September is Menopause Awareness Month!

>I began to focus on the menopausal transition in 1991, when Gail Sheehy asked me to consult with her on her book The Silent Passage. What an incredible and unique opportunity. This month, known nationally as Menopause Awareness Month, is a good time to reflect on what the New Menopause really means.

Back then, I was 42 and newly menopausal. I traveled across the country with her to talk to groups of women just like me in this stage of life. I was deeply affected by hearing first-hand how women felt about what was happening to them.

Some women experienced few symptoms. However, so many felt a loss of youth, loss of sexual vitality, loss of visibility, loss of power and loss of hope.

I am not saying that this passage is easy, but there is no reason for women to experience shame, isolation, confusion and fear of the unknown

Menopause is a universal experience. It is not a disease. Each woman experiences it in her own unique way.

Menopause will define one-half of your life. Decide how you want to live it. How can you be the best you can be?

We believe that with accurate knowledge and current information, you can harness the tumultuous energy of hormonally induced change to transform your life.

In 2005, Dr. Wulf Utian asked me to help the North American Menopause Society take their message beyond the scientific and medical communities. This organization is the preeminent professional organization devoted to women's health in midlife and beyond.

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Comments

[jacquelinenh]

10:13 PM on 09/30/2009

I've read Silent Passage and I'm sitting here thinking how radically changed the menopause landscape has become in the past almost 20 years. First we don't talk about it, then we take hormone replacement pills (and still don't talk about it), then we find out the pills cause cancer -- and then, finally, we start talking about it. Sheedy's book is certainly influential and you must be mighty proud to have played a role in it. I think, too, that Christiane Northrup and her Wisdom of Menopause PBS seminars and books really broke things wide open -- and now, of course, Oprah and Suzanne Somers continue bringing menopausal issues to the fore. What a wild trip! I guess I fall into the Dr. Northup camp rather than Dr. Utian, though I have great respect for him. My favorite source for menopause information is the Women to Women Clinic (www.womentowomen.com). It was founded by Dr. Northrup and now run by her former partner Marcelle Pick. I can't recommend the menopausal health articles there enough -- fresh, well-researched, and written from a holistic perspective. Very Huff Po-appropriate! Happy Menopause Awareness Month!