Synopses & Reviews
This landmark work in women's health identifies and offers solutions to the hormonal dysfunctions afflicting millions of young women, teens, and even children, that rob women of future fertility and contribute to devastating problems -- from early onset puberty and obesity to depression and increased cancer risk.
Women's health is more than breast cancer, pregnancy, and menopause. In this groundbreaking new work, Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet identifies and explains rarely acknowledged, pervasive threats to young women's health and fertility -- PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), POD (Premature Ovarian Decline), and Premature Ovarian Failure (menopause in the young) -- and the overlooked causes of endometriosis, cystitis, early puberty, allergies, heart disease, mood disorders, depression, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, bone loss, anxiety, obesity, and diabetes.
A kind of Silent Spring of women's health, It's My Ovaries, Stupid! presents compelling evidence from worldwide research that common environmental toxins and endocrine disruptors in pesticides, plastic food wrappers, food additives, preservatives, soy supplements, aspartame in diet sodas and junk food, and more -- as well as lifestyle factors such as stress -- can all profoundly disrupt hormone function, even in childhood.
Insidious robbers of quality of life, fertility, and health, hormone dysfunctions are on the rise today, afflicting younger and younger women.
Why? What can you do about it? How can you get tested? What treatments are available? Dr. Vliet interprets the latest scientific research and draws on more than twenty years of clinical experience to answer these and many other crucial questions about common health problems in young women.
Whose job is it to take care of the ovaries...beyond their function in reproduction? Why do you have trouble getting help for "hormone problems" that are clearly linked to your monthly cycle? It's My Ovaries, Stupid! bridges this gap in women's health care and shows you how to understand your symptoms and get reliable tests, how to receive treatment and improve your health, how to wade through the controversies surrounding hormone replacement therapy, and how to explore cutting-edge options for thyroid problems.
You can't afford not to read this book. Your life, your fertility, and your long-term health may depend on it. It's not all in your head, and it's not just stress. It's your ovaries!
Review
Praise from women...
k.f.
Eye-opening! Finally an explanation of what's going on with me. I'm too young to feel so old!
Review
v.w.
I am upset about the study which blasts all hormone replacement therapy based on a study of PremPro. Instead of studying different forms of HRT, they study one of the worst forms on the market and condemn all HRT in the news media. Thank you for your book; it has been a huge help in choosing the right hormones.
Review
b.s.
Every woman in America should read this book. After bouncing from doctor to doctor for well over a year with symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, and heart palpitations, Dr. Vliet correctly diagnosed my hormonal problems. She gave me my life back!
About the Author
Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D., author of the acclaimed
Screaming to Be Heard and
Women, Weight, and Hormones, is founder and medical director of HER Place: Health Enhancement and Renewal for Women, Inc., and is a longtime women's health advocate with more than two decades of clinical experience treating these overlooked connections.
Table of Contents
SECTION I: BODY BASICS: When ovaries go awry: women's lives, women's stories -- Your ovaries: an owner's manual -- Your ovaries and their life cycle -- SECTION II: OVARIES AT RISK: Ovaries at risk: surprising toxins in your diet -- Ovaries at risk: "gender benders" and endocrine disruptors around you -- Ovaries at risk: toxic effect of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs -- Ovary shutdown: the toxic role of stess overload and sleep deprivation -- Lifestyle habits and culture issues: unexpected stess for our ovaries -- Ovaries at risk: unusual effects of viruses and medical illnesses -- Ovaries at risk: unrecognized problems from surgery, medications, and herbs -- SECTION III: YOUR OVARIES AND YOUR BODY: Ovaries out of balance: patterns in women's lives -- Ovarian hormones and the brain: it's not just stress or your imagination! -- The perils of PCOS, obesity, syndrome X, and diabetes -- The many facts of infertility: overlooked factors -- The ovaries and your other body systems -- SECTION IV: GETTING WELL: YOUR ACTION PLAN: Balancing ovarian hormones for optimal health -- Test-and-treat strategies for optimal thyroid, adrenal, and glucose-insulin balance -- Starting your "clean-up campaign": get rid of ovarian disruptors you can control -- Create your path to optimal energy and health.