Hormones and Your Health: The Smart Woman's Guide to Hormonal and Alternative Therapies for Menopause

* Alan De Cherney, M.D. Editor in Chief, Fertility and Sterility and branch chief at NIH research

"Winnifred Cutler's message is clear, precise and correct that women have choices as far as hormone therapy is concerned and they are in charge. She provides ample information, peppered with wisdom, in order to help in these important health decisions. Patients presented with the burden of information overload in today's environment, need information such as in this book to help them make rational, long-term decisions. The reader will have to try hard to find an area that isn't covered in a succinct yet comprehensive manner.”

* John J. Sciarra, M.D. Ph.D., Thomas J. Watkins Professor, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwestern University, Past President - International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians

Dear Dr. Cutler,
Thank you very much for sending me the pre-publication manuscript of “Hormones and Your Health.”

I think you have done an excellent job in reviewing the many issues relating to both the perimenopause and the menopause and have taken a balanced and educated approach to the various issues effecting women during these important years. I particularly liked your reasoned analysis of the WHI and your presentation of the positive benefits of hormone therapy.

So many patients today are interested in complementary medicine, and your chapter on this topic I think will be very valuable in that it looks at both the pluses and the minuses of alternative therapies.

Fibroids are obviously a major problem today and there are many alternative treatments, some of which are not well known and may not always be recommended by physicians and other health care providers. I think your chapter on fibroids and the present available therapies will be very valuable to consumers.

Your book is a very comprehensive presentation of contemporary hormone issues and should be of value to all women who are concerned about hormone therapy. The text is easy to follow, the illustrations are beautifully clear, and the references are excellent.

* Regula Burki, M.D., Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (FACOG)

… It is a book written for intelligent women, who want to make the best out of their second half of life by preserving both their bodies and their minds with the best health practices currently available. To know which these are is not always easy. Dr Winnifred Cutler has put in an enormous amount of work to try to sort it out for us by reviewing and analyzing the world's relevant research. In her conclusions she does not shy away from questioning current dogma when the data call for it.

What impressed me most were the passionate commitment to insisting on rigorously conducted research and the clarity the results were presented so that any intelligent woman can understand them.

As a gynecologist I find the book interesting and a comprehensive review of current research on hormone therapy. I think it is a very important book and addresses many issues that women need to know. I like the whole approach of on one hand trusting women to think for themselves and on the other hand insisting on science rather than voodoo and clerks in health food stores. It is a must read for any woman who wants to be able to ask the right questions regarding her peri- and postmenopausal health care

Elizabeth Genovese, M.D. MBA, Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Emergency Medicine (FACOEM), FAADEP

.."This is the most comprehensive evidence-based reference for either patients or physicians interested in evaluating the role of both healthy life-style choices and hormonal replacement therapy in the management of menopause and perimenopause.

Dr. Cutler dispassionately reviews and synthesizes the available literature to craft scientifically sound recommendations that can be used to optimize the quality of women's health."

* Susan Silverton, M.D, Ph.D , Prof. & Vice-President, Academic Affairs, Laurentian University, Canada<

" It is well written and orderly. I think it is an important contribution to women's understanding of their own health choices regarding many of the issues that arise with aging. Your way of giving women choices and individualizing the interventions for each person and for personal values is a landmark approach."

* Millicent Zacher, D.O., FACOG, Clinical Assistant Professor, OB/GYN, Thomas Jefferson University, Phila., PA

"A welcomed reference for my patients and others interested in women's health. Readable, informative and concise. Long overdue."

*Patti Waldygo, Book Editor

"Dear Dr. Cutler, I edited your book right after my own menopause started, so within months I began doing the estradiol/progesterone sequence you recommended. That was 10 or 11 years ago, and the hormones have definitely benefited me in all the ways your book describes.

Today I looked in my files to search your book for "endometrial cancer,"..., and my eyes accidentally landed on a sentence where you mentioned a standard 100 mg dose of progesterone. I never knew the dosage I should take, so I've been taking 200 mg from the 15th to the 30th day of each month all these years. Is this dosage too high? I don't seem to have any bad effects from it. I'm just curious what you've learned to be the dosage that most women take. I'm so grateful that your book came my way when it did because it enabled me to make wiser choices than many friends (even though I told others about your recommendations, including my sister, I don't think anyone followed my advice). Best wishes, Patti Waldygo"

*Susan, magazine editor-

"Your book is so necessary for women 40+. Thanks again for your help!."

*Susan business owner-

" Winnifred -- I really enjoyed reading Chapter 8 / Bones. It was written just for me and all the other baby boomer women who are dealing with health issues. I knew I was in for a good read when I read the chapter outline. I hope this will be in the book at the beginning of each chapter. It tells time-starved, busy women where to get answers for an immediate concern. I also keeps the book at the bedside to address future concerns. The chapter itself was very good. Technical enough to prove credibility but also human enough to be an easy read.....not a ponderous scientific treatise. Bravo on the concluding comments that give a course of action."

*Regina, Class attendee, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church (BMPC) course on Hormones and Your Health-

" Dear Dr. Cutler, Thank you for conducting this workshop. It's been so informative! I'll be 46 next month and have been struggling with perimenopause symptoms for the last two years. I now suspect that I may actually be experiencing higher than normal levels of estrogen, which I've learned can occur during perimenopause. I'm considering taking Prometrium to help with that. Would you be able to comment on the high estrogen possibility and whether or not progesterone supplementation would be a good approach? Thank you and see you next week! …/p>

*Stacey, @53 yrs, Princeton graduate, expert test writer for federal programs-

"Please tell Winnifred (I don't seem to have her direct email address) that I have gone on a regimen of HRT closely following the recommendations in her manuscript and I feel great! Huge thanks.…

Lynne...R.N., 42 After reading Chapter 5

"I have finished it now and have found your work incredibly detailed, informative, understandable from a laymen's perspective and incredibly necessary if and when one has to go through some of the events you have mentioned. I wish I had this information a few months ago. One thing that is important, which I think you have so aptly pointed out, is that much of controlling vaginal bleeding is more of an art than a science. My vaginal bleeding was somewhat under control until I started to take progesterone which made it so much worse that I ended up in the hospital. Unfortunately, I was not told that progesterone could make the situation worse before it could make it better. Actually, I was not told much of anything at all and have since switched doctors. I gained much from reading your work and I do not have the fear I used to have regarding this problem because of your research.

Dr. Melanie W, age @ 53, Clinical Psychologist,..

"I love the conversational style, the way you talk with readers. The metaphors made it easy to read; especially the artistic ones like expressionism. {And I know} I want hormones but do not want that horse urine stuff, would want to avoid the swallowing route because I do not want to overload my liver

{And now I} know how to do the regimen.. estrogen every day, progesterone, not progestin from day 15 to 29 of the 29 day cycle."

Anne, BMPC Course attendee

"Thank you so much for such an informative and honest lecture series - I so wish that I had received such knowledge when I was in the perimenopause stage. I just hope and pray that I can 'fix' the situation now!!! Thank you.…"

Lorraine, BMPC Course attendee

"Hello! I am enjoying your presentation at BMPC! Thank you!! The question I have is about how best to start the process of finding out if I am yet in need of HRT. I am just beginning this phase of my life at age 48. The other side of this question is how/or should a 70 year old woman would begin HRT again if she has not taken hormones for several years.."