Is Menopause a Disease?
Is Menopause a Disease?
by Gail Bowman
When did this natural part of a woman’s life become a disease to be dreaded, hated and “cured”? In previous centuries, and in other cultures, menopause is a happy time to be celebrated! A time of freedom, health and maturity. So what happened to us?
According to Dr John Lee in his book, What your Doctor May not tell you about Menopause, our current situation is a result of environmental pollutants, poor nutrition, and a huge advertising campaign by the pharmaceutical companies!! According to Dr Lee, a doctor named Dr Wilson published a paper on menopause in 1964 (which was based on scanty research) expounding the ability to stop menopause by giving women estrogen. The ball was picked up by a journalist named Ann Walsh, then by Newsweek and then we were off and running with a dangerous and ineffective cure for a disease that is not a disease.
The original research was done on a small group of women in Puerto Rico. 20% of the women complained of bad side-effects and 3 women died! In her book, The Menopause Industry: How the Medical Establishment Exploits Women, Dr Paula Doress-Worters states “…assertions promoted a stereotyped view of postmenopausal women as asexual, neurotic, and unattractive. As a result, exogenous estrogen was approved for prescription use without adequate testing and soon became one of the five top-selling prescription drugs.”
By 1975 women who were taking Estrogen Replacement Therapy were developing uterine cancer at a rate four to eight times greater than in untreated women!! So why is it so popular that most doctors practically insist that you take it? Profit. Drug companies make millions off of it . The media makes millions advertising it for the pharmaceutical companies, who then jam it down our, and our doctor’s, throats.
So, if you don’t want ERT, and you are having the very real (in our industrialized society) symptoms of hot flashes, weight gain, mood swings and lack of interest in sex, what can you do?
There are many things that we can choose to do. We can reduce the toxins in our systems by avoiding things that we know are toxic including paint fumes, new carpet fumes, nail polish remover, chlorine, commercially available cleaning products and soaps, pesticides, herbicides, solvents, plastics, etc. We can choose to eat organic foods, not to do our nails, not to put regular soaps on our skin, to wear gloves when we have to use cleaning products on our homes, not to use pesticides in our gardens, not to drink or eat from plastic containers that let off toxins when they are heated, etc. We can choose to eat right and exercise.
The other thing we can do is to educate ourselves about natural progesterone treatment. I am convinced about natural progesterone treatment and toxin avoidance, and the difference that they can make to our thyroids, our hormones, our weight, our sex drive, our cancer risk, and our lives! I very much believe that every woman should read What Your Doctor May not Tell You about Menopause by Dr John Lee!
Educate yourself about the effect toxins have on our bodies and our hormones. Join me in telling others about the risk of Estrogen Replacement Therapy and take the time to read the book for yourself! Your life might depend on it!
My wife kept reading me parts of that book to scare me. She read one thing that said I was getting estrogen from my plastic water bottle. Now all my thermoses are metal.
Comment by Dan Black — August 28, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
Hi Gail,
I wanted to comment on the info you have on Dr. Lee and Progesterone. I think the Dr. Lee bandwagon is starting to slow down. With new studies etc, it’s becoming more known, that transdermal Progesterone will NOT protect the uterus (I know, as I got uterine cancer at a young age while on it)
I invite you to listen to Dr. Vliet. Or read her books. She is so on top of women’s health!
I have also have had other major negative effects since my hyst, from progesterone cream as have many other women.
Here’s a link to Dr. Vliet’s site. She’s a MAJOR advocate for women.
http://herplace.com/
Her radio shows have been quite interesting and enlightening.
Kindly,
Liz Vernand
Comment by Liz Vernand — August 29, 2008 @ 10:39 am
Thank you Liz,
I am glad you have started a discussion and another place we can look for information. I am hoping that women will start to look closer at standard hormone replacement treatment and make educated decisions, instead of being led like cattle to the slaughter. Thank you!
Comment by Gail — August 29, 2008 @ 10:44 am
HOW CAN LOOSING YOUR MIND AND GAINING WEIGHT AND ALL THE HOT FLASHES AND MESS YOU GO THROUG BE A TIME OF JOY AND CELEBRATION IT IS PART OF THE CURSE WE FEMALES GET AS A RESULT OF EVE’S SIN I PRAY I DONT LIVE TO SEE THAT DAY BUT WHEN I READ SUZANNES BOOK I GOT HOPE IN THE MEAN TIME I DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO KEEP MY REAL AGE LOWER THAN MY NUMBER AGE TO DELAY THE ONSET OF THIS MESS.
Comment by Pamela Williams — January 10, 2010 @ 3:29 pm
I just stumbled upon this website and thought I’d let you know that I found a doctor in California who is an MD gynecologist and is into helping women manage these horrible symptoms.
I use bioidentical estradiol gel and natural progesterone slow release capsule. They check my uterine lining, I have no bleedings and I feel great. It’s easy to do a google serch for Dr. Rabin (in Burbank, CA and there is also a phone consult he does for my sister who is out of town (gynConsultations dot com) There is hope and relief. I hope this helps someone out there!
Comment by Nancy — October 21, 2012 @ 11:20 am