Could It Be...Perimenopause?: How Women 35-50 Can Overcome Forgetfulness, Mood Swings, Insomnia, Weight Gain, Sexual Dysfunction and Other Telltale Signs of Hormonal Imbalance - Softcover

Goldstein MD, Steven R.; Ashner, Laurie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316319457 ISBN 13: 9780316319454

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2000

Synopsis

If you are a woman in your late thirties or forties and are experiencing mood swings, free-floating anxiety, memory lapses, inability to concentrate, sleep disturbances...it is not all in your head, and you are not alone.

This compassionate and comprehensive book covers everything you need to know about perimenopause -- the changes that occur in the decade before menopause -- including: How much of what you're feeling is due to fluctuating levels of estrogen. Menopause, by contrast, corresponds to a lack of estrogen. Knowing the difference is crucial to getting the right treatment. This book includes the most effective medical therapies and natural remedies and reveals why low-dose birth-control pills are the best cycle regulators: myths and realities, what you can do about missing periods, gushing periods, and periods that seem never to end, how to avoid hysterectomy and D&C, how you can prevent weight gain during perimenopause and ways to reignite your sex drive.Addressing women's most ommon concerns about perimenopause, as well as many questions women tend to be afraid to ask their doctors, Could It Be...Perimenopause? provides the facts you need to make smart decisions, and enables you to understand and feel in control of the changes taking place in your body.

About this title

Review

The decade before menopause, says Dr. Stephen R. Goldstein, is a time of profound change--both physically and emotionally--yet many women don't realize this. They may try to ignore subtle-to-bothersome symptoms such as erratic menstruation, "free-floating anxiety, inability to concentrate," forgetfulness, weight gain, sexual difficulties, and insomnia, when they could be effectively treating these problems. Unfortunately, not all doctors recognize perimenopause or know how to treat its symptoms, which may lead them to discount patients' complaints, or worse, suggest unnecessary treatments--including hysterectomies. That's where Could It Be ... Perimenopause? can help.

In clear, supportive prose, Goldstein offers no-baloney advice. "Today's perimenopausal women has neither the time nor the patience to go through four to fifteen years of symptoms without relief," he says. He fully delineates the roles of various hormones, how to determine if you're in perimenopause or not, as well as how to treat the various symptoms to gain control over your life. He's a big advocate of low- and ultra-low-dose birth-control pills: "There is nothing inherently advantageous about bursting the capsule of your ovary and having to repair it each month. There's no reason for having fluctuating levels of hormones floating around unless you want to have a baby." He also recommends some natural and herbal treatments (he tells which ones are more appropriate for menopausal or postmenopausal women, and which are worthless or even dangerous). He's also a big promoter of sonohysterography, a type of ultrasound test that he says could prevent up to three-fourths of all emergency-room visits made by women with excessive uterine bleeding.

With added resources, including URLs for recommended newsgroups, Web sites, and medical databases, along with information about the very latest in treatments (such as crinone, a natural progesterone gel), Goldstein's created an enormously beneficial reference for both women and health-care providers who could stand to brush up on this topic.

About the Author

Steven R. Goldstein, M.D., is a professor at New York University School of Medicine; Director of Gynecological Ultrasound, Co-Director of Bone Densitometry at the NYU Medical Center; and the immediate past chairman of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology for New York. He maintains a private practice in gynecology and obstetrics in New York City. Laurie Ashner is the author of When Parents Love Too Much, Resonance: The New Chemistry of Love, and When is Enough, Enough?

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0316319457
• ISBN 13: 9780316319454
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256