What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause (TM): The Breakthrough Book on Natural Hormone Balance
by John R. Lee, Virginia Hopkins
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Book Summary Information
Author: John R. Lee, Virginia HopkinsEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-01
ISBN: 0446614955
Number of pages: 560
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause (TM): The Breakthrough Book on Natural Hormone Balance
Book Review: THE Best Book on Natural HRT...Strongly Recommended
Summary: 5 Stars
I will be 51 next month, and am going through the...well, you know. And it crashed down upon me rather suddenly. This is an extremely long review, but I hope it will be helpful to you. It contains specific instructions on how to follow Dr. Lee's suggestions to minimize your menopausal symptoms.
Since 2005, I'd been on a birth control pill called Yasmin and a testosterone blocker called Spironolactone, for alopecia. A few months ago I came to realize that these meds were bad for me at this time of my life, and I quit them cold turkey. Big mistake. It was worse than quitting HRT cold turkey because I was taking full-out "young woman" birth control pills and a testosterone blocker.
Within days of quitting the drugs that I'd been on for 5 ½ years, I began to experience PMS-type blues. Within a week came The Joint Pain. And I mean throbbing, burning, non-stop debilitating emergency room-type pain in my shoulders, elbows and hips. This went on for 2 solid months, along with a little bit of night sweats, cold sweats and a body that hurt and ached so badly all over that I couldn't do very much of anything at all. And my hair was falling out in scary numbers.
This little $8.00 paperback book changed the way I look at the medications I was taking, and how I am approaching menopause with a new, true understanding. I have a natural, over-the-counter bio-identical HRT plan that has quickly worked to make me feel better--and to re-grow my hair.
Dr. John Lee's book is much more than your typical clinical info about "what to expect when you feel like a fading old bag slogging through menopause", but it does have a great deal of clinical info. But it's really about ALL of the female-related medical conditions that exist. It's for women of all ages, from those in their 20s to those super-seniors in their 80s and 90s. And it's about how all of us of all ages will benefit from bio-identical progesterone cream. The book talks about natural progesterone's history, clinical studies, usage, and how the medical community continues to prescribe fake chemical/synthesized meds because they can't make money from a natural product than can't be patented. Dr. Lee talks about the soaring rates of osteoporosis, breast cancer, etc., and how these are generally man-made diseases in industrialized countries.
Dr. Lee discusses the following: osteoporosis (see the clinical trials in the book that prove progesterone cream prevents and CURES osteoporosis for women of all ages, even seniors) fibroids, cystic breasts, hair loss related to PCOS/androgenic alopecia and hair loss from "The Change", PMS symptoms, and the incredibly uncomfortable changes peri- and menopausal and post-menopausal women suffer through. Progesterone cream is great for breast cancer patients, those who have had hysterectomies, heart disease, polycystic ovaries (PCOS), endometriosis, vaginitis, migraines, cholesterol issues, and those trying to switch from conventional HRT to a natural regimen. Progesterone cream is not a cure-all, but it definitely helps--significantly--with a huge variety of hormonally-related "female trouble" for women of all ages. Bio-identical progesterone cream is inexpensive, does not require a prescription or a doctor's office visit, it's safe, and it works. So that's why your doctor doesn't tell you about it.
In case you're looking for a program to help you through the symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause, following is what Dr. John Lee and also what Dr. Christiane Northrup* recommend. Although they do not mention these process/products on one specific page in their books, they do say to use this combination: If you are peri- or menopausal and have hot flashes, you should first start with a progesterone cream, use it for a month, and see how you feel. If you still have night sweats/hot flashes, then add an over-the-counter phytoestrogen, either in pill form (**Remifemin brand or Estroven brand or others that have black cohosh and/or red clover) and/or in cream form (Emerita's Phytoestrogen Body Cream, for example.) If in the 2nd month you don't get enough relief with the phytoestrogens, it means you should try a natural estrogen cream that is made at a compounding pharmacy--you'd need to see a doctor for an Rx. You'd then use the estrogen cream along with the progesterone cream.
It can take anywhere from 10--30 days to start getting symptom relief from the progesterone cream and phytoestrogen combination, but it continues to get better and better as you stick with it. FYI, topical Rx estrogen cream is better than pills--it bypasses the liver therefore avoiding liver overload, and the medicine also gets into the system faster. You just have to make sure you put the progesterone and estrogen creams on different body parts so they get absorbed properly.
