The CHANGE is Good????

I apologize in advance for any of my readers with delicate sensibilities, but the bottom line here is that most of us endure "Viagra" and other male sex-enhancing drug TV commercials on a daily basis, so I think a frank discussion about menopause shouldn't rock our worlds too badly! In fact, it's high time we discuss this phenomenon that will affect at least 50 percent of the population somewhere between age 35 and 55, roughly speaking (and using the trickle-down theory, 100percent of the population, because we all know that when Mama ain't happy, ain't no body happy-and that includes the single gals and their social circle!

Technically, I'm talking about PERImenopause-the 5-15 years of hormonal flux before the actual event of menopause (complete cessation of monthly cycles), and this is the danger zone. Last summer I found myself overcome with extreme fatigue, aching muscles and joints, nightly sweats that drenched two sets of pj's AND bedding, and a totally belligerent personality (not totally out of character, however...) Anyway, I was sure I had some horrible disease, such as Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Rheumatoid arthritis, or some fatal combination of the three, and the two testosterone-laden dudes I live with (one my adult son-I'm NOT a bigamist) kept remarking that all I did was sleep (in between necessary obligations like work and such)! It wasn't until I googled and googled my eyeballs out, however, that I finally started discovering what ailed me.

Once I diagnosed myself (I should have a medical degree for all the internet research I've done over the years!), I first tried natural remedies-herbs, over-the-counter creams and pills- and when those were mostly ineffective, my health-care provider (a nurse-midwife) supplied me with hormonal help in the form of "bio-identical" progesterone cream and then capsules when the cream wouldn't cut it. That therapy initially saved my sanity, but it wasn't long before I relapsed into last summer's misery. I begged the nurse-midwife for anything-I didn't care if it caused cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, was illegal or immoral...I needed SOMETHING (sort of like going through labor and begging for something stronger than the typical placebo-ish painkillers). She put me on birth control pills, and after 2 weeks of even worse misery (a headache that bordered on unbearable), Hallelujah!, my suffering dropped from an 8 to a 3, like magic! It actually occurred about 3pm last Tuesday afternoon, literally.

Of course I now have to endure the anti-HT (hormone therapy) naturalists, but I just give them a look that would wither Hitler (belligerance can be learned and stored up for later ammunition), and rattle off several books they need to readbefore I will deign to enter into discussion with them. Knowledge is power, ladies, and here's a list of the great, BALANCED books that will open your eyes and help you sort out what you need to do to survive this necessary, but often turbulent and painful time...sort of like reliving your teenage years. Here is my (growing) book list:

Could it be...Perimenopause? by Goldstein and Ashner
The Pause by Dr. Lonnie Barbach (older book, but still wonderful AND essential)
Is is Hot in Here, or is it me? by Kantrowitz and Kelly
Menopause Sucks by Joanne Kimes
Menopause Matters by Dr. Edelman
HRT: Everything you Need to know... by Tara Parker-Pope

I do have to point out that there are numerous women who sail through the whole menopause thing without so much as a bump in the road, but as someone on the other end of that enviable spectrum, I NEEDED help, or I was going to leave home, become a drug addict, and check myself into a mental hospital, making sure I had a green card and morphine to treat my condition.

Additionally, many of us have been poisoned by the 2001 Women's Health Initiative Study that completely scared the world in regards to Hormone Therapy. But if you read even one or two of the above listed books, you will find that many of the conclusions that study reached are not entirely valid, and in some cases actually wrong. For example, the average age of women in the WHI study was mid-60's and well past menopause. Those are not the women who are suffering/needing HT for five or less years to survive perimenopause. Researchers began to look at the results of the younger women in the study, and the conclusions drawn from that subset vary dramatically from the older subset. Another controversy you'll encounter once you dig into HT involves the conflict over "bio-identical" vs. synthetic treatments. Once again, as a scientifically-minded person who needs solid research to believe any claims, I have to say that there is NO scientific basis proving that "bio-identical" hormone therapy is safer or more effective than synthetic treatments, period. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Suzanne Somers!

Happy hormones, ladies (and gents)!