Wisdom of Menopause : The Complete Guide to Physical and Emotional Health During the Change

by NORTHRUP, CHRISTIANE MD

• ISBN13: 9780553801217
• ISBN10: 055380121X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Bantam

Summary

Dr. Christiane Northrup has become one of American women's most trusted medical advisers. InWomen's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, she broke entirely new ground by demonstrating that women's most common medical problems are often rooted in the basic conditions of their lives -- and that they can return to health by learning to listen to their bodies. She also integrated advanced medical techniques with the best natural remedies, offering readers specific guidance on choosing the right approach for themselves. Now, inThe Wisdom of Menopause, Dr. Northrup once again challenges convention. "The change" is not simply a collection of physical problems to be "fixed" -- whether with hormones or herbs -- but a mind-body revolution that brings the greatest opportunity for growth since adolescence. This vitally important new book examines the connection between menopause and a woman's emotional and spiritual life. And it stresses how the choices a woman makes now -- from the quality of her relationships to the quality of her diet--either secure her health and well-being for the rest of her life, or put her future at risk. Dr. Northrup draws on her own life-changing experiences -- as well as on many intimate case histories--to explore the transformative power of these years. Readers will learn: *how menopause literally rewires the brain, triggering a shift of priorities from nesting and caretaking to personal growth and equality *how to listen for the wake-up calls inherent in women's cyclic nature, from PMS to SAD to menopausal symptoms *how the body adjusts naturally to changing hormones, and how to make personalized decisions about HRT and alternative supplements *how to rebalance metabolism shifts and prevent middle-age spread *how to deal with the myths and realities of sexual changes and appearance issues *how to prevent long-term health problems such as heart disease, hormone-related cancers, and memory loss Candid and reassuring,The Wisdom of Menopauseelucidates the changes women should expect from ages 40 to 55, and shows how these changes can be wonderfully life-affirming. Instead of dreading menopause as a time of loss, women will hear the real message their bodies are sending -- that this is a time of personal empowerment and positive energy ... and a time for women to break free and thrive.

Author Biography

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. 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

Table of Contents

List of Figures	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction: The Journey Begins	1	(2)
Midlife: Redefining Creativity and Home	3	(2)
Why I'm Writing a Menopause Book Now	5	(1)
Blazing a New Trail	6	(3)
Menopause Puts Your Life Under a Microscope	9	(27)
``Not Me, My Marriage Is Fine''	10	(2)
The Childbearing Years: Balancing Personal and Professional Lives	12	(4)
Why Marriages Must Change at Midlife	16	(4)
My Personal Fibroid Story: The Final Chapter	20	(3)
Feeling the Joy of Co-creative Partnership	23	(3)
The Forces That Change the Goose Also Change the Gander	26	(1)
Real Menopause Hits	27	(1)
My Marriage Goes Bankrupt	28	(3)
Armadillo Medicine: The Power of Vulnerability	31	(2)
Celebrating the Past While Creating a New Future	33	(3)
The Brain Catches Fire at Menopause	36	(40)
Our Cultural Inheritance	36	(2)
Our Brains Catch Fire at Menopause	38	(1)
Learning to Recognize and Heed Our Wake-up Calls	39	(3)
Is It Me or Is It My Hormones? Debunking the Myth of Raging Hormones	42	(6)
The Multiple Roles of Your ``Reproductive'' Hormones	48	(5)
Embracing the Message Behind Our Menopausal Anger	53	(4)
Emotions, Hormones, and Your Health	57	(9)
How Our Midlife Brains and Bodies Are Set Up to Heal Our Past	66	(5)
Finding a Larger Meaning	71	(5)
Coming Home to Yourself: From Dependence to Healthy Autonomy	76	(29)
The Empty-Nest Syndrome	76	(4)
Boomerang Babies	80	(2)
Powerful Feelings, Powerful Healing	82	(2)
Caring for Ourselves, Caring for Others: Finding the Balance	84	(6)
Hitting Pay Dirt: Getting Clear About Money at Midlife	90	(7)
Coming Home to Yourself	97	(2)
Vocational Awakening at Midlife	99	(3)
A Road Map for Navigating Unknown Territory	102	(3)
This Can't Be Menopause, Can It? The Physical Foundation of the Change	105	(29)
What Is Happening in Your Body: Hormonal Changes	106	(1)
Perimenopause Is a Normal Process, Not a Disease	107	(3)
The Three Types of Menopause	110	(2)
Perimenopause and Hormonal Levels	112	(2)
Is There a Test I Can Take?	114	(4)
Menopause and Thyroid Function	118	(1)
Menopause and Adrenal Function	119	(5)
What to Expect in Your Transition	124	(10)
Hormone Replacement: An Individual Choice	134	(38)
A Brief History of Hormone Replacement	134	(4)
Bioidentical Hormones: Nature's Ideal Design	138	(4)
A Hormone Primer: Essential Information Every Woman Should Know	142	(12)
How to Decide Whether or Not to Take Hormones	154	(15)
A Dusting of Hormones	169	(1)
How Long Should You Stay on Hormones?	170	(2)
Foods and Supplements to Support the Change	172	(19)
Basic Principles of Herbal Therapy at Menopause	174	(4)
Menopausal Healing Foods	178	(9)
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture for Menopause	187	(3)
Start Somewhere	190	(1)
The Menopause Food Plan: A Program to Balance Your Hormones and Prevent Middle-Age Spread	191	(36)
Making Peace (Once Again) with My Weight	192	(2)
Five Steps to Midlife Weight Control	194	(5)
The Elements of Imbalance	199	(6)
The Hormone-Balancing Food Plan	205	(14)
Optimizing Midlife Digestion	219	(6)
The Final Frontier: Accepting Our Bodies	225	(2)
Creating Pelvic Health and Power	227	(37)
What Is Yours, What Is Mine, What Is Ours? Reclaiming Our Boundaries	228	(3)
Hormonal Imbalance: Fuel to the Fire	231	(1)
Menstrual Cramps and Pelvic Pain	231	(4)
Heavy Bleeding	235	(5)
Fibroids	240	(7)
An Empowered Approach to Surgery or Invasive Procedures	247	(7)
Strengthen Your Urinary Health and Pelvic Floor Muscles	254	(10)
Sex and Menopause: Myths and Reality	264	(28)
The Anatomy of Desire	265	(2)
Sexuality at Menopause: Our Cultural Inheritance	267	(7)
Menopause Is a Time to Redefine and Update Our Relationships	274	(3)
Hormone Levels Are Only One Part of Libido	277	(2)
Secondary Libidinal Support: Estrogen and Progesterone	279	(2)
Testosterone: The Hormone of Desire?	281	(2)
Aids to Lubrication	283	(4)
Telling the Truth	287	(2)
Nine Steps to Rekindling Libido	289	(3)
Nurturing Your Brain: Sleep, Depression, and Memory	292	(36)
Enhancing Midlife Sleep	296	(8)
Depression: An Opportunity for Growth	304	(10)
Memory Loss at Menopause: Is This Alzheimer's?	314	(2)
Estrogen and Alzheimer's	316	(3)
Non-hormonal Ways to Protect Your Brain	319	(4)
Maximizing Midlife Wisdom	323	(5)
From Rosebud to Rose Hip: Cultivating Midlife Beauty	328	(41)
Making Peace with Your Changing Skin	330	(6)
Preventing or Treating Wrinkles	336	(11)
Midlife Acne	347	(4)
Rosacea	351	(3)
Hair in the Wrong Places	354	(6)
When Good Skin Care Isn't Enough: Deciding on Cosmetic Procedures	360	(4)
Varicose Veins	364	(5)
Standing Tall for Life: Building Healthy Bones	369	(40)
Osteoporosis: The Scope of the Problem	370	(1)
We're Designed for Lifetime Sturdiness	371	(1)
How Healthy Bone Is Made	372	(5)
Are You at Risk for Osteoporosis?	377	(4)
Measuring Bone Density	381	(4)
Bone-Building Program	385	(8)
What About Bone-Building Drugs?	393	(1)
Get Strong	394	(9)
The Sunlight-Bone Health Connection	403	(5)
Shore Up Your Earth Connection with Plant Medicine	408	(1)
Creating Breast Health	409	(40)
Our Cultural Inheritance: Nurturing and Self-Sacrifice	410	(2)
The Emotional Anatomy of Breast Cancer	412	(5)
Lifestyle and Breast Health	417	(3)
Eating for Breast Health	420	(3)
Breast Cancer Screening	423	(8)
Putting Breast Cancer Risk in Perspective	431	(2)
The Breast Cancer Gene: Should You Be Tested?	433	(1)
The Effect of HRT on Breast Health	434	(3)
Bioidentical Hormones and Cancer Risk	437	(7)
The Tamoxifen Dilemma	444	(5)
Living with Heart, Passion, and Joy: How to Listen to and Love Your Midlife Heart	449	(46)
The Heart Has Its Say at Menopause: My Personal Story	450	(4)
Cardiovascular Disease: When the Flow of Life Is Blocked	454	(2)
Palpitations: Your Heart's Wake-up Call	456	(3)
Gender Bias and Heart Disease: Our Cultural Inheritance	459	(3)
Arteriosclerosis: Reducing Your Risk	462	(10)
Carbohydrates, Sugar, and Heart Health: What Every Woman Should Know	472	(3)
Cardioprotective Supplements	475	(5)
Foods for Heart Health	480	(2)
What About Aspirin?	482	(1)
Get Moving!	483	(4)
Is Estrogen Replacement Necessary to Prevent Heart Disease?	487	(5)
How to Love and Respect Your Midlife Heart	492	(1)
The Heart-Opening Effect of Pets	493	(2)
Epilogue: The Calm After the Storm	495	(4)
Notes	499	(39)
Resources	538	(29)
Index	567	(24)
About the Author	591

Excerpts

In the year or two before I actually started to skip periods, I began to experience an increasingly common feeling of irritability whenever my work was interrupted or I had to contend with a co-worker or an employee who was not as committed to accomplishing the job as I was. Looking back, I recall that when I was in my thirties and my children were younger, their interruptions when I was in the middle of writing an article or talking on the phone were only mildly irritating to me. My love and concern for their welfare usually overrode any anger or frustration I might have felt.

But as I approached menopause, I found myself unable to tolerate distractions like my eighteen year old daughter asking me, "When is dinner?" when she could clearly see I was busy. Why, I wondered, was it always my responsibility to turn on the stove and begin to think about my family's food needs, even when I wasn't hungry and was deeply engrossed in a project? Why couldn't my husband get the dinner preparations started? Why did my family seem to be almost totally paralyzed when it came to preparing a meal? Why did they all wait in the kitchen, as though unable to set the table or pour a glass of water, until I came into the room and my mere presence announced, "Mom's here. Now we get to eat"?... Still, during my childbearing years I accepted this, mostly good-naturedly, as part and parcel of my role as wife and mother. And in so doing, I unwittingly perpetrated it, partly because it felt so good to be indispensable.

During perimenopause, I lost patience with this behavior on all levels, whether at home or at work. I could feel a fiery volcano within me, ready to burst, and a voice within me roaring, "Enough! You're all able-bodied, capable individuals. Everyone here knows how to drive a car and boil water. Why is my energy still the organizing principle around here?"

Little did I know that these little bursts of irritability over petty family dynamics were the first faint knocks on the door marked Menopausal Wisdom signaling that I needed to renegotiate some of my habitual relationship patterns. Nor did I know that by the time I began to actually skip periods and experience hot flashes, my life as I had known it for the previous quarter century would be on the threshold of total transformation. As my cyclic nature rewired itself, I put all of my significant relationships under the microscope, began to heal the unfinished business from my past, experienced the first pangs of empty nest, and established an entirely new and exciting relationship with my creativity and vocation.

All of the changes I was about to undergo were spurred, supported and encouraged by the complex and intricate brain and body changes that are an unheralded -- but inevitable and often overwhelming -- part of the menopausal transition. There is much, much more to this midlife transformation than "raging hormones." Research into the physiological changes taking place in the perimenopausal woman is revealing that, in addition to the hormonal shift that means an end to childbearing, our bodies -- and, specifically, our nervous systems -- are being, quite literally, rewired. It's as simple as this: Our brains are changing. A woman's thoughts, her ability to focus, and the amount of fuel going to the intuitive centers in the temporal lobes of her brain are all plugged into, and affected by, the circuits being rewired. After working with thousands of women who have gone through this process, as well as experiencing it myself, I can say with a great assurance that menopause is an exciting developmental stage -- one that, when participated in consciously, holds enormous promise for transforming and healing our bodies, minds, and spirits at the deepest levels.

As a woman in midlife today, I am part of a growing population that is an unprecedented forty million strong. This group is no longer invisible and silent, but a force to be reckoned with: educated, vocal, sophisticated in our knowledge of medical science, and determined to take control of our own health. Think about it: forty million women, all undergoing the same sort of circuitry update at the same time. By virtue of our sheer numbers, as well as our social and economic influence, we are powerful -- and potentially dangerous to any institution build upon the status quo. It's a safe bet the world is going to change for the better.

It's no accident that the current movement of psychospiritual healing is composed largely of women in their thirties, forties, and fifties. We are awakening en masse and beginning to deliver a much-needed message of health, hope, and healing to the world.

My personal experience tells me that the perimenopausal lifting of the hormonal veil -- the monthly cycle of reproductive hormones that tends to keep us focused on the needs and feelings of others -- can be both liberating and unsettling. The midlife rate of marital separation, divorce, and vocational change confirms this. I, for one, had always envisioned myself married to the same man for life, the two of us growing old together. This ideal had always been one of my most cherished dreams. At midlife, I, like thousands of others, have had to give up my fantasies of how I thought my life would be. I had to face, head on, the old adage about how hard it is to lose what you never really had. It means giving up all your illusions, and it is very difficult. But for me the issue was larger than where, and with whom, I would grow old. It was a warning, coming from deep within my spirit, that said, "Grow ... or die." Those were my choices. I chose to grow.

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Excerpted from The Wisdom of Menopause: The Complete Guide to Physical and Emotional Health During the Change by Christiane Northrup
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.