The Savvy Woman's Guide to Testosterone: How to Revitalize Your Sexuality, Strength and Stamina (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Testosterone is as natural to women as estrogen. It is not just a man’s hormone. From a woman’s teens until menopause, her body makes more testosterone than estrogen! Testosterone is crucial to a woman’s health and well-being. Loss of testosterone can cause loss of sex drive and sexual sensation, marked fatigue, low energy, hair loss, decreased stamina, loss of height, and other symptoms.

New testosterone therapy options for women are poised to hit the consumer market in 2005 and will revolutionize approaches to help women’s sexual response, much as Viagra revolutionized the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men. Now it’s women’s turn.

This book is written by a nationally known women’s health physician and hormone specialist to provide reliable, cutting-edge medical information, important now to overcome stigma and negative myths about testosterone. Dr. Vliet teaches women to avoid risks of improper dosing using new treatment options with bioidentical testosterone. This book will help women learn ways to restore libido, improve muscle strength, build healthy bone, and maintain normal energy levels.

About the Author

Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D., is the founder and Medical Director of HER Place®: Health Enhancement and Renewal for Women Inc. She has studied and written about the effects of hormone changes on PMS, PCOS, migraines, sleep problems, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, osteoporosis and cardiovascular risks, etc. Her bestselling books include Screaming to Be Heard: Hormone Connections Women Suspect and Doctors Still Ignore, It’s My Ovaries, Stupid! and Women, Weight and Hormones. Dr. Vliet maintains a medical practice in Tucson, Arizona, and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 279 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company (April 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933213000
• ISBN-13: 978-1933213002
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #241,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Men get hormone tests and Viagra, Women get anti-depressants and a brush-off, July 14, 2005

By	Margaret Bennett "Women's hormone education a... (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you even think you may need testosterone, you need this book! It not only explains how testosterone works in the body, but gives you a guide to the kinds of tests you will need to check for hormone problems, tells you how to interpret them, and suggests the kinds of creams and pills that might help you replace your missing testosterone. It also warns you about using pills and creams that are much too high for a woman's body (a 2% cream is TOO high!), and the symptoms of testosterone that is too high or too low. The Savvy Woman's Guide to Testosterone is a practical, medically sound handbook to help you and your doctor find a good testosterone level for you, and is based on international research and Dr. Vliet's 20+ years of clinical practice.

Most women go to their ob/gyn for advice, but ob/gyns are trained to be surgeons, and most are not taught about the profound affects of testosterone on mood, bone and muscle strength, and stamina. An internist or an endocrinologist, who has been trained to check hormone levels in the blood, and to medicate in response to the patient's levels, may be a better choice for many women. Some women are being prescribed testosterone and other hormones by their psychiatrist, and finding to their delight that the hormones prescribed by their brain doctor make the rest of the body feel a whole lot better! Dr. Vliet demystifies the process of finding what YOUR body needs with easy to follow charts and lists. Hormones are much too powerful to prescribe without the right blood tests!

Finally, Dr. Vliet addresses an issue that has been mostly overlooked by most of the medical community: testosterone inhibits breast tissue proliferation. The little evidence available suggests that testosterone may be protective against breast cancer. A study from a clinic in Australia that has used testosterone in HRT for 25 years showed a protective effect against breast cancer. Women who took testosterone in addition to estrogen and progestin had the same rate of breast cancer as women who did not take hormones. One study is never enough to be sure of something, but 25 years of clinical experience is important evidence.

As with her other books, Dr. Vliet also lists a broad selection of the research studies on testosterone, both past and present. Most of these can be found on the Internet at www.pubmed.com, or at a local medical library. This is another excellent book from a passionately committed advocate of women's health.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guide to Testosterone, September 19, 2005

By	Deborah in Montana - See all my reviews

I recently read Dr. Vliet's book on the beneficial effects of taking testosterone hormone for hormonal imbalance in this area. I had just visited Dr. Vliet at Herplace Clinic in Tucson and found my hormonal levels to be way out of whack (as I had suspected) and I am now on a regime to get back in balance. The effect of testosterone is a fascinating one, in conjunction with the other hormones of estradiol and thyroid in particular, and if you ever wondered what a wonderful dance these hormones do and the roles that they play in achieving a healthy balanced state - this is a must read. I also recommend the other book I have read by Dr. Vliet, "It's My Ovaries Stupid" Don't be put off by the silly title - all her books are full of documentation and references and she has certainly done her homework. In my opinion, she is the preeminent clinician in this area and should be taken very seriously.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What we don't know CAN hurt us!, June 10, 2005

By	Kitty Werner "katinvermont" (Waitsfield, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews

Amazing information here. So much of what we women suffer from can be dealt with by a simple balancing act -- among our hormones! Since over 400 body functions are affected by hormones, if one hormone is out of balance, don't you think that would affect our bodies? All 400-plus functions--somehow? Of course! But, most doctors and the Feds don't "get it." Men can get Viagra for their "issues," we get Premarin or Prozac. Some choice!

So what happens to women without enough of the balance of testosterone? We lose our hair, lose interest in sex, tire easily, have no stamina, age early... and that's just for starters. We don't need much, we need just enough to be healthy.

It's time we women educated ourselves. Here's the book to start with. It is loaded with actual patient case histories, with the results described by the patients themselves. You can easily find a case history similar to your own. Certainly something to take to your doctor. Mine is listening.... he really didn't know. Until now!