Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health: Breakthrough Findings to Help You Sail Through Menopause (Harvard Medical School Guides) [Hardcover]

JoAnn E. Manson (Author), Shari S. Bassuk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2006 | Series: Harvard Medical School Guides

What you should know about menopausal hormone therapy--from the renowned Harvard doctor who is one of the pioneers conducting the latest research in the field

Recent news stories on the safety of menopausal hormone therapy (also known as hormone replacement therapy, or HRT) have raised public awareness and sparked a national debate. Now learn the facts about this controversial treatment for menopause--from the field's go-to expert.

Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health explains the changes that occur during menopause. It also provides you with state-of-the-art information to help you make informed decisions about hormone therapy and other options for treating symptoms of menopause. The cutting-edge research and advice presented in this book will help you determine whether to start hormone therapy, or, if you are already taking hormones, whether you should continue to do so. This book will help you work more effectively with your health care provider to make the best decisions about your medical care. If you have taken hormones in the past, Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health will also be useful in understanding the overall health effects of this treatment.

So, if you are debating whether to start, continue, or stop hormone therapy, Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health has the answers you need:

• The latest scientific evidence on the benefits and risks of managing menopause with hormone therapy
• Expert guidance in determining whether or not hormone therapy is the right choice for you, and, if it is, when to start, when to stop, and what type to use
• The truth about bioidentical hormones
• Healthful and effective options for women who cannot-or prefer not to-use hormone therapy

“Hot Flashes, Hormones & Your Health is one of the best books about menopause I've ever read. It is not only a great book for the woman going through menopause and experiencing this new phase of life, but also for the well-educated healthcare professional who thought she or he had read everything on the topic.”
--from a review by Robyn B. Faye, MD, FACOG; published in Flashes, the North America Menopause Society newsletter

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, difficulty with concentration, sexual dysfunction--are these symptoms of menopause disrupting your quality of life? Are you looking for relief but shying from hormone therapy because recent studies said it would increase your risk of heart disease? You are not alone. Thousands of women stopped taking hormone therapy as a result of those research findings--and in many the symptoms of menopause returned. Others never started hormones and have struggled with uncomfortable symptoms for years.

But there is hope. If you've just entered menopause and are in good cardiovascular health, hormone therapy may not only be the most effective option for relieving your symptoms of menopause but may also have heart benefits. You don't have to suffer through menopause; in fact, you can sail through it with help from Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health. Improve your life and defeat the symptoms with:

• The latest scientific information on the safety of managing menopause with hormone therapy
• The truth about bioidentical hormones
• Expert guidance in determining whether or not hormone therapy is the right choice for you and, if it is, when to start, when to stop, and what type to use
• Healthful and effective options for women who cannot-or prefer not to-use hormone therapy

Leading women's health authority Dr. JoAnn E. Manson examines the latest evidence about the benefits and risks of different types of hormone therapy. Her groundbreaking book will help you decide what the benefit-to-risk ratio of hormone therapy is likely to be for you, based on your age, time since menopause, overall health, illnesses that run in your family, lifestyle, and other factors.

Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health is an indispensable guide that will help you maintain not only optimal health but also your quality of life.

"In a time of unprecedented confusion, this book provides solid guidelines for the woman entering menopause. No one is better qualified than Dr. JoAnn Manson to give solid, evidence-based advice on this complex issue."
--Marianne J. Legato, M.D., F.A.C.P. Professor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia University

Founder/Director, Foundation for Gender Specific Medicine

Take control of menopause with the latest information on hormone therapy and alternative remedies

If you're going through menopause, you're probably familiar with its unpleasant symptoms, and you may be desperate for relief. Now, one of the world's top experts on women's health explains that you don't have to suffer through menopause--in fact, with the right information, you can sail through it. This unique book describes all the options available to you and provides a step-by-step guide to making informed choices based on your own symptoms and health profile.

To make the right decision for you, discover:

• If you're a good candidate for hormone therapy, or if you should avoid it for health reasons
• How to calculate-and reduce-your personal risk of five health conditions associated with hormone therapy
• The appropriate role for soy, black cohosh, and other alternative remedies in relieving menopausal symptoms

About the Author

JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., is a professor of medicine and the Elizabeth F. Brigham Professor of Women's Health at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and codirector of the Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology. The only person to have served as a lead investigator on two of the most influential studies of women's health ever conducted--the Women's Health Initiative and the Harvard Nurses' Health Study--Dr. Manson is widely recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on women's health.

Shari S. Bassuk, Sc.D., is an epidemiologist and science writer at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who frequently collaborates with Dr. Manson.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071468625
• ISBN-13: 978-0071468626
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #992,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good overview..., March 19, 2007

By 

Christopher M. Krumm "ND, LAc" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health: Breakthrough Findings to Help You Sail Through Menopause (Harvard Medical School Guides) (Hardcover)

Not a bad review on HRT options. Really quite technical and full of details that anyone but a health care provider will have difuculty fully grasping, but for those laypeople motivated to read it, it will still be quite usefull. As a health care provider myself, I wish the book was less wordy and had more bullet point summary charts with just the facts listed about various treatment options. Still, good information overall, and once I get motivated enough to type up my own summary sheets, I will likely use the info quite a bit in practice.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent summary of complex information, June 2, 2008

By 

Linda Roggli "ADDiva" (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health: Breakthrough Findings to Help You Sail Through Menopause (Harvard Medical School Guides) (Hardcover)

Finally! A source of information about the Women's Health Initiative that presents the real numbers, then explains them in a neutral, non-inflammatory manner.

I admit, I believed the media sound bites about the WHI and hormone replacement therapy. After all, scientists stopped the study because of the dangers of HRT. My gynecologist tried again and again to convince me that the study had been skewed toward older women. I listened with skepticism, looked at the data and even tried to read the WHI report (daunting and much too detailed for me).

"Hot Flashes Hormones and Your Health" shows that the truth lies somewhere in middle. Yes the study has some flaws. And yes, HRT has some risk factors. And yes, the decision about how to handle menopausal symptoms is a highly individual one that should take into account dozen of factors - age, severity of symptoms, genetics, type of HRT, etc.

Whew! It's a lot to comprehend. But Dr. Manson and her co-author have managed to present a mountain of scientific data in a way that is as user-friendly a possible. And if you don't want to plow through the charts and graphs, there are succinct summaries at the end of each chapter.

I was pleased to see that while the book is primarily a review of the WHI data, Dr. Manson presents information about alternative treatments for menopausal symptoms, to the extent that scientific data is available on their effectiveness.

I especially liked the conversational tone of the book - surprising, given the complexity of the subject matter. Kudos to Dr. Manson and her co-author.

Bottom line: solid data from one of the architects of the WHI with supporting statistics from other relevant women's studies. I recommend it highly!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HRT, November 18, 2010

By 

Truelove mtn Anesthetist - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hot Flashes, Hormones, and Your Health: Breakthrough Findings to Help You Sail Through Menopause (Harvard Medical School Guides) (Hardcover)

Although I am well educated in hormone replacement therapy and the associated risks and advantages, I didn't truly appreciate the loss of quality of life until I was in full menopausal symptoms. This book and resulting research helped me to chose low dose estrogen replacement therapy which has saved both my relationship with my husband and my sanity. Thank you!