Every day in my practice I encounter women who say they are feeling out of control, going crazy and losing a grip on their lives. Many of them are experiencing the extreme symptoms of menopause and side effects of conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Others are suffering from the debilitating effects of postnatal depression, panic attacks, anxiety and other mood disorders. Many have suffered from endometriosis, cystitis or chronic infertility and are desperate for a solution and an end to their ordeal. And more and more women come to see me simply so that they can be well informed about the options out there as they go through hormonal changes, making them better prepared for life after menopause.
We know first hand what hormone hell is like – or we’ve seen our friends go through it and we want to avoid it for ourselves. This book is about your options as you negotiate the ups and downs of hormonal changes and the impacts these have on your life. Whether you are trying to fall pregnant, suffering from PMS, dealing with the post-pregnancy come-down, facing peri-menopause or the full-blown assault of menopause, you do have choices and a range of treatments can work.
Our Western medical environment is dominated by doctors and prescribe HRT or antidepressants and send women on their way. Few physicians are able or even willing to listen, then to “join the dots” when it comes to the myriad of symptoms women experience as a result of hormonal imbalance, and then to offer a range of treatment options, from conventional drugs to bio-identical hormone therapy and alternative therapies.
Sometimes I find patients do well with HRT and antidepressants; sometimes they do better on bio-identical hormones. And sometimes mine is not the only advice they need – they need the help of a nutritionist like Vicki, who can explain the powerful effects dietary changes can have on their hormone levels (more about Vicki’s magical nutritional powers later).
Women often feel reduced to the role of a child when they visit their doctor, as if they need to take the doctor’s advice ‘or else’. I hope that this book will encourage you to be a proactive patient, to become a knowledgeable participant in your healthcare. Don’t forget that you employ doctors to give you health advice; if you don’t like their approach or methods, you can find someone else. The ideal is to find a doctor with whom you can work as a team focused on improving your health.