List Books » The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change
Authors: Christiane Northrup
ISBN-13: 9780553384093, ISBN-10: 0553384090
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Date Published: October 2006
Edition: REV
Christiane Northrup, M.D., trained at Dartmouth Medical School and Tufts New England Medical Center before cofounding the Women to Women health care center in Yarmouth, Maine, which became a model for women's clinics nationwide. Board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, she is past president of the American Holistic Medical Association and an internationally recognized authority on women's health and healing.
Menopause is every woman s awakening a stage that holds enormous promise for healing our bodies, minds, and spirits on the deepest levels.
Dr. Christiane Northrup destroys myths and challenges convention. Now in her groundbreaking new book, The Wisdom of Menopause, she will forever change your views on menopause. Filled with remarkable new health choices, research, and Dr. Northrup s own candid personal experience, The Wisdom of Menopause is the ultimate guide for every woman ready to come into her own.
Northrup (Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom), cofounder of the Women to Women health-care center in Maine, offers a celebratory, "psychospiritual" approach in her comprehensive guide to menopausal health and well-being. Beginning with the premise that, though difficult, the "hormone-driven changes that affect the brain... give a woman a sharper eye for inequity... and a voice that insists on speaking up," Northrup details hormonal imbalances, mood swings, serious illnesses, treatment options and all the other symptoms, side effects and decisions women face in midlife. Middle-aged herself, Northrup writes from experience and, more important, from her professional expertise as a physician who has treated many women and researched menopause. While much of the health-care material here is available in other sources, Northrup's approach a description of symptoms, followed by both traditional and alternative treatment options along with some anecdotes is particularly useful. Occasionally she veers off into New Age jargon, but she is a firm believer in the relevance of tangential influences on physical health, including emotional and financial well-being. The specific medical advice on sleep, diet, breast health and the empowerment motif will bring insight, comfort and confidence to women embarked on "the change." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
List of Figures | xiii | |
Acknowledgments | xv | |
Introduction: The Journey Begins | 1 | |
Midlife: Redefining Creativity and Home | 3 | |
Why I'm Writing a Menopause Book Now | 5 | |
Blazing a New Trail | 6 | |
Chapter 1 | Menopause Puts Your Life Under a Microscope | 9 |
"Not Me, My Marriage Is Fine" | 10 | |
The Childbearing Years: Balancing Personal and Professional Lives | 12 | |
Why Marriages Must Change at Midlife | 16 | |
My Personal Fibroid Story: The Final Chapter | 20 | |
Feeling the Joy of Co-creative Partnership | 23 | |
The Forces That Change the Goose Also Change the Gander | 26 | |
Real Menopause Hits | 27 | |
My Marriage Goes Bankrupt | 28 | |
Armadillo Medicine: The Power of Vulnerability | 31 | |
Celebrating the Past While Creating a New Future | 33 | |
Chapter 2 | The Brain Catches Fire at Menopause | 36 |
Our Cultural Inheritance | 36 | |
Our Brains Catch Fire at Menopause | 38 | |
Learning to Recognize and Heed Our Wake-up Calls | 39 | |
Is It Me or Is It My Hormones? Debunking the Myth of Raging Hormones | 42 | |
The Multiple Roles of Your "Reproductive" Hormones | 48 | |
Embracing the Message Behind Our Menopausal Anger | 53 | |
Emotions, Hormones, and Your Health | 57 | |
How Our Midlife Brains and Bodies Are Set Up to Heal Our Past | 66 | |
Finding a Larger Meaning | 71 | |
Chapter 3 | Coming Home to Yourself: From Dependence to Healthy Autonomy | 76 |
The Empty-Nest Syndrome | 76 | |
Boomerang Babies | 80 | |
Powerful Feelings, Powerful Healing | 82 | |
Caring for Ourselves, Caring for Others: Finding the Balance | 84 | |
Hitting Pay Dirt: Getting Clear About Money at Midlife | 90 | |
Coming Home to Yourself | 97 | |
Vocational Awakening at Midlife | 99 | |
A Road Map for Navigating Unknown Territory | 102 | |
Chapter 4 | This Can't Be Menopause, Can It? The Physical Foundation of the Change | 105 |
What Is Happening in Your Body: Hormonal Changes | 106 | |
Perimenopause Is a Normal Process, Not a Disease | 107 | |
The Three Types of Menopause | 110 | |
Perimenopause and Hormonal Levels | 112 | |
Is There a Test I Can Take? | 114 | |
Menopause and Thyroid Function | 118 | |
Menopause and Adrenal Function | 119 | |
What to Expect in Your Transition | 124 | |
Chapter 5 | Hormone Replacement: An Individual Choice | 134 |
A Brief History of Hormone Replacement | 134 | |
Bioidentical Hormones: Nature's Ideal Design | 138 | |
A Hormone Primer: Essential Information Every Woman Should Know | 142 | |
How to Decide Whether or Not to Take Hormones | 154 | |
A Dusting of Hormones | 169 | |
How Long Should You Stay on Hormones? | 170 | |
Chapter 6 | Foods and Supplements to Support the Change | 172 |
Basic Principles of Herbal Therapy at Menopause | 174 | |
Menopausal Healing Foods | 178 | |
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture for Menopause | 187 | |
Start Somewhere | 190 | |
Chapter 7 | The Menopause Food Plan: A Program to Balance Your Hormones and Prevent Middle-Age Spread | 191 |
Making Peace (Once Again) with My Weight | 192 | |
Five Steps to Midlife Weight Control | 194 | |
The Elements of Imbalance | 199 | |
The Hormone-Balancing Food Plan | 205 | |
Optimizing Midlife Digestion | 219 | |
The Final Frontier: Accepting Our Bodies | 225 | |
Chapter 8 | Creating Pelvic Health and Power | 227 |
What Is Yours, What Is Mine, What Is Ours? Reclaiming Our Boundaries | 228 | |
Hormonal Imbalance: Fuel to the Fire | 231 | |
Menstrual Cramps and Pelvic Pain | 231 | |
Heavy Bleeding | 235 | |
Fibroids | 240 | |
An Empowered Approach to Surgery or Invasive Procedures | 247 | |
Strengthen Your Urinary Health and Pelvic Floor Muscles | 254 | |
Chapter 9 | Sex and Menopause: Myths and Reality | 264 |
The Anatomy of Desire | 265 | |
Sexuality at Menopause: Our Cultural Inheritance | 267 | |
Menopause Is a Time to Redefine and Update Our Relationships | 274 | |
Hormone Levels Are Only One Part of Libido | 277 | |
Secondary Libidinal Support: Estrogen and Progesterone | 279 | |
Testosterone: The Hormone of Desire? | 281 | |
Aids to Lubrication | 283 | |
Telling the Truth | 287 | |
Nine Steps to Rekindling Libido | 289 | |
Chapter 10 | Nurturing Your Brain: Sleep, Depression, and Memory | 292 |
Enhancing Midlife Sleep | 296 | |
Depression: An Opportunity for Growth | 304 | |
Memory Loss at Menopause: Is This Alzheimer's? | 314 | |
Estrogen and Alzheimer's | 316 | |
Non-hormonal Ways to Protect Your Brain | 319 | |
Maximizing Midlife Wisdom | 323 | |
Chapter 11 | From Rosebud to Rose Hip: Cultivating Midlife Beauty | 328 |
Making Peace with Your Changing Skin | 330 | |
Preventing or Treating Wrinkles | 336 | |
Midlife Acne | 347 | |
Rosacea | 351 | |
Hair in the Wrong Places | 354 | |
When Good Skin Care Isn't Enough: Deciding on Cosmetic Procedures | 360 | |
Varicose Veins | 364 | |
Chapter 12 | Standing Tall for Life: Building Healthy Bones | 369 |
Osteoporosis: The Scope of the Problem | 370 | |
We're Designed for Lifetime Sturdiness | 371 | |
How Healthy Bone Is Made | 372 | |
Are You at Risk for Osteoporosis? | 377 | |
Measuring Bone Density | 381 | |
Bone-Building Program | 385 | |
What About Bone-Building Drugs? | 393 | |
Get Strong | 394 | |
The Sunlight-Bone Health Connection | 403 | |
Shore Up Your Earth Connection with Plant Medicine | 408 | |
Chapter 13 | Creating Breast Health | 409 |
Our Cultural Inheritance: Nurturing and Self-Sacrifice | 410 | |
The Emotional Anatomy of Breast Cancer | 412 | |
Lifestyle and Breast Health | 417 | |
Eating for Breast Health | 420 | |
Breast Cancer Screening | 423 | |
Putting Breast Cancer Risk in Perspective | 431 | |
The Breast Cancer Gene: Should You Be Tested? | 433 | |
The Effect of HRT on Breast Health | 434 | |
Bioidentical Hormones and Cancer Risk | 437 | |
The Tamoxifen Dilemma | 444 | |
Chapter 14 | Living with Heart, Passion, and Joy: How to Listen to and Love Your Midlife Heart | 449 |
The Heart Has Its Say at Menopause: My Personal Story | 450 | |
Cardiovascular Disease: When the Flow of Life Is Blocked | 454 | |
Palpitations: Your Heart's Wake-up Call | 456 | |
Gender Bias and Heart Disease: Our Cultural Inheritance | 459 | |
Arteriosclerosis: Reducing Your Risk | 462 | |
Carbohydrates, Sugar, and Heart Health: What Every Woman Should Know | 472 | |
Cardioprotective Supplements | 475 | |
Foods for Heart Health | 480 | |
What About Aspirin? | 482 | |
Get Moving! | 483 | |
Is Estrogen Replacement Necessary to Prevent Heart Disease? | 487 | |
How to Love and Respect Your Midlife Heart | 492 | |
The Heart-Opening Effect of Pets | 493 | |
Epilogue: The Calm After the Storm | 495 | |
Notes | 499 | |
Resources | 538 | |
Index | 567 | |
About the Author | 591 |