It's My Ovaries, Stupid!

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, 2003 - Health & Fitness - 437 pages
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 commonhealth 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!

From inside the book

Contents

Surprising Toxins in Your Diet
65
Gender Benders and Endocrine
83
Toxic Effects of Cigarettes Alcohol
108
The Toxic Role of Stress Overload
121
Lifestyle Habits and Cultural IssuesUnexpected Stress
140
Unusual Effects of Viruses
151
Unrecognized Problems from Surgery
176
Your Imagination
218
Balancing Ovarian Hormones for Optimal Health
301
TestandTreat Strategies for Optimal Thyroid Adrenal
326
Get Rid
339
Create Your Path to Optimal Energy and Health
352
Glossary of Medical Terms
359
References and Resources
380
Acknowledgments
421
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 394 - Vandermolen DT. Ratts VS. Evans WS. et al. Metformin increases the ovulatory rate and pregnancy rate from clomiphene citrate in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome who are resistant to clomiphene citrate alone.
Page 390 - The effects of norethisterone in postmenopausal women on oestrogen replacement therapy: a model for the premenstrual syndrome. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1986; 93: 1290-1296 40 Watson NR, Studd JWW.
Page 383 - A receptor in pituitary and hypothalamus that functions in growth hormone release. Science 1996;273:974-977.
Page 409 - NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR ALCOHOL AND DRUG INFORMATION PO BOX 2345 ROCKVILLE, MD 20847-2345...
Page 386 - Hearn MT, The effect of hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy in women with severe premenstrual syndrome. Am J Obstet Gynecol l62:l05.
Page 394 - Cassidy, A., Bingham, S., and Setchell, K. Biological effects of isoflavones in young women: importance of the chemical composition of soyabean products. Br. J. Nutr., 74: 587, 1995.

Bibliographic information