be safer than hormones in tablet form because, after passing through your skin, the hormone goes directly into your bloodstream. Hormones taken orally are processed (and largely broken down) by the liver before they even reach your bloodstream, which puts a strain on your liver (this seems to be one of the things that can increase the risk of blood clots).
This is all just my opinion of course, I’m not a doctor!
many thanks Hugh
Excellent post!
Rebecca
Thanks Rebecca