ALL women will benefit from progesterone cream, but you should NOT overdo it...a woman at the peak of her fertility produces only around 20-30mg of progesterone per day (pregnant women make up to 400mg per day in the last trimester.) You are looking to supplement enough to make you feel better, so apply just a little dab twice per day. A mere 1/8 teaspoon has 10mg of progesterone, and a 1/4 teaspoon has 20mg. Some woman may need a little more at first and can taper off as their symptoms stabilize, but Dr. Lee stresses that under no circumstances should you apply anything like 60 or 100mg of cream per day.
In case this may help others who quit HRT cold turkey without a plan, this is what worked for me: in the morning I take two (2) tablets of the **Remifemin brand with black cohosh (that's 40mg in the morning, not the one 20 mg tab the manufacturer suggests) and I rub onto my skin 1/8 teaspoon of a bio-identical progesterone cream called Pro-Gest by Emerita. Around bedtime, I take one (1) 40 mg tablet of Remifemin Good-Night, which has valerian added to the black cohosh to help with sleep, and I rub on another 1/8 teaspoon of the Pro-Gest cream, but to a different area than I applied it in the morning. I also take a good multi-vitamin and a few other supplements with meals.
Within 10 days of this regimen, my two months of severe, burning joint aches, night sweats, inability to sleep and the resulting nasty temper started to fade (although my husband claims I've always been a bitch...LOL) so I guess I'm back to being my good, old bitchy self. As I am still coming down from HRT (it can take up to 6 months) I will bear in mind that as my symptoms diminish and stabilize, I will probably be able to taper off from the phytoestrogens completely, and also maybe use a little less progesterone cream, like only 1/8 teaspoon total per day.
And...the great news is this: bio-identical progesterone cream will help begin new hair growth in 3-4 months. Over 3 months, my hair loss slowed down, and I'm now losing just the normal 40-100 hairs per day. Now I've got baby hairs growing again at my temples, which is where most of my hair fell out in the first place. Time will tell if I get back all the hair I lost, but at least it stopped falling out.
BIG NEWSFLASH...Dr. John Lee's family (he passed suddenly in 2003) now makes their own progesterone cream...it's called ProgesterAll, and you can buy it at his family website, which can be found by Googling his name or the ProgesterAll name...don't know if I'm allowed to post it here, but here it is anyway: drjohnlee.com.
You can buy Remifemin** and Pro-Gest cream right here on Amazon, or at The Vitamin Shoppe, Whole Foods and at some CVS stores. (FYI, Emerita's Phytoestrogen Body Cream has black cohosh and other ingredients to help with symptoms, and you can use that in addition to the Remifemin tablets and the Pro-Gest cream. Try that combination first and see how you feel before you get an Rx for a compounding pharmacy estrogen cream. Emerita's Phytoestrogen Body Cream is also sold here on Amazon.)
I hope this review has been of assistance.
I wish good fortune to all my beautiful Rosehip Sisters, and hope Dr. John Lee's book and its program helps you embrace Your Change with wisdom and light.
POSTSCRIPTS: *If you have interest in Dr. Christiane Northrup, check out my review of the revised 2006 paperback edition of "The Wisdom of Menopause"...Northrup continues to urge women to eat soy products as a phytoestrogenic assist to their menopausal symptoms, but the phytic acid blocks magnesium and therefore creates a huge nutritional and endocrine depletion problems.
**The Remifemin brand with black cohosh has been used in Europe and the States for over 50 years and it has clinical trials backing up its efficacy. It does NOT cause liver problems, contrary to recent concerns [refer to the Reuters Health article called "Study Finds No Evidence Black Cohosh Damages Liver" written by Amy Norton, and published on Fri Jan 28, 2011].
Emerita Pro-Gest Natural Progesterone Cream, Paraben-Free, 4-Ounce TubeEmerita Phytoestrogen Body Cream with Black Cohosh, 2-Ounce TubeRemifemin Menopause Herbal Supplement, Estrogen Free, 120 TabletsEnzymatic Therapy Remifemin Good Night, 21 Tablets
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Summary of What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause (TM): The Breakthrough Book on Natural Hormone Balance
This revolutionary book about hormone replacement therapy--a classic bestseller since it was first published in 1996--is now fully revised and updated, providing potentially lifesaving facts and natural alternatives to balancing hormones.Alternative Medicine Books
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