Menopause Before 40: Coping with Premature Ovarian Failure [Paperback]

Karin Banerd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

If you suspect you are in early menopause, you need this book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karin combines writing with her other passions: teaching, gardening, playing soccer, and raising parrots, sheep, dogs, and her five children. Her writing and photography have appeared in avicultural magazines, textbooks and other educational materials. She is currently working on her next book about midwifery. Karin lives with her family and animals in the countryside near Ottawa, Canada.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Your Health Press (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412034647
• ISBN-13: 978-1412034647
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last! The truth about early menopause, March 16, 2005

By 

L. Jenkins - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Menopause Before 40: Coping with Premature Ovarian Failure (Paperback)

Karin Banerd explains at the beginning of this book that premature menopause can occur naturally, as a result of a full or partial hysterectomy, or as a result of radiation or chemotherapy treatment. When Banerd realized that she was experiencing premature ovarian failure naturally (her body began the process before she was 35), the lack of information and support for women in her situation left her feeling isolated and lost. Her desire to fill this gap in women's health literature prompted her to write this book.

Menopause Before 40 is full of useful information. Banerd provides practical advice on how to identify and cope with the symptoms of early menopause. She includes a clear, thoughtful discussion on the pros and cons of various hormone replacement therapies (HRTs), and identifies the benefits and risks of some alternative approaches to alleviating menopausal symptoms. A list of web resources (which includes both Canadian and US sites), an extensive bibliography, and a good index are also provided.

But what makes this book unique is Banerd's courageous, deeply personal account of her own experience with early menopause. She describes the physical, emotional, and mental highs and lows that she experienced, and how they affected every aspect of her life, including her marriage, her work, and her sense of self. She tells the story of this tumultuous period in her life with unflinching honesty. It's all here - the frustration of trying to find doctors who would listen to her (at least one flatly refused to believe that a woman of her age could be menopausal), the devastating bouts of depression, the havoc wreaked on her sex life, and her struggles to fulfill her roles as employee, wife, and mother. Banerd tells her story calmly and matter-of-factly, but her descriptions of these experiences are heartrending.

Menopause Before 40 is an excellent resource for women who are, or suspect they are, experiencing early menopause. Karin Banerd makes the sometimes complex material interesting and easy to understand. This book will also be of interest to anyone, male or female, who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the impact that early menopause has on the women who experience it and those around them.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book for women with POF, May 29, 2005

By 

CW (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Menopause Before 40: Coping with Premature Ovarian Failure (Paperback)

If you suffer from premature ovarian failure, and are going through early menopause as a result, you'll find this book validates every single thought, emotion, physical feeling and sense of personal chaos you may be going through. I sure did! I want to thank the author for being so candid. I have read material on POF on the internet, and think this book should be required reading.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early menopause: a personal journey., March 20, 2005

By 

Anne-Marie De Vos - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Menopause Before 40: Coping with Premature Ovarian Failure (Paperback)

Karin Banerd's book is a most useful guide for all women who find themselves in the bewildering predicament of experiencing early menopause. Karin provides the reader with a most touching account of her long and painful journey to discovery, search for solutions and finally coping with this potentially health-threatening condition.

Karin's description of her poignant experiences as well as the wealth of well-researched material on all aspects of early menopause, including HRT, will no doubt be of great support to other women and their partners who find themselves in the same difficult situation. Her courage in telling her personal story will, I think, be appreciated by patients and doctors alike.

Moreover, Karin delivers this information from the point of view of the patient, not the medical practitioner.