Natural Answers for Women's Health Questions: A Comprehensive A-Z Guide to Drug-Free Mind-Body Remedies - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

D. Lindsey Berkson is a consulting scholar and visiting professor at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier universities. She has a master's degree in nutrition, has lectured nationally, was a professor of nutrition at several colleges, had a radio show on nutrition in the Bay Area, and designed one of the first natural supplement lines for women (Fem Line). The author of Hormone Deception and Healthy Digestion the Natural Way, Berkson was also coeditor of Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, a book used to train medical doctors. She lives in Santa Fe.

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from the Introduction

Living in a woman's body means inhabiting a different universe from the one a man lives in. Any woman can tell you this. Historically, however, most medical research and many medical recommendations have been based on the male anatomy and the way the male body functions. This book is uniquely female. It takes into account women's major hormonal events -- puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, peri- and postmenopause -- and looks at the ways in which these circumstances affect symptoms and the treatments of various illnesses.

This book is a guide to help you work along with your health allies: the doctors and practitioners who listen to your whole story and figure out how to make you the best and healthiest you can be. The old Chinese proverb holds true: Give a starving woman a fish to eat and soon she will be hungry again, but teach her how to fish and she will be able to feed herself and her whole family. This book is about helping us feed our bodies and souls with facts and guidelines that are uniquely female.

That various medical conditions are affected and often exacerbated by specific phases of the menstrual cycle is a well-recognized phenomenon in medical literature, but this fact has not yet made the transition into clinical practice. When was the last time a doctor asked you if your asthma or irritable bowel symptoms cycled with your menstrual cycle? Did your doctor consider running a complete evaluation to see if an imbalance of your hormones had anything to do with your recurrent carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetes, or migraine headaches?

You are a soul having a human experience in a female body that ovulates, responds sensitively to hormonal fluxes as well as to the moon, and is a mystery to us all, even doctors. No matter how much anyone seems to have all the answers, you and you alone are responsible for your health. There is such an explosion of information today that no one doctor can know everything that is available or keep up-to-date on the latest studies. That does not make any doctor wrong, bad, or arrogant, nor does it fossilize you into permanent victimhood. It is just the fact. Life is fast and furious, and so is information. Get smart and stretch your mind, lifestyle, nutrition, and options. Let me help you help yourself and your doctors so you can enjoy yourself as fully as possible on this magical mystery tour called life.

The information in this book is to be used in conjunction with a physician who monitors your treatment and progress. All your health concerns should be medically supervised. Always tell your doctor everything you are taking, including all nutrients and herbs, especially if you are or will be taking any medication, are planning surgery, or are presently pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant. In dealing with health issues, risk can never be completely ruled out, nor can any guarantees be made.

Dosages in this book are given for adults, and alterations should be made for adults with certain conditions. Most RDAs (recommended dietary allowances) tend to be too low to produce a therapeutic effect. However, never take supplement dosages higher than the RDAs without professional supervision. Certain individuals may experience allergic or other adverse reactions from using a natural dietary supplement or from some substance mixed with it. Call your doctor immediately if any reaction occurs. Do not put off proper medical supervision because you think you can self-medicate based on what you read here; instead, share the information in this book with your doctor or health-care practitioner.

It makes sense to try natural means to heal many problems before using drugs, unless the situation is serious or an emergency. Drugs are not without side effects, some of which require hospitalization. Adverse reactions to drugs account for 3.1-6.2 percent of hospitalizations per year in America, and 0.13-0.21 percent of deaths. These are only the reactions that are tracked; many reactions don't lead to hospital admission and are therefore not counted. Women, as well as the elderly, more than men, are at risk for hospital admissions due to drug reactions.

This book is an A-to-Z guide to health conditions that occur more frequently in women than men, that affect women differently, or that are related to women's hormones. It focuses on simple explanations of what the conditions are, how being female affects both symptoms and treatment, and goes on to give nutritional and other suggestions for improving health.

Many conditions that are not classically thought to be linked to female hormones and menstruation may in fact be closely coupled with our ovaries and their influence. An alarming number of doctors don't realize the extent to which our hormones orchestrate our disease processes, so it is up to you to connect the dots and start explaining this link to your doctors.

Read Part One first. It sets the scene for your basic information and orients you in using this book. Then go on to Part Two, which provides easy access and information for each condition -- the dos and don'ts for diet and nutrients along with pertinent ideas to discuss with your doctor. When there is a long list of causes or symptoms, don't be overwhelmed. Read the list and figure out which apply to you.

When there is a long list of nutrients, it is sometimes hard to decide which ones are the most important for you. Discuss this with your doctor and refer to the charts on pages 35-39 to find which nutrients might be best to take for your body. Blood tests are a notoriously unreliable way to recognize nutrient deficiencies until very late in the game.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

1. Read Part One first.

2. Look up your specific health condition in Part Two.

3. Before you take any nutrients, see "How to Take Nutrients" on page 37 and review with your doctor the interactions of nutrients with food, herbs, drugs, and each other in appendices I-L. You don't want to take an inappropriate nutrient. This section is a must!

4. Read whichever hormonal links pertain to you. For example, if your problem is related to excess estrogen, read Estrogen Dominance and the section on estrogen under Hormones.

5. Check the nutrient charts (pages 35-39) to get an idea of what deficiencies you may have. This will help you decide which nutrients listed under your condition are the best for you to use. Don't use all the nutrients listed.

6. Read the section on digestive enzymes (appendix F) to evaluate whether or not you need them. Taking nutrients and herbs without digesting them is useless.

7. Go to Stress-Reduction Techniques (page 52) for mind-body tools.

8. Check other sections that may be related to your health, such as Wine and Alcoholic Beverages, Caffeine in Coffee and Tea, Fats and Essential Fatty Acids, or Immune Enhancement.

9. Share with your doctor the information about hormone testing and lab resources in appendix A.

10. If you don't understand a word, look it up in the Glossary.

Remember, the information in this book is to be used in conjunction with medical supervision and any necessary tests and conventional therapies.

Copyright © 2002 by Dr. D. Lindsey Berkson

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