Could It Be...Perimenopause? - Hardcover

In clear, supportive prose, Goldstein offers no-baloney advice. "Today's perimenopausal women has neither the time nor the patience to go through four to fifteen years of symptoms without relief," he says. He fully delineates the roles of various hormones, how to determine if you're in perimenopause or not, as well as how to treat the various symptoms to gain control over your life. He's a big advocate of low- and ultra-low-dose birth-control pills: "There is nothing inherently advantageous about bursting the capsule of your ovary and having to repair it each month. There's no reason for having fluctuating levels of hormones floating around unless you want to have a baby." He also recommends some natural and herbal treatments (he tells which ones are more appropriate for menopausal or postmenopausal women, and which are worthless or even dangerous). He's also a big promoter of sonohysterography, a type of ultrasound test that he says could prevent up to three-fourths of all emergency-room visits made by women with excessive uterine bleeding.

With added resources, including URLs for recommended newsgroups, Web sites, and medical databases, along with information about the very latest in treatments (such as crinone, a natural progesterone gel), Goldstein's created an enormously beneficial reference for both women and health-care providers who could stand to brush up on this topic.

This compassionate and comprehensive book covers everything you need to know about perimenopause -- the changes that occur in the decade before menopause -- including:
-- How much of what you're feeling is due to fluctuating levels of estrogen. Menopause, by contrast, corresponds to a lack of estrogen. Knowing the difference is crucial to getting the right treatment.
-- The most effective medical therapies and natural remedies
-- Why low-dose birth-control pills are the best cycle regulators: myths and realities
-- What you can do about missing periods, gushing periods, and periods that seem never to end
-- How to avoid hysterectomy and D&C
-- How you can prevent weight gain during perimenopause
-- Ways to reignite your sex drive

Addressing women's most common concerns about perimenopause, as well as many questions women tend to be afraid to ask their doctors, Could It Be...Perimenopause? provides the facts you need to make smart decisions, and enables you to understand and feel in control of the changes taking place in your body.