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The Sew What’s New Archive
This archived content is from Mary Wilkins’ sewing and
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From: colojd
Date: 04-23-2007, 10:22 AM (1 of 11)
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I saw part of Dr. Northrup's presentation on PBS this weekend, and wondered if any of you have her books or tapes and if so, what you think of her advice. Our local library has most of the copies of her books checked out or on hold, probably because people saw her PBS show. I went to Amazon and most of the reviews of her material were positive and some were not. The reason why I was considering reading her books or listening to her tapes was because she seemed to be presenting some good information, like the reason why so many women's metabolism gets off track even well before menopause. So if any of you have read her books, can you tell me what you think of her information and advice? Thanks, Joyce |
User: colojd
Member since: 05-03-2002 Total posts: 83 |
From: MaryW
Date: 04-23-2007, 10:53 AM (2 of 11)
I would also love to know. Menopause gets the best of me a lot of days. 
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New |
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005 Total posts: 2542 
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From: colojd
Date: 04-23-2007, 11:01 AM (3 of 11)
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Hi Mary: I am 55, so am post menopause. In one sense I am lucky that I don't have the typical hot flashes and such, but when I heard her show yesterday, she did mention some things that do bother me, such as aches and pains! Now I think they know that the perimenopause thing starts earlier than they had thought. I was about 35 or 36 and my period suddenly changed from being on time and manageable to heavy and off schedule. I also began slowly gaining weight. I think part of it now was PCOS but my doctor at that time just said "I don't know" and "go to Weight Watchers" to lose the weight that I gained! I did see a couple of comments on Amazon that said the reader did not like her approach because she claimed a lot of things were in women's control but we just didn't exercise that control. All I want is for someone to explain, in clear language, why some women have problems before, during and after menopause and what can be done about it. Probably not a lot has been done to explain this to women because it has been easier to develop a pill that will manage the symptoms. I began listening to this broadcast because it seemed she was getting around to explaining this, but I didn't get to watch the entire program. |
User: colojd
Member since: 05-03-2002 Total posts: 83 |
From: MaryW
Date: 04-23-2007, 11:34 AM (4 of 11)
I have hot flashes and memory loss. It really irritates my kids but what can ya do? I exercise and eat healthy. I must go look her books up on Amazon.
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New |
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005 Total posts: 2542
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From: colojd
Date: 04-23-2007, 12:33 PM (5 of 11)
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Did a few internet searches using her name. There was at least one person who had posted some very negative experiences while she was her patient.I guess there is no one perfect doctor. I have read a lot recently that people say so many of the doctors these days do not practice health and wellness and are pretty much run by the pharmaceutical companies. Easier I guess just to hand someone a pill than to take time to find out more about their health, plus I think many of them get rewarded financially from using the medications and tests that the large drug companies push. Too easy I guess to enjoy the financial rewards. When they are stumped, they suggest quick fix things like surgery. I thought perhaps if she was on PBS, that some of her content would be sound. It may be, but I want to read more about what she has to say. Seems those who are critical of her work do state that she demeans women a little and blames of physical problems on bad marriages, because she herself had a bad marriage and a divorce. I am sure that would affect someone's health but may not be the source of why they were sick in the first place. Maybe more people will contribute what they think is the best women's health (not just menopause) advice out there. I read Dr. Hyla Cass's book called 8 weeks to vibrant health last fall. Good book and one worth reading. She didn't focus much in that book on women's health issues past reproductive stage but this seems to be a good one for younger women, using a natural approach |
User: colojd
Member since: 05-03-2002 Total posts: 83 |
From: PaulineG
Date: 04-23-2007, 04:03 PM (6 of 11)
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I haven't read any particular books that I thought were helpful but I had huge problems with the symptoms of perimenopause a few years ago. I spent a LOT of time online researching different natural remedies and kept finding references to something called Vitex (or chaste tree berry was the common name). Vitex (or Vitex agnus castus) is not a brand name. It is a plant extract that is included in a lot of the natural remedies intended to relieve menopausal and PMT symptoms. A lot of the general remedies contain a smallish amount of it - together with the more well known black cohosh, dong quai, liquorice root etc. I started taking a few supplements but rather than trying to take a "one for all" approach I purchased individual products that I thought would be most helpful. After a few months of fiddling around with different combinations the only one that seemed to make any real difference was the Vitex. I took it for some time and would say that it helped all of the symptoms to varying degrees and although it's hard to quantify - probably felt about 50% better. Fickle as I am that wasn't good enough so I trotted off to the endicrinologist (hormone specialist) who told me that my hormones were so out of whack that I should go onto the pill (at 36) again because I would need to "override" what the hormones were doing. Ironic that dh had only had "the chop" a year or two earlier. I took the pill (tried a few sorts - all had different unsatisfactory side effects - weight gain, fluid retention, zero libido) for a year or so. It helped marginally more than the Vitex but had the above issues to cope with as well. To cut the long story slightly shorter - am now back on the Vitex after a new GP recommended that I go off the pill and try it for relief of menopausal symptoms. This was without knowing any of the above history. It's not a cure all - but it's pretty good. As to the metabolism - apparently it slows down about 1% per year after a certain age until it stops slowing down altogether. Part of this is certainly ruled by hormones but it can be halted/reversed/assisted by diet and exercise. Making sure you eat often enough (at least every 5 hours) is important, eating healthy food and doing a good amount of aerobic and resistance exercise make a big difference. Some of the metabolism slowing down is definitely the "use it or lose it" approach. Unfortunately the diet and exercise method (definitely the best) is fairly gradual and it takes a few months to see any sort of effect. Good luck - and if you happen to find any magic cures for either of the above I'm definitely interested. Pauline
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User: PaulineG
Member since: 09-08-2006 Total posts: 901 |
From: colojd
Date: 04-23-2007, 04:18 PM (7 of 11)
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Thanks Pauline. Your information was really interesting. I am sure that there are a lot of natural herbs that can help us turn around when we have problems. I just don't know enough about them and certainly conventional doctors probably would never recommend them if they can go with pharmaceuticals or procedures. I really had little problems until I hit about 35 or 36, then my periods really were out of whack. I knew something was off but my doctor really never checked too far into it. Just told me to lose weight. ironically I didn't have too much of a weight problem until my periods went off track. In the meantime, I was trying to have another child and was basically infertile. Now I think it was because of stress which caused PCOS. But again, my doctor was clueless. I finally had another baby in 1991 and my last doctor told me that she was amazed, given what I went through, that I actually could have gotten pregnant again! Then after he was born, the problem periods returned. My doctor tried a few things - progestin for example. He only gave me one sample dose where you took it over a week's time. That worked for about a year to even things out but then the bad periods returned. In the meantime, he tried a D&C and also had me on birth control pill for 2 months and then stopped it. I did not want to do any synthetic hormones so he just basically told me that my next choice was hysterectomy. Basically because he did not want to take time and effort to find out more to help me. Finally by sheer luck, I went for a physical in 1998 and he said he had one more choice, bio identical progesterone. That finally did the trick but I am still left with a excess belly weight that I am not happy about. I am now limiting the amount of grains I eat and this seems to be helping move some weight. Now that I have read more about Dr. Northrup, not sure if she even is the best one to give advice. I think we women teach more between us than we do trying to get help from doctors! |
User: colojd
Member since: 05-03-2002 Total posts: 83 |
From: fabric_addict
Date: 06-03-2007, 09:47 PM (8 of 11)
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Hi. Thanks for the input on the Dr. Northrup. It is nice to hear the stories of various women. Sometimes it does seem like our collective wisdom is better than what the doctors can come up with. As far as menopausal stuff...not sure if this helps... I know someone who went into early menopause due to surgery on her reproductive system. She found that using soy products (i.e., soy milk) allowed her to decrease the amount of hormone supplements while still avoiding some of the menopausal symptoms. |
User: fabric_addict
Member since: 05-04-2007 Total posts: 12 
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From: AndreaSews
Date: 06-03-2007, 10:04 PM (9 of 11)
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I saw just about 15 minutes in the middle of the program tonight--I couldn't make it through the PBS telethon--and one important point that I got out of it was this: There are many kinds of options, and not one of them is the right one for all of the people. Each of them will work for _some_ of the people, and it takes a good doctor-patient relationship to suss out what's working for the individual. I appreciated her evidence-based approach.
Andrea
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User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005 Total posts: 1007 
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From: allie-oops
Date: 06-03-2007, 11:50 PM (10 of 11)
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I've watched her, and would LOVE to have some of her books and stuff. I think she's a very smart woman. I DO think our health is in our control - mostly, obviously not for everything - right now I'm going through heck with a yeast overgrowth, system-wide. It's really true - garbage in, garbage out. I wasn't eating right, got malnourished, and now I'm paying for it. I'm very interested in what she says about hot flashes - they drive me nuts - but I can't remember what she said. Memory problems go along with the yeast, lol. Allie "onward through the fog"
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User: allie-oops
Member since: 10-25-2002 Total posts: 282 
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From: colojd
Date: 06-04-2007, 09:18 AM (11 of 11)
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I think with all doctors, you have to read and hear what they say and then carefully consider if it would work for you. Probably too many of us get talked into treatment or even surgery when there might be other options out there that work easier and more safely. I do know if you can't afford her books, that many libraries carry them. I did some more internet searches on her and did find at least one woman who was struggling with heavy periods and she said that Dr. Northrup told her that she had to have surgery and would not consider anything else. So she was not happy with her. I have also read that she went through a bitter divorce and this is why she really emphasizes that a woman should be independent. The interesting thing is that she herself is post menopausal, so what she is teaching she is probably also learning along the way. I also was not able to sit down and listen to her whole presentation because PBS kind of splits it up sometimes during their donation campaigns and it can take 2 hours or more to get through a program, but I still think I will try to watch it and see what I think overall of her theories! Joyce |
User: colojd
Member since: 05-03-2002 Total posts: 83 |
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