Product Description

Just Say No to America's Number-One Drug
Menopause is not a disease. So why are millions of American women taking a drug for this natural body process?
The widespread popularity of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a triumph of marketing and advertising over science. Although HRT and estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) can help some women with certain menopause-related problems, the benefits have been oversold to women and their health care providers. There is no scientifically valid evidence that estrogen prevents heart disease, colon cancer, or Alzheimer's. Nor is there any evidence that it keeps you looking younger, preserves your sex drive, or enhances your memory.
However, HRT does carry the risk of serious side effects, including certain cancers. Should you be taking such risky drugs to help you get through menopause? The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy, written by the National Women's Health Network, will help you decide. Inside, you'll discover:
·The risks of hormone replacement therapy
·How to talk to your doctor about HRT
·The truth about hormone therapy and osteoporosis
·Natural alternatives to relieve perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms
·And much more
This sensible health guide gives you the tools you need to make an informed decision that's best for you and your body.
"A balanced review of the hazards and potential benefits of hormone therapy after menopause."
—Graham A. Colditz, M.D., professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #615860 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02
• Released on: 2002-02-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Library Journal
Well-known alternative-medicine practitioner and journalist Fugh-Berman leads the list of authors of this critique of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) provided by the National Women's Health Network. An updated version of the network's Taking Hormones and Women's Health: Choices, Risks and Benefits (1989), this book argues that the medical and pharmaceutical professions are responsible for the "medicalization" of menopause. The authors disagree with the widely promoted message that nearly all perimenopausal women should use HRT for cardiovascular and bone health or to modulate health problems associated with that stage of life; they argue that, except for a very small percentage of women, using alternative therapies is preferred. They also report on studies of HRT and provide a wealth of information. While their analytical and cautious approach is commendable, their words are often provocative e.g., they claim that the drug companies "play on women's fears," utilize "scare tactics," and "artfully persuade." Within the profusion of books on HRT on the market today, this one stands out not because of its advocacy of alternative treatments but because it is so vehement in its criticism of the medical and pharmaceutical establishments. Recommended for its practical suggestions and for encouraging evaluation of the issues. Linda M.G. Katz, MCP Hahnemann Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
This informative and candid book, a product of the National Women's Health Network, addresses a major problem for women today: the medicalization of menopause, which is, after all, a natural occurrence in the life cycle of every woman. Drug companies in search of greater profits are primarily to blame for the medicalization of menopause, and the book points out how those companies wormed their way into the medical literature, scientific and pseudoscientific, and how pervasively they affect medical and clinical education. Direct-to-consumer advertising has become a profitable approach for drug companies, encouraging patients to pressure physicians to prescribe a company's products, even when they aren't needed. What's more, bone-density screening is another marketing tool. Readers are given questions to ask their health-care providers, counseled to be aware of the vast amount of misinformation on the Internet, and shown in an appendix what to look for to assess medical articles and reports. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap
Just Say No to America's Number-One Drug
Menopause is not a disease. So why are millions of American women taking a drug for this natural body process?
The widespread popularity of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a triumph of marketing and advertising over science. Although HRT and estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) can help some women with certain menopause-related problems, the benefits have been oversold to women and their health care providers. There is no scientifically valid evidence that estrogen prevents heart disease, colon cancer, or Alzheimer's. Nor is there any evidence that it keeps you looking younger, preserves your sex drive, or enhances your memory.
However, HRT does carry the risk of serious side effects, including certain cancers. Should you be taking such risky drugs to help you get through menopause? The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy, written by the National Women's Health Network, will help you decide. Inside, you'll discover:
·The risks of hormone replacement therapy
·How to talk to your doctor about HRT
·The truth about hormone therapy and osteoporosis
·Natural alternatives to relieve perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms
·And much more
This sensible health guide gives you the tools you need to make an informed decision that's best for you and your body.
"A balanced review of the hazards and potential benefits of hormone therapy after menopause."
?Graham A. Colditz, M.D., professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School

Customer Reviews

Finally, the Honest Truth
"The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy" is a great new book presenting clear information that is free of pharmaceutical company influence. It has confirmed my long-held suspicions that HRT is NOT the magical cure it has been sold as, and that, indeed, it is a potentially dangerous medical intervention.

I am a Yale trained Certified Nurse-Midwife, and I have found "The Truth" to be a tremendous help to me in my practice, and a wonderful resource to my patients who are post-menopausal and who are considering hormone replacement therapy. In all of my training and career, I have encountered a vast array of approaches and opinions regarding HRT, including a great disparity among each one of the midwives and doctors in my practice. I have always felt uncomfortable prescribing HRT, not knowing what the long-term health consequences could be for my patients. HRT seemed too much like a "silver bullet" for what is an extremely normal process in the lives of women. I (and my patients) have always been hungry for unbiased and up to the moment information to help women as they make decisions around the time of menopause.

The National Women's Health Network has done all women a tremendous service in the crafting of this outstanding resource. I appreciate "The Truth" because it unflinchingly exposes the effect that pharmaceutical advertising has upon healthcare providers and their patients. Hormone replacement therapy as a "triumph of marketing over science, and advertising over common sense" pretty much says it all. It is the first scientifically based book that clarifies the TRUE risks and benefits of HRT. This book takes it's rightful place alongside "The New Our Bodies, Ourselves" as an essential reference for women who are experiencing menopause. With over 550 scientific references, this reader-friendly book is a crucial read for all women over the age of 35 and their healthcare providers